Hoyle Card Games

Published by Sierra Entertainment Inc.
Platform: PC CD-ROM & Mac (also includes Solitaire for Palm OS)
Price £14.99
Released: Out Now

The new Hoyle range of games has recently been released and in this review we will take a look at Hoyle Card Games. This collection has 18 different card games which are as follows:

Solitaire (50 variations) • Euchre • Spades • War • Canasta • Pitch • Bridge • Crazy Eights • Cribbage • Pinochle • Go Fish • Hearts • Poker • Gin Rummy • Old Maid • Memory Match • Skat • Tarot •

This years version has the added bonus of including two new games, Skat and Tarot, and also costs £5 less than the previous version of Hoyle Card Games.

All of the games play according to the acknowledged rules but in case you want to tweak some of the settings you can alter some details with most of the games. The AI opponents all have their own particular style and you can choose to play your opponents at Beginner, Intermediate and Expert difficulty levels. This enables everyone from novice to expert to enjoy a challenge.

Just like the other games in the Hoyle series, the presentation and visual style is immaculate. You can alter the background pictures and the card deck backs to suit your tastes. Through the use of a smart, clean layout for each of the games and delightful animation for each of the characters, the game has a welcoming feel to it and is easy on the eyes which is especially important when you're fitting in a quick game before you head off to bed in the early hours of the morning.

Each of the games has a full help system that you can access if you are unsure how to play a game. The rules for each game are fully explained in text using easy to understand language and unlike most games the game actually comes with a good manual that not only explains the rules but also gives you some useful strategies.

Every game in the Hoyle series has character speech. For the most part this is just banter between the AI characters and the omission of it being subtitled is no real loss. Unfortunately this is still the case but you can always turn it off completely if you so desire. In fact when you initially setup your avatar you are asked if you would like the character speech on or off and you are also asked if you would like the music on or off. There was only one instance that I noticed that speech still occurred when it was turned off. In the Old Maid game there is optional tutorial advice which tells you what to do. This is verbal information only and is not subtitled.

One game that could have been awkward for the deaf gamer is Go Fish. Whilst other players are taking there turns and asking for cards from each other it could have been boring for a deaf gamer had they not known what was going on. Thankfully the developers thought of this and if character speech is turned off then speech bubbles are used to show the players requests as in the example below.

Hoyle Card Games is another fantastic addition to the Hoyle series. The compilation oozes value for money and for fans of card games you really couldn't ask for more. The only request I have is that I would like to see the character speech subtitled for everything next time and if there are to be any verbal tutorials that they are also to be subtitled.

Overall Game Rating: 9.0/10 The ultimate Card game collection at a fantastic price.

Deaf Gamers comment: Character banter is still not subtitled, although this can be turned off and has no bearing on gameplay, and the Old Maid tutorial advice isn't subtitled either. However superb speech bubbles have been included for the Go Fish game.