Clockwords: Act I, despite it’s name, is the second in the Clockwords word action game saga. Set in Victorian England, our favorite inventor and his mysterious, temperamental, language powered machine is back with lots of new tricks to fend off the significantly more creepy crawlers send from a rival inventor to steal the machine’s secrets. Through four new stages and 40 levels, use new letter materials like jade, brass, thermite and lazurite to deliver some serious word power on the mechanical raiders and follow the story as the saga, and secrets, of this unique machine unfold.

Clockwords: Act I includes additional Premium and Download versions adding new features and mini-games to the already spectacular followup. This time, the confusion of the Transmutation Chamber (from Clockwords: Prelude) has been replaced and the focus is on purchasing new tiles using secrets protected (which increase with each successful level completion). This makes it easier to navigate among the new types of materials used for letters, but removes the mystery and secrecy surrounding discovering new letter formulas (for better and worse).

And, if you fell in love with the Clockwords: Prelude, Act I will knock your woolly socks right out of your inappropriately worn Teva's. Beyond new letter materials and optional add-ons, Act I has bonuses our the wigwom (traditionally known for their vast amounts of storage space), including for multi-kills, flawless levels, new words (premium only) and repeated word length (an odd choice, I thought). The story unfold amongst the new levels of the various stages, giving you great reason to push into each new stage to find out uncover happens next. Additionally, if you end up running into some trouble, there’s a difficulty setting on the stage selection screen to moderate your frustration.

In fact, the sole complaint I have about Clockwords: Act I is it’s use of it’s own user account system. Granted, it’s 100% in-game, but with so many available existing frameworks to choose from, I would have preferred to avoid creating a new account for a specific game. Using an account is required to save your game’s progress, instead of using the built-in capabilities of the technology it’s based on (as with most other online, browser-based games).

Bottom line: With Clockwords: Act I, Clockwords remains my single most favorite word game available and definitely in my top ten overall.