Best of Solitaire Review (3DS eShop)

Who doesn't love a good old card game? They're enjoyable, relaxing and you can even play them by yourself if you're socially lacking at the time. Best of Solitaire may seem like a tempting purchase if you're a fan of the solo four-suit adventure, but is it worth spending your money on?

Best of Solitaire loads up almost instantly after the Nintendo 3DS logo disappears, and right away you'll notice that there are a lot of variations of solitaire that you can play. If you happen to scroll down to the bottom you'll eventually realise that there are a whopping 101 options, so no matter whether you prefer patience or quadrangle you'll be covered. This is easily the biggest selling point of the game, and if you're not familiar with any form that the game has to offer there's a handy little help button in the top right hand corner that explains the game's rules fairly well.

The games all play as you'd expect them to, you essentially just use the touch screen to move the cards around into their appropriate positions and (hopefully) win the game. There is a hint system if you get stuck, but it's very basic and just points you to a potential move regardless as to whether it will help you progress or not. It can be useful if you've simply skipped over something, but if you're genuinely in a pickle it's probably not going to be too big of a help. If you're halfway through a game and you suddenly have to run off to the call of real life you can also save your progress in that particular game, and it'll be waiting for you when you next load the game, which is a nice touch.

The presentation is functional, but isn't particularly appealing. Whenever you're playing the top screen shows some low-res playing cards on a very basic wooden table. It's nice to see that the developer thought about trying to include something a little bit more visually appealing, but it falls a little short. The visual limitations don't end there, either, as the bottom screen has been structured in a way that there isn't enough room to display a whole column of the cards in a standard game of patience. You can still access them of course, but it's a bit of an ugly and clunky process. You'll also want to play this game with the sound off, as the music is a very generic and uninspired array of tracks that loops after less than thirty seconds of playback.