It’s time for another installment of Palm Discovery’s wReview Wednesday! Today we’ll be looking at a game, Astraware’s Astraware Solitaire