Hoyle Classic Board Games
Reviewed by Craig Sorrels
Published by Sierra

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up, Adults Type: Board/Card Games Price: $34.95

Description:

Hoyle Classic Board Games by Sierra has enough games to keep the whole family happy. There's Checkers or Snakes & Ladders for the little ones. Chess, Battling Ships, & Chinese Checkers will entice the strategist, and if you want to see how your luck is running, there's Dominoes, Pachisi, Backgammon, & Yacht. Finishing up the top ten is a Chinese game called Zen Bones. The idea behind this game is to match the tiles (bones), which come in seven categories. If you don't know Chinese characters, don't worry - the computer will find the matching tiles for you. The bonus card games are Hearts and Pyramid Solitaire. The handbook has a history of each board game as well as comprehensive rules.

Features:

• 10 classic board games.
• Shortcut keys.
• 2 bonus card games.
• Multiplayer over the Internet.
• Excellent documentation.

Technical Aspects:

Game play is smooth, but a little slow, and the audio is a choppy with the 2X CD. Internet play was also a bit slow. To keep things interesting there are three skill levels & 12 opponents, including a bear. I even enjoyed Snakes & Ladders because of the characters. Besides the skill level of your opponents, you can decide how talkative they are. The more they talk, the more smart-mouthed they become. You can't make them shut up, but you'll probably want to turn Langley down as far as you can - he's an extremely irritating attorney. The graphics are all very realistic, and the artwork adds to the characterizations.

Report & Conclusion

Classic board games are always a favorite around our house, so this title has been used quite a bit. The one drawback is that you cannot play a turn-based game; it's you and the computer or multiplayer over the Net. If that one problem doesn't scare you off, though, you'll have a great time playing your way through Hoyle Classic Board Games.

If you have any problems when using Kids Domain then please contact Cindy, who will be happy to help where possible.

[Beginners - Ages 2-5 - Ages 4-8 - Ages 8 up - Grownups]

[Subject Indexes - Kids Home - Online Games - Grownups Place]

Copyright ⌐ Kids Domain, 1998.