ChefVille 'Open Space' Land Expansion: Everything you need to know

by Brandy Shaul, Posted Feb 24th 2013 11:56AM

If you're looking to add more space to your restaurant in ChefVille, and you also have a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket, you can now purchase the "Open Space" expansion that's located diagonally across from the Japanese Fish Market expansion. Of course, this item isn't as easy to unlock as you might initially guess, as you can't use coins, Mastery Stars or even recommendations to unlock it. No, you'll need something far more expensive.

The Open Space expansion currently costs 150 Chef Cash to unlock, and that's a price that's labeled as being "on sale." Clever wording aside, this land expansion will set you back around $20 US if you decide to splurge on it, and it contains a few items that you can use in your restaurant when you purchase it. The space contains at least two Lilac Bushes, some decorative bushes, rocks, and ground cover, along with at least two Mystery Crates.

These Crates can contain a variety of random goodies, from ingredients to decorations for your restaurant. It's likely that this expansion will be made available for free at some point in the future, but for now, only those players with deep pockets can really get in on the fun here.

Play ChefVille on Zynga.com now >

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What do you think of this expensive new land expansion? Will you spend 150 Chef Cash to unlock it early? Sound off in the comments! Tags: chef cash, ChefCash, chefville, chefville chef cash, chefville land expansion, chefville open space, ChefvilleChefCash, ChefvilleLandExpansion, ChefvilleOpenSpace, land expansion, LandExpansion, open space, open space land expansion, OpenSpace, OpenSpaceLandExpansion, zynga

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Outrun a giant space worm in Worm Run on iOS

As the daring space janitor Zeke Tallahassee, you've likely seen your fair share of interesting messes. Thankfully, most of those messes likely don't try to eat you. In Golden Ruby Games' Worm Run, Zeke finds himself in a new predicament, as a giant space worm wants nothing more than to make Zeke his lunch!

Worm Run is an iOS endless runner that sees Zeke running from the giant space worm, but the game is about much more than just running in a single direction. Using swipe controls, you'll need to guide Zeke over platforms, around corners, up walls, and much more as you work survive for as long as possible. Grubies, the game's currency, are scattered throughout each stage, but many are located near obstacles like lava pits, spikes, disappearing platforms, and ice blocks, just to name a few.

The game costs $0.99 to download, and is now available for purchase on iOS. We'll have a complete review of the game for you in the coming days, but for now, check out the trailer above for another look at what to expect from this one.

Download Worm Run on iOS for $0.99 >

Have you tried Worm Run on iOS? What do you think of this intergalactic endless runner? Sound off in the comments!

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Review: Who put Gears of War in my Dead Space 3?!

When I started playing Gears of Dead Space – er, I mean Dead Space 3 – I figured that the game would be more like the second iteration than the first. While the first game was eerie and had a truly haunting atmosphere, the second game favored action. Dead Space 2 was as scary as the original at times, though. I enjoyed the game quite a bit, and I thought to myself, wow, if they can split the difference between these two games, I'll be delighted. Is that what they did? Nope, Chuck Testa.

First, it's important to note that Dead Space 3 is functionally sound and is definitely a decent game mechanically, but it's not what I wanted from Dead Space. Dead Space 3 plays more like Gears of War in the Dead Space universe. If that's something you're interested in, by all means, I welcome you to enjoy the game with all your heart. But for those of us who really wanted a scary game that made us feel like survivors, this may not be the game we were hoping for.

Dead Space 3 stars Isaac Clarke of the previous games. Once a lowly engineer, Isaac is apparently a soldier now. In the previous games, Isaac was tossed into hostile situations that would prove lethal for nearly anyone, but through the will to survive, ingenuity and a ton of good luck, Isaac lives. Really, he just barely survives. Oh, and it's horrific, hence SURVIVAL HORROR. Yet in Dead Space 3, Isaac is recruited by a battalion to essentially be a soldier on a rescue mission. I was scratching my head a bit as this unfolded, and I suspect many will do the same.

To be fair, Isaac has nothing to lose anyway. His good gal is gone, his other gal may gone be too, and he's behind on rent. And I'm not kidding about that last part. The game's narrative escalates very quickly, tossing the over-stressed, gray-haired Issac into the mix. Isaac has nothing to lose, but as a player, it's hard to feel like there's much to gain as the beginning stumbles in its brisk sprint.

