Hoyle Card Games

If you're a fan of card games, there's no doubt you'll be aware of the great sage of brands, Hoyle Card Games. You've probably guessed already where this is going. Now there's a video game of every family's beloved card games, where they can take the excitement of their favorites into the digital sphere. The question is - would you really want to?

You wonder if you could ever replace the family bonding time that the physical Hoyle Card Games provides. However, the developers think they have a shot at capturing a digital card market. There seem to be enough fans of trading card games out there, so why not the old-school ones? Let's determine the fun factor of Hoyle Card Games.

Shuffle Your Deck

How exciting can you make a game that only features 16 different classic card games? Well, the developers are making a noble attempt here, and that's pretty admirable. They are trying to throw a little more excitement into the mix by adding nodes of customizability and a little more information behind the games you are playing.

Sure, it will all be pretty standard rounds of gin rummy, war, deception, and other classics against a decently programmed A.I. But they'll even have some names and faces behind them, so it does feel like your passing time with a great aunt or competitive little brother. Yep, the games are fun, but do they really offer anything spectacular?

Not really. If you were into card games and wanted to play them with a slight upgrade than the standard Windows offerings, you could enjoy Hoyle Card Games casual approach. Even more so, you'll probably get a kick out of mixing around the card deck backs and creating a custom avatar. At the very least, you'll appreciate that some of the A.I. players are actually challenging.

But overall, Hoyle Card Games is a pretty standard experience. It would be hard to screw up gameplay for card games that have been around for hundreds of years. But hey, we've seen worse things happen. Card enthusiasts, you'll have a place to go to play your favorite classic games when no one else is available for the challenge. That's probably the market they'll draw in.

Just Something To Do

You get the feeling that Hoyle Card Games was made as an alternative to Solitaire on the P.C. There's actually nothing wrong with that. Considering elder gamers have a wealth of new options to play their favorite card games. If you were looking for something unique or some aesthetic flair in gameplay, you wouldn't find that here.

Round-Up - Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Polished gameplay for 16 card games
• Customizable avatars
• A.I. is challenging

Cons:

• Commentary can get annoying
• Almost identical to the last game
• Nothing to give games a sense of uniqueness