Mac card game enthusiasts can sleep easy, now that Sierra has released Hoyle Classic Games, one package with eight card and two board games: Poker, Bridge, Cribbage, Crazy 8’s, Hearts, Sofitaire, Old Maid and Gin, and Backgammon and Checkers.
Hoyle Classic gives you a great variety of playing options. You can choose from three Merent types of opponents — animated characters, icons, and business — each with a skill level and a biography. Playmates are female, male, elderly, youthful, black, Asian, white, reptilian, or canine, not to mention beginner, average, or expert.
The animated cartoons speak and seem to interact with each other. The Attitude Meter adjusts their sportsmanship from serious to absurd. You also have a choice of rooms, music, and decks — from Suspense (mystery music) to Rain Forest (jungle sounds) to Urban (hip hop).
Still, none of these bells and whistles can turn a game of Crazy 8’s into anything other than, well, a game of Crazy 8’s. Even though response time and game speed are adjustable, the games — other than poker, perhaps — are hardly challenging. Hearts and Gin require a little thought, but Solitaire is no better than the shareware versions, and Old Maid is a no brainer. The two board games are the weakest spots of the set — Backgammon’s interface is far from intuitive, and Checkers feels rote.
Nonetheless, the games do provide interesting visual effects, and decent artificial intelligence. A minus is that although the set includes files which explain game rules, nowhere is the interface explained.
For $24.95, Hoyle Classic Games is OK. But if you’re not already a card lover, this won’t make you one.
Eisenberg, Rebecca Lynn. (April 1997). Hoyle Classic Games. MacAddict. (pg. 75).
Hoyle Classic Games
Sierra
Games
out of 10 (0 vote)
62 / 
2014-04-14 / 
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Hoyle_Classic_Games.SIT
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