The first enemies you fight as Isaac are humans. Better yet, they're militarized unitologists, which are like scientologists in space. I'm not certain why these religious fanatics are soldiers, but if Isaac the engineer can be a soldier, I suppose they can be, too. There's even a cover button, making the game feel more like a cover shooter than monster game. Not only that, but the game makes no apologies in trading in your trade tools for a sub machine gun. I guess a spade really is a spade anyway, and these hostile Tom Cruisers need to stop jumping on the couch and get taken down a peg.

Necromorphs are the main attraction, though. They're definitely still around, along with a new mix of undead space baddies. This time around, they're much, much faster. They're no longer scary so much as they are overwhelming. I suppose it can be kind of thrilling to have a bunch of speeding beasts chase you down when you're reloading your plasma cutter, but it's more often frustrating and disenchanting. The best part of being terrified is knowing you're in trouble but not knowing where the trouble is coming from, and Dead Space 3 often misses that mark.

Before I get too far into dismantling the efforts of EA's Visceral Studios, I will say that the gameplay is technically tight and responsive. Ripping off necromorph's limbs is one of the few returns to glory that truly delivers. Exploring the vastly expanded gun system is mostly rewarding and fairly fresh. The first and secondary fire of each weapon feels unique, especially with the new weapon modding.

Dead Space 3 features a weapon creation system loosely akin Dead Rising; if the weapons are available, and you can imagine a sick combination, it can be made. Creating combinations like a line tool with a plasma cutter is not exactly advantageous, but feeling out smarter combinations is interesting and mostly enjoyable. Enhancing attachments also help the weapons to be more effective. Upgrading weapons is still done with nodes, but this time around, specific stats require specific nodes.

The new creation weapon system is immersive and mostly well-executed, but not without its frustrations. The interface for upgrades takes some deep exploring to truly understand. Extra parts can be made with found materials, but without being able to deliberately harvest materials, it's more often that players will stumble upon upgrades rather than work towards them. It also means that many players will likely hold on to resources and punish themselves, though I encourage experimentation, because the game will punish you far less. All in all, the system allows for a very customizable experience, even with nodes being surprisingly more restrictive as each node has a specific stat it can increase.

Oddly enough, ammo works on all weapons. Each weapon has its own conversion rate, but they all share the same ammunition, meaning that players won't have to adapt to different ammo drops like in previous games. I suppose this is to serve the player and let them master their custom weapons of choice, but again, that really seems to detract from the survival aspect. Ammo is easy to come by, so long as the player stomps every corpse it drops. Essentially, the tension is gone. Even when ammo is low, carrying an upgraded weapon means shots rip through enemies anyhow.

As the story progresses, the game gets wackier and wackier. For all intents and purposes, the delivery is flawless with not even a single beat missed. It's full throttle all the way, for better or worse. The narrative repeats certain themes seen throughout the series, including dementia, betrayal and Isaac Clarke being EA's sad clown. While it's meant to serve as a common, binding thread, the game's story is often predictable when it's not overly convoluted. And the repeated points may seem poetic and serve the theme, but sometimes it feels a bit like rehashing and beating bits over our heads.

Along Isaac's journey, he is joined by John Carver. If you grab a buddy to experience the game with you online, they'll take the role of Carver. This guy is a part of the group of soldiers that basically blackmail Isaac into helping them out. He's largely unlikable, despite Visceral's best efforts to explore his character beyond his archetype. He bullies Isaac around like someone may do to a rookie, despite ISAAC NOT ACTUALLY BEING A SOLDIER. But whatever, I guess he is now.

Carver experiences the story slightly differently than Isaac does. While he's not really around all that much in the single player campaign, having him around for co-op explores the dementia bit more thoroughly and provides a different perspective. Assuming you enjoy the campaign as a single player event, it's likely that playing co-op will provide an extended value to the game. It doesn't toss everything on its head, but it is new enough to be worth exploring. I will say that depending on who you're playing with, it can cut or raise the terror considerably – hopefully the former, if you're lucky.

After a dozen and some hours, Isaac's wacky adventure comes to an end in a disappointing, flat sort of way. When I beat the game, I sighed, "Of course," and I walked away with no desire of playing it again. Unfortunately, I had to play it again. Again, it's not that it sucks, but having a middling experience can be the hardest to cope with. The game was well made with high production value and a lot of care, but it didn't grab me like the previous games had.

So here we are. Isaac is no longer an engineer but a bona fide badass and spiritual member of the Gears of War COG crew. I have no idea whether or not he was able to pay his rent in the end, but honestly, it's the only thing that does terrify me in this game. Or maybe I'm more scared that Visceral has lost its intentions with the series – I'm not sure. All I know is that while Dead Space 3 is a decent game, it's not of the same caliber as the second game or certainly the original. Yet though I'm left deflated and disinterested, I expect some people will truly love this game and have a blast. To them, I say congratulations. But for me, I'm done with Dead Space until further notice.

