This article was published on July 2, 2014

Haste for iPhone is like QuizUp meets Boggle


Haste for iPhone is like QuizUp meets Boggle

With games such as QuizUp seemingly killing it in the popularity stakes, it’s no surprise that we now see a steady slew of similar-ish games hit the market.

Haste is the latest fast-paced, friends vs. friends-style game to hit the App Store, and it certainly lends more than a nod to the aforementioned QuizUp, “they were quite an inspiration for us,” explains co-creator Lockie Potts. But Haste is different – it’s a word game built around real-time, live multiplayer action. It takes the age-old word-search puzzle game ethos, or more specifically Boggle, and gives it the 2014 treatment.

How it works

You can either connect up with Facebook to play friends, or enter as a ‘Guest’ to be matched with a random opponent. It’s a shame you can’t search for players by username to play friends, given that you may wish to bypass Facebook but still play with friends.

Letters connect to make words in any direction with the swipe of a finger, and words can only be played once by a player – once your competitor has found a word, you can’t then choose it too. Each letter has a value, and there’s also bonus tiles that can multiply points. The person with the most points after 90 seconds, wins.

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Haste Screenshot - 1
   
Haste Screenshot - 3

Over time, leaderboards form, statistics give a glimpse into who’s top dog, who’s improving and who, well, isn’t doing so well.

Haste Screenshot - 2
   
Haste Screenshot - 4

Haste is the handiwork of Exose, a small two-person team based in Canberra, Australia. Sure, the game may share the same basic principle as Boggle, which has a presence on iOS via EA, but with its simple clean interface and lack of bells-and-whistles, it’s easy to see Haste taking off here – it’s been beautifully designed, and is pretty addictive.

“I loved playing word games on my phone, but hated waiting for days or weeks to find out if I had won a game, or if my opponent would even take their turn,” explains Potts. “Our goal with Haste was to bring live gameplay to the word-game genre in a similar manner to how QuizUp did so for quizzes. The feedback we’ve received so far has been great, and we think this is an interesting model for future mobile games.”

Haste is free with adverts, though you can pay $1.99 to remove these forever. And we’re told that an Android incarnation could be on the cards at some point, depending on how well the iPhone version is received.

Haste | App Store

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