Price: $1.99 Score: 9/10 Category: Card Games
EdgeRift knows what it means to execute on a simple thing extremely well. Their Real Solitaire HD deals up an iPad version of one and three card draw Klondike Solitaire that’s everything you’d hope for in such a classic card game.
The first obvious noticeable about Real Solitaire is the crisp, clear card displays. The design is impeccable, and anyone would be hard pressed to beat a Solitaire game in elegance. Real Solitaire HD plays in both portrait and landscape mode, and the card animations are great.
You can move cards by dragging or double tapping, and unlike some of the other card games I’ve played on the iPad, the game is extremely responsive to touch. When a pile of cards gets too long and starts to hit the bottom of the screen (like if you have a King through 2 in one column) the game automatically compresses the pile just a little bit. The move is seamless, just like all the other stunning but subtle effects in Real Solitaire HD.
The game allows for three scoring modes (none, standard, and Vegas style), as well as timed mode. You can start a new game by shaking the iPad. Violent shakers shouldn’t worry though, because the shake doesn’t start the game automatically. Instead a prompt shows up asking you if you want to restart the game you’re playing, start a new game, or resume. Best of all, if for any reason you’re pulled away from your iPad, Real Solitaire HD saves your game exactly where you left off.
The sound effects of shuffling and moving cards is classic, and there’s something about the way they executed this that feels more interactive than your regular game of Solitaire. There’s also unlimited undo, which is great but could be dangerous for those who want to see what would have happened if they moved a Jack to one place instead of another.
Real Solitaire HD’s default backdrop on download is an elegant wood, and users get to pick from any of eight Solitaire backgrounds. This list of eight includes the default wood, green, blue, red, peacock, read sea bannerfish, rainforest, spring flowers, tropical, penguins and custom. The custom background setting allows you to pull any photo from your photo library and add it to the game.
To add to the effective aesthetic, a shimmer sometimes glimmers over the cards beautifully. There’s no doubt that Real Solitaire HD far outpaces any free version of Solitaire I’ve ever played and I have no complaints, but if I were allowed to pick at miniature, mostly irrelevant points I would create a setting for customizing the actual cards, and maybe even consider adding Spider Solitaire or Free Cell to the bundle. Regardless, Real Solitaire HD is one of the best Solitaire games on the iPad to date.
Bottom Line: Real Solitaire HD is a crisp and well executed version of one of the most staple card games of all time. Without a doubt, this is much better than any free version of Solitaire I’ve ever played.