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Today's Dead Space 3 release coincides with an 'Awakened' DLC announcement

If the first thing you did this morning was wake up, drive to your local game retailer, and pick up Dead Space 3 – you're doing it right. As you cut through Unitology jerks and savage Necromorphs, you can do so assured that the journey for Isaac isn't over for their newest title.

Dead Space 3 Awakened has been announced today, and it's coming out in March. This DLC will be sold for $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points) and will be out for PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE, and PC / Origin.

Steve Papoutsis, Vice President and General Manager of Visceral Games and Executive Producer on Dead Space 3 stated:

"With Dead Space 3 our goal was to evolve the franchise bringing in innovative new features like drop-in/drop-out co-op, weapon crafting, and an engaging atmosphere while still retaining the incredible suspense, horror, action and sound that the series is known for. Gamers are going to be thrown in and out of space, taken to a violent new ice planet and allowed to explore several different abandoned spaceships and caves. But we're not stopping there. In Dead Space 3 Awakened, gamers will experience some of the most disturbing content they have ever seen in a Dead Space game - they are going to love it."

So there we have it. Whatever happens in Awakened it will be disturbing as f@#$. I mean, it's not like in a Dead Space game would ever have a needle plunge into your eye. Right? Right...? RIGHT!?

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Social Space: Hero Academy, a mobile hero of hardcore-meets-social

Every week in this column, I discuss the many, seemingly endless ways in which the worlds of social games and traditional games merge. So far, we've looked at major companies slapping social play into their wheelhouse, but these worlds collide in more interesting ways already. LIke when a new IP game aimed at the core audience takes features that put social gaming on the map, and creates a semi-casual experience with them that even the most "hardcore" gamer can appreciate.

I'm talking about Hero Academy, a turn-based strategy game for iOS and PC (through Steam) released earlier this year that takes what made Words With Friends so immensely popular and applies it to a chess-like strategy experience. Well, only with more dwarves, spells, explosions and fun. Developed by Robot Entertainment, the game recently received a brand new team of heroes, the Shaolin, so it's about time we took another good look at the game. (Or simply recognize that it's an amazing time--call me selfish all you like.)

Hero Academy simply pits players against their friends or random strangers in a board game much like a cross between chess, Warcraft and Words With Friends. Given just five actions per turn, you play out your turn and "send" that turn to your friend much like you would in Zynga's word game. Of course, a major difference being that your goal isn't to create a word, but to wipe your friend's crystals off the map.
Cleverly supplemented by an in-game chat system, Hero Academy quickly becomes a way to keep up with fellow core game fans in a setting that's plenty more entertaining (for that crowd) then looking at motionless words on a board. Of course, there are plenty of other aspects of Robot Entertainment's strategy game that make it more appealing to a wide swath of gamers, namely it's focus on easy-to-learn, tough-to-master mechanics and balance.

You could say that all the developer did was slap the Words With Friends framework (in terms of turn-based play and in-game chat) on to a strategy game. But did anyone do it before in such a way? Not that this editor can think of. Sometimes, the worlds of social and traditional games collide so beautifully, thanks to such a seemingly simple approach. Not only is Hero Academy a blast to play; it's a fine example of the right way to merge core game mechanics and tropes with those of Facebook games. Are you taking notes?

What do you think of Hero Academy? Are there any other shining examples of merging social and core game mechanics that come to mind? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment. Joe Osborne is associate editor at Games.com News. Weekly in Social Space, Joe shares opinions and observations on the intersection of social gaming and traditional games. Follow him on Twitter here.

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Social Space: Wii U: What we want from Miiverse and Nintendo Network

Nintendo's next major console, the Wii U, is less than a week from release. With pre-orders for the system sold out across many major retailers, analysts expect a strong holiday launch for the first "next-generation" console. We have one of the $350 units in the Games.com office right now, but can't say much more than that until its release on Nov. 18.

However, what we can say is that you won't know much more than what you've already heard, seen or read about the online offerings of Wii U, like Miiverse, the Nintendo Network or the eShop. That's because all of those features will be unlocked with a day-one software update, which according to IGN, media is supposed to receive shortly before launch.

