Homebreviews - part 25
Entry posted by Nathan Strum
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So you're on a long road trip and the kids are in the back seat jumping up and down yelling "Are we there yet?" Well, what can you give them to keep 'em busy? Why, card games and puzzles, of course!
Poker Squares
3/5
Poker Squares is a solitaire version of poker, where your goal is to create the best five-card poker hands vertically, horizontally and diagonally, within a five-by-five grid. The more and better hands you can create, the higher your score. If this sounds familiar, then you may already own Atari's Casino (aka Sears' Poker Plus), since that cartridge has the exact same game on it called Poker Solitaire. There are only minor differences between Poker Squares and Poker Solitaire: the graphics are better in Poker Squares; Poker Squares uses a joystick, Poker Solitaire uses the paddles; and while there are a couple of minor game variations in Poker Squares that Poker Solitaire lacks, Casino also comes with Black Jack and Stud Poker. Poker Squares is completely without sound, even lacking the shuffling sound from Poker Solitaire. If you already own Casino, there's really no reason to get Poker Squares. The game itself is a decent solitaire effort with some interesting strategies and play value, but it really needs some additional games to make it worthwhile.
Euchre
4/5
Euchre is a card game that's played with a partial deck, where the goal is for you and your partner (the computer) to win more "tricks" than your opponents (also played by the computer). You do this by playing one card each turn around the table, and the highest value card wins. Win enough tricks out of five and you earn points, with the first team to ten points winning the game. Cards of the "trump" suit are of greater value than others, with the Jack of that suit being the highest value, and the Jack of the same-colored suit being second-highest. This takes a little getting used to since higher face value cards may not always be the best ones to play. It took me awhile to figure out Euchre, having very little experience with card games of this sort. Even with the help of the manual and a couple of online pages about Euchre, I'm still not entirely sure of all the rules and why I can or can't play certain cards at certain times. However, after giving it a fair chance and quite a number of tries, I've begun to appreciate the game and pick up on some of the strategies involved with it. The computer players are very good, and at times your onscreen partner seems to follow your lead almost eerily well. The key I've found is to pass up the opportunity to select the Trump suit, and only play when you have a very good hand, or are forced to play by the computer.
I must admit that Euchre took me by surprise, and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. The graphics are nothing spectacular, and the sound is only minimal, but the game itself drew me in, and the computer makes for both an excellent partner and opponent.
Okie Dokie
4/5
Okie Dokie is a deceptively simple puzzle game, where you have to make all of the symbols in a pattern disappear. You move a cursor around the screen, and when you press the fire button, the symbol your cursor is under and four adjacent symbols will "flip" their current state - visible ones will disappear, and invisible ones will reappear. By carefully planning out which symbols you flip on and off, you can eventually clear off all of the symbols. There are 30 pre-set patterns, and an option that chooses from over four-hundred patterns at random.
Even as one of the first 2600 homebrews, Okie Dokie is a solid game with excellent gameplay and good graphics. Sound is minimal, but adequate. A few minor quibbles: you can't start a new game with the fire button; whenever you press Select, it resets back to the first puzzle instead of letting you pick up at the most recent puzzle you were at; there's no indication of the minimum number of moves a puzzle requires to solve; the manual neglects to mention that the PAL/NTSC mode is toggled with the left difficulty switch (causing the screen to roll on "B/Novice"); and the "You Win" screen is blinding. Still, the game itself is what matters, and Okie Dokie delivers for puzzle enthusiasts. It can become maddeningly addictive at times, as you get oh-so-close to solving a puzzle, only to get stuck and have to backtrack to figure out where you went wrong. And while not relevant to this review, Okie Dokie also features the longest Easter Egg message I've ever seen.
Crazy Valet
2/5
Crazy Valet is a sliding puzzle game (based on the board game Rush Hour), where the object is to move cars out of your way so you can get your car out of a crowded parking lot. If that sounds a lot like another homebrew game - Jammed - it's because Crazy Valet was that game's inspiration. Crazy Valet is a decent puzzle game, but the graphics are just non-descript white blocks, and the sound is practically non-existant. The real problem though, is there's really no reason to buy Crazy Valet when Jammed is available. The two games basically play the same, but Jammed offers several key improvements: a counter showing the minimal number of moves required to solve each puzzle, improved graphics, and several hundred more puzzles - all for two dollars less. Unless you just have to own every single homebrew, you can skip over Crazy Valet, and just get Jammed instead.
Up next: It takes two to tango
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