Sat, 12 Sep 2009 by James Newton
Like a deck of cards, only smaller...
As you'd expect from a 200 point version of Solitaire, you're not exactly going to be blown away by all the options on offer here. You've got Spider and Klondike versions of the card game, and they both have two initial difficulty settings to choose from, so once you've made your selections on both screens you're on your way to Solitaire heaven.
Both games here are truly "no frills" versions, with no selectable card designs, backgrounds or even a range of music. In fact, there's no music at all, save for a short jingle that introduces the game, but then who would expect anything more from a game taking a measly two blocks?
The only option of any real significance is the pleasing addition of a save feature. At any point in a game you can tap Quit, and save your game to start again later. If you're in a real hurry, you don't even need to tap save before you exit - the game saves automatically, allowing you to hit the Power button and resume your game later on with the greatest of ease. This works on both games too, so you can switch between Spider and Klondike as you please.
The standard touch-screen controls function exactly as you'd expect, dragging the cards over their rightful places and tapping the stack to cycle through the available cards. You can even tap Start and the game will stack the next available card on its suited pile, saving you from the tedium of dragging cards onto the ascending piles at the game's end.
The top screen keeps track of how many games you've played, how long you've spent on the game that day and your winning percentage overall. It'll even update the game's icon on your DSi Menu to reflect how many wins you've got - either a good or bad option depending on how well you play!
1. SonicMaster
12 Sep 2009, 21:36 BST
For 200 points and a 6/10? Guess I should read the review.
2. Odnetnin
12 Sep 2009, 21:39 BST
"No frills." Nice.
3. Prosody
12 Sep 2009, 21:39 BST
It might be an idea before you comment in future.
4. Jazzem
12 Sep 2009, 21:39 BST
I got this myself, and it's a very fine version. Does make me wish that you could play music from the SD card while playing, but as a solitaire addict, it does enough to satisfy me
5. Cheezy
12 Sep 2009, 21:47 BST
I'll still buy it, for 200 points, it seems to be a steal
6. will.dsi
12 Sep 2009, 22:01 BST
I love this game,
It only took up 6 blocks, i now have 4 left XD.
Great for 200 points.
7. Outrunner
12 Sep 2009, 22:01 BST
I love Solitaire so downloaded this straight away. I play it in my break at work and it's great for destressing.
8. LEGEND MARIOID
12 Sep 2009, 22:28 BST
Its a "does what it says on the tin" game. Its kind of what I expected it would be and I'm not chuffed if its too bare bones in presentation. I'm far more likely to play this on my dsi than my pc or mobile because, well, my dsi is an actual games console! Think we'll give this a fair amount of playing time my end too. 200 points is ok and the tactileness of the stylus is nice. 7/10 from my point of view
. Download it if you have even a passing interest of solitaire as the fact its on a handheld games console is likely to encourage you to play it a fair bit.
(Also, with no storage solution/playing off sd card facility yet, the tiny 6 or 7 block space requirement is good too)
9. Blue Protoman
12 Sep 2009, 22:32 BST
Isn't Solitaire included in Clubhouse Games?
10. Jazzem
12 Sep 2009, 23:14 BST
@BlueProtoman Klondlike Solitaire is, but not spider Solitaire. This has both.
11. ArtMcCarthyDotCom
12 Sep 2009, 23:22 BST
I would rather carry around a deck of card.
12. Kawaiipikachu
13 Sep 2009, 00:08 BST
Well i just stick to Solitare City on my iPod Touch then .
13. minial100
13 Sep 2009, 00:50 BST
PLEASE COME OUT MONDAY!!
14. Blue Protoman
13 Sep 2009, 00:52 BST
Hmm... I already have Solitaire on my game.com. I'll pass on this.
15. Xkhaoz
13 Sep 2009, 01:36 BST
I love Solitaire, so I might get it when I have some money.
16. Kenji510
13 Sep 2009, 02:13 BST
Hopefully we get this game on monday... one of my favorites and been waiting on it for awhile.