One more, well, a few things we can say are what we want to see from the online and social side of the Wii U, because, frankly, Nintendo has a golden opportunity to innovate in the console space beyond the controller. With that, here's what we (meaning this editor, of course) want to see from Wii U as far as social and online are concerned:

This is the aforementioned golden opportunity, and given what Nintendo has teased with New Super Mario Bros. U, we're cautiously optimistic. The ability to challenge and communicate with friends asynchronously is part of what helped Facebook skyrocket into the next web-based gaming platform. Both this and the GamePad are where Nintendo could tap the blue ocean it created with the original Wii.

Playing Super Mario with your buddies on the couch is great, but not all of us have that luxury. We already know that Nintendo won't be handling it's online play like Sony or Microsoft does (so much so that it doesn't look like universal voice chat will be a thing). Regardless, especially in its games developed in-house, we need online multiplayer ... stat. Not only do we need online multiplayer, but we need a reason to keep coming back to it. Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network do this with achievements, trophies and leaderboards. Miiverse is the perfect opportunity to craft something similar for its players, giving them a reason to keep playing online beyond the initial wow factor.

After revealing to NeoGAF that the Wii U does not have such a universal system, co-founder of Scribblenauts creator 5th Cell Jeremiah Slaczka said this: "The Miiverse is in its infancy. Just think how much the PS3/360 dashboard and store changed to meet people's needs. I'm sure Nintendo will do plenty of updates and new integration of systems as time goes on." He's absolutely right, but considering all signs point to at least one new console coming in 2013, Nintendo needs to act on those updates and integrations--and fast.

Are you excited for the Wii U? What do you think about what you've heard of Miiverse? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment. Joe Osborne is associate editor at Games.com News. Weekly in Social Space, Joe shares opinions and observations on the intersection of social gaming and traditional games. Follow him on Twitter here.

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Social Space: Throw Facebook games and MMOs in the blender already

Want to see something weird? Take a look at Star Wars: The Old Republic, one of only a few modern MMOs to release with a subscription fee. Not even a year later, and developer Bioware (and EA) has opted to turn the ailing game into a a free-to-play experience with a subscription option. Now, go ahead and look at the Facebook game poster child, FarmVille.

Thanks to a move by Facebook, Zynga's cash cow now offers a $10 monthly subscription for a constant flow of Farm Cash that the most dedicated of digital farmers will surely sign up for. Wait, weren't Facebook games founded upon the concept of free-to-play, giving players a choice of what to pay for and when? And weren't MMOs built on the idea of paying a steady fee in exchange for solid customer service and a constant stream of content? Weird indeed.

Facebook games, the influence of Asian MMOs like MapleStory and mobile gaming went and ruined the subscription fee model for almost any Western MMO that wasn't World of Warcraft. As a result, the MMO world turned the to free-to-play model almost wholesale--giving players the option to subscribe, of course--and has seen great success. Almost inversely, Facebook game revenues for companies like Zynga have slumped, so some have turned to the model they once abandoned. Why?
The greatest economic downturn since The Great Depression is a great place to start. The truth is, there are more reasons than I would care to count. What matters is that, either game fans' entertainment budgets have shrank considerably, or they simply would rather not pay as much as they used to even as little as five years ago. Players are more cognizant of the cost-to-benefit ratio than ever. So, you have the once-expensive MMOs pandering to a supposedly cash-strapped audience, while Facebook games look to offer even more opportunities for the "whales" to keep swimming near their shores.

When you can buy an entire game (albeit a small one) for a fraction of the price of one month within Azeroth, it's tough to justify the cost. What does that leave us with? MMOs that look like flashier, more action-packed Facebook games and Facebook games that are starting to look like the first graphics-based MMOs. The same goes for a few bucks spent on Farm Cash. And since game makers have to make money too, we're left as the guinea pigs in a series of experiments.
Unlike most guinea pigs, I say, "Bring it on!" After all, with retail game sales consistently in the tubes, this is the only foreseeable way for the online gaming industry to, well, stay in the game. So, let's see a full-blown MMO built natively for social networks. Let's see (appropriate) Facebook games thrown onto Xbox Live and Steam.

Hell, let's see an MMO that exists on social networks, consoles, PCs and mobile, offering unique roles and features to each destination designed for the platform's target audience. Now we're onto something.

Are you excited about or concerned for the future of MMOs and social games? Is this kind of experimentation the future? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

Joe Osborne is associate editor at Games.com News. Weekly in Social Space, Joe shares opinions and observations on the intersection of social gaming and traditional games. Follow him on Twitter here.

