Creative, charming, and cheap, Quarrel is an innovative choice for XBLA wordsmiths.
Quarrel plays out on a territory-based map, with each player controlling areas of land with their goofy infantry units. Each player takes a turn moving their units to different parts of the game board. You can move your troops to your own adjacent spaces to reinforce your defenses, or if you're feeling daring, attack an opposition's square. Once you take on an enemy's territory, you have to face their infantry as well. It's here that Quarrel shows off its unique blend of grammatical ambition and clever design. The battles (called "quarrels") give each player an identical set of eight letters. Each letter has a specific point value and the player who makes the highest-scoring word wins. Winning attackers take control of the territory, winning defenders hold steady and take out the attacker's army. Here's the catch: the length of the potential word depends on how many units you have in control in the quarrel. If you have a lonely two, beware, but if you're lucky enough to have eight, look for the hidden anagram for extra reward. Rewards, aside from the territory grabbing and expansion of your vocabulary, come in the form of treasure. Earn treasure to gain extra units to spring on an enemy during a quarrel. All of these elements come down to this: wipe out your opponent's armies with your superb wordsmithing to gain control of the entire board and win. With stalemate speed tests and earning bonus points during other players' quarrels, the game throws a whole lot at you. Fortunately, it's some of the most addictive board gameplay seen on the Xbox Live Arcade.
An essential note to any strategy game designers: Quarrel is remarkably successful in making the strategic placement of troops and the smooth progression of earning territory meaningful. You can't simply run around the map without any planning; if you do, you'll no doubt run into a corner with nowhere to run or hide. If intricate vocabulary is the meat, smart strategy is the potatoes. Knowing when to spread your troops out across the map and when to reinforce their territory is crucial when entering the verbosity big leagues. Quarrel also adds a solid dynamic element to the game. Getting an anagram during another player's turn can net big treasure points, so there's always something to get involved in, even when you're not doing the quarreling yourself. Quarrel is definitely unique and it finds ways to hook you in very easily. The fluid, but exciting nature of this Scrabble-strategy hybrid makes it an incredibly addictive game to play.
Quarrel offers gameplay for up to four players, and if you can get four of your buddies to buy the game and get online, you'll have a fantastic test of intellectual vigor and skilled strategy. There is no local multiplayer, which is a disappointment, but the online play offered lets you select casual matches and ranked matches. The community leaderboards show a healthy amount of word enthusiasts, but finding a game proves a bit less fruitful than expected. It's a shame, considering how well thought-out Quarrel is, but once you find a game, you'll surely have a good time. Even if you're not after a multiplayer free-for-all, the single-player content is surprisingly thorough. The computer players can be pretty ruthless in their word choices, so prepare for a challenge even in the earlier levels. The gameplay itself doesn't make too many diverse strides when it comes to game types; you'll mostly be quarreling in the same land-grabbing fashion throughout every mode. Some single-player modes are one-on-one, others as a four-player free-for-all, but the core gameplay is standardized a bit too much. Still, there's a surprisingly high amount of content in Quarrel, whether you're a lexicon loner or a competitive word-crafter.
With its grinning pirates, ninjas, and aliens, Quarrel has a charming presentation. The bright, vibrant colors and funny animations of units bombarding enemies with letters are fantastic, always showing the fun side of expanding your vocabulary. Aside from the units and attack animations, Quarrel keeps its visual style simple, but engaging. It's a family friendly title that, oddly enough, will likely appeal to the intellectual crowd. The music is a bit less successful, since the trumpet themes can get a bit obnoxious after the tenth quarrel in a game. The cheers from the units, however, still capture a goofy charm throughout the game. It's a simple setup, but Quarrel's presentation is a solid one.
Between the popular indie adventure titles and the retro remakes, Quarrel will likely be forgotten amongst the crowded XBLA market and that's a real shame. Quarrel's clever balance of strategy and vocabulary is unlike any other game on the XBLA service, constantly challenging players with its tough single-player opponents and excellent multiplayer design. Quarrel rewards both skilled strategists and wordsmiths, while never ignoring the unity that the features create. It would've been better to see a little more diversity in the core gameplay elements and the online multiplayer community is absurdly bleak, but once you find a solid match, you won't want to play any other word game again. At a mere 400 Microsoft Points, Quarrel is a game whose creative and comprehensive value simply can't be ignored. If you're out to test your word crafting in a brand new and inventive way, Quarrel can easily stand as the best word game this side of Scrabble.