17. Prochnow
13 Sep 2009, 03:04 BST
I think it's OK for 200 points. But I miss a tutorial, I couldn't finish a single game so far.
18. ballistikboy
13 Sep 2009, 03:50 BST
Yes, but this is Nintendo's version of Solitaire... so it's different than Clubhouse.
19. motang
13 Sep 2009, 04:12 BST
200 points ain't too bad, I shall give it a go when it comes out.
20. mjc0961
13 Sep 2009, 04:15 BST
Hard to recommend simplistic versions of Solitaire? There's not much more they can do with it aside from fancier graphics, but that would make the game size larger. 2 blocks for this is well worth it I would think. If I didn't already have Clubhouse Games, I'd be all over this if it ever came to the US.
21. JustYourAverageBleh
13 Sep 2009, 04:37 BST
Short review..like the game
22. Raptor78
13 Sep 2009, 11:11 BST
Its simple, cheap and such a small download that I think you cant go wrong by downloading this.
I have to agree with the 6 out of 10 review because of how basic it is but it is something I would recomend anybody with 200 points left to download as it is one of those games you can go back to anytime.
... on a side note, has anybody noticed how it is in style to the black cat on the wii's pre installed channels like the news channel and the photo channel. Even the simple little jingle and sound effects scream news channel to me. Do you think this is a preview of things to come. News channel? Weather Channel... perhaps a jigsaw function on the photo channel all featuring the famous little black cat
23. KDR_11k
13 Sep 2009, 11:30 BST
For a no frills version the changing icon and instant save sound pretty frilly to me.
24. Prochnow
13 Sep 2009, 18:33 BST
OMG. After more than two hours, I finished my first Spider game in "easy".
I like this one very much now, you can play it in bed, it won't waste much blocks, it's cheap and funny. --> Well done, Nintendo! <3
25. StarDust
14 Sep 2009, 04:32 BST
2 blocks? Minimalist indeed...
26. ballistikboy
14 Sep 2009, 05:16 BST
When is this coming to the U.S.?
27. Adamant
14 Sep 2009, 06:28 BST
Heh, this is the kind of game where the weakness of a score-based review system rears it's ugly head. The score is accurate, it's a simplistic solitaire game and nothing more, and all the review really needs to do is inform about what features the game has and any eventual problems. But you just know the score is going to attract the usual crowd that only looks at the score and whines about shovelware in the comment section.
Definitely a worthy addition to the DSi library, but not an overly exciting one, and people already knew whether they wanted to buy it or not when it was first announced anyway. I'd get it if I had a DSi.
(Never heard of "Klondike solitaire" before - is that the same as Seven Solitaire? The one included in Windows under the name "Solitaire"?)
28. Prosody
14 Sep 2009, 09:32 BST
It is indeed, Adamant
29. LEGEND MARIOID
14 Sep 2009, 11:09 BST
Even IF you consider the score alone, if you understand the scoring system of this particular site, you oughy to consider any game 6/10 or above really. I've downlaoded two or three games reviewd as 6/10s on here and enjoyed them.
But obviously its always content > score.
30. Saisinkolimonadin
14 Sep 2009, 19:32 BST
I had had 300 spare points on my DSi for months and I decided to use them for this. It's a nice little time killer, I didn't really expect much and those expectations were certainly met. If only this had FreeCell and more difficulty settings for Spider this'd be perfect, but I guess it's okay.
31. mmKALLL
12 Oct 2009, 14:40 BST
If you have 200 points spare form a 800-point title if you bought 1000 points, I would suggest this as the most useful from the 200-point titles... It's a great for all those play-for-a-minute-and-leave players like me=)
...I guess all that was pretty obvious, though. The unlock feature is sort of a nice addition... It's always cool for me to achieve something more by playing a game, no matter how useless it may be, lol.
32. Meffaliss
02 Nov 2009, 00:33 GMT
for grannies only
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