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Outernauts on Facebook: So much more than Pokemon in space

Outernauts, a new Facebook game by Insomniac Games, might seem familiar to those of us who have enjoyed monster-collection games in the past. Many have called it a Pokemon clone, but after playing it for a while, that term doesn't really apply. Sure, there are plenty of monsters to collect and pit against one another, and your avatar yells out commands during combat -- just like Pokemon -- but I'd argue that monster collecting is its own game genre at this point. Outernauts attempts to do something different with it.
Outernauts' look and feel is certainly different than Pokemon, relying more on a Western style. The in-game music sounds fantastic and gives a real sense of quality to the game. There are little details that make this monster collector more enjoyable, like the ability to name all of your monsters, no time limits during fights, and the ability to move freely to each different map without spending energy.

It does cost energy to collect items from the surface of a planet, though, something that is often required to complete tasks and make progress in the game. Starting a battle costs energy as well. Your energy bar does not tick down so fast that you can't enjoy yourself, but you will find that logging out and coming back to play later (when your energy has been replenished) is the only other option besides plunking down a few dollars for a refill.

There's a nice space-travel mechanic in the game that gives you the feeling that you're actually exploring other worlds. Hovering over new areas will show you the cost of travel and the monsters that live on the planet or asteroid. If you haven't yet explored a new area, the beasts will show up as a question mark, inviting you to come figure out what they are. To move further into space, you must collect "star coordinates" that are basically collectible bits of star map. It's a simple mechanic that feels like a combination of scavenger hunting, discovery, and danger. Combat is pretty standard, especially if you've played Pokemon-style games before. There are a few nice touches in Outernauts combat, however. The turns are not time-limited, as mentioned previously, so you can really think about what you want to do next, including switching out monsters on the fly, or reviving monsters when they're down for the count.

You can see which abilities are more effective by hovering over them, so you can choose the best ones for each battle. This is not to say that combat is easy -- it's not. Once in a while you will wind up with an unconscious creature in your arms. Outernauts does not punish you too heavily if you lose, but keep an eye on your energy levels. If you run out, you have to wait for a refill or pay to get back into the fight. I also learned that upgrading my monster's statistics, such as stamina or health, burns through Star Gems, the in-game currency. So think before clicking on anything that will make your monster more powerful.

Outernauts easily proves that it's more than just another Pokemon wannabe. It captures that "gotta catch 'em all" addictiveness of monster collecting, but under its cartoon exterior, houses a much more mature real-time strategy game than you would expect from a typical Facebook game. Outernauts resists the urge to incessantly ask you to spend money or pester your friends with requests, and the high production values make this monster battle game seem like it'd be at home on any platform, whether it's Facebook or a PlayStation 3.

Click here to play Outernauts on Facebook now >

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Scam Alert: Android malware masquerades as Angry Birds Space

by Joe Osborne, Posted Apr 12th 2012 2:45PM

Tread lightly, Angry Birds fans. If you downloaded the brand spanking new Angry Birds Space from an unofficial Android market, it could very well have malware tucked inside. Sophos security blog Naked Security reports that Android malware authors have pushed a fully playable (and illegal) version of Rovio's hit sequel to unofficial Android app stores, SophosLabs has found.

The game looks and plays just like the real deal, but is actually a Trojan horse known as Andr/KongFu-L. This malware uses an exploit called GingerBreak to gain access to an Android device's root files and install malicious code. But wait, there's more: The Trojan then uses the phone's wireless connection to communicate with another website to install even more malware.

And if you downloaded this phony app, you're still not out of the woods yet. According to Naked Security, the malware then allows hackers to push certain URLs to your Android phone's browser. At that point, you're basically no longer in control of your own phone--this is serious stuff. So please, just download apps from Google Play or Amazon Appstore already? And if you are a victim of this issue, we'd say hit up Sophos. They seem to know their stuff.

Did you download this bum version of Angry Birds Space? Where do you get your Android apps and games from? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Tags: android, android malware, android+trojan+known+as+andr/kongfu-l, androidtrojanknownasandr/kongfu-l, angry birds, angry birds space, angry birds space android, angry birds space android malware, angry birds space android trojan horse, angry birds space malware, angry birds space trojan horse, malware, malware+andr/kongfu-l, malwareandr/kongfu-l, rovio, Sophos, trojan, trojan horse

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Rovio's Mighty Eagle shows off Angry Birds Space in action [Video]

by Joe Osborne, Posted Mar 15th 2012 6:00PM

If Rovio's collaborations with NASA, MTV, The Daily and Samsung didn't spell it out, Angry Birds Space is the Finnish game maker's biggest game launch ever. And company CMO (or Mighty Eagle) Peter Vesterbacka wants to make that fact crystal clear. The Rovio executive gave TechCrunch a live demo of the game in action, and revealed a few more factoids about its massive product launch.

First and foremost, Rovio doesn't even see this as a game launch--the company sees Angry Birds Space almost as an entertainment brand in an of itself. And the developer looks to demonstrate that with separate animation projects, the legion of toys and even Angry Birds Space band-aids--all of which will be available at Walmart. (Seriously.) Check out the video below to get even more hyped up for the game's launch in exactly one week.

On a scale of one to 11, how excited are you for Angry Birds Space? Do you see Angry Birds creating the type of lasting momentum that say, Mickey Mouse did? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Tags: angry birds space, angry birds space android, angry birds space demo, angry birds space ipad, angry birds space iphone, angry birds space mac, angry birds space pc, angry birds space teaser, angry birds space video, mobile gaming, mobile social games, rovio

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Angry Birds Space takes Rovio's babies to the final frontier March 22

Where the Angry Birds are going, they won't need slingshots. What they will need, however, are space suits (and lots of oxygen tanks). Rovio has revealed Angry Birds Space, the next major mobile game in the Finnish game developer's storied franchise. Yahoo Games scored the details on the next Angry Birds adventure, which is set to hit unspecified (e.g. iOS and Android) mobile devices on March 22.

Fine, the Angry Birds will still use slingshots, but considering they're in space, we don't quite get why. At any rate, Angry Birds Space will have players fling the wingless birds with reckless abandon in zero gravity. Playing on these new planets will lead to interesting new play hooks, like slow-motion puzzles and "lightspeed" destruction, according to Yahoo.

Here's the clincher: Rovio has signed on both NASA and National Geographic as launch partners, so you can expect those floaty space physics to be spot on. The majority of Angry Birds staples will return, like the star rating system, but brand new birds will appear alongside the original crew. This time, however, those classic birds will have some new powers to try out.

Rovio looks at Angry Birds Space to be its biggest release since it hit iPhones in 2009, but we'd go so far as to say that this game is the developer's most important release. Angry Birds has experienced staggering growth, but Rovio has also promised to bring new play concepts to the table. Rovio will also go on an all-out media frenzy to accompany Angry Birds Space, so expect to see the game everywhere you go come March 22.

[Via PocketGamer]

Are you psyched for Angry Birds Space? Were you expecting some more different to come from Rovio, or is this right up your alley? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Crosswords on Facebook brings real world crosswords to the digital space

While there are plenty of word games available to play on Facebook (Words with Friends, Scrabble, etc.), the crossword puzzle genre hasn't been as lucky. That all changes today, however, as PuzzleSocial has announced the beta launch of Crosswords on Facebook. According to the developer, this is the "first social, competitive, multi-player crosswords application for Facebook." In it, you'll be able to play a variety of daily crossword puzzles, that are other wise only available in newspapers or less convenient (or at least less social) online outlets.

The real-world crosswords come in the form of the Newsday Crossword, a daily crossword puzzle featured in hundreds of magazines and online, the CrosSynergy Crossword printed daily in the Washington Post and the A.V. Club Crossword, featured in the Onion A.V. Club. In addition, this Facebook game received an exclusive daily puzzle: the Celebrity Crossword, which features puzzles created by some of the industry's most famous "constructors" (those people that actually write, or construct the puzzles).

You'll have a variety of options when beginning a puzzle. You can play by yourself against a clock with stat tracking (and no ability to check your wrong answers), or can play casually without a timer and with red letters when you're wrong. You can take on a real-time opponent head-to-head, play with multiple players in doubles tournaments (your partner could be anyone in the world), or participate in the standard singles tournaments.

Will Crosswords on Facebook appeal to the mass audience? That remains to be seen, but from our hands-on time with the game, we can confirm that the interface works well, with keyboard entry allowing you to simply hit Tab to move from clue to clue. There are plenty of options to tweak each game to your liking (you can force the game to skip letter already entered with typing in the opposite direction, give the space bar a function and more), and leaderboards allowing you to compare your own stats with those of both friends and strangers alike.

If you have even a passing interest in crossword puzzles in general, why not give Crosswords on Facebook a shot?

Play Crosswords on Facebook-->

Do you complete a crossword puzzle in your newspaper every day, or will you now start to play Crosswords on Facebook since you can play with friends and strangers? Sound off in the comments.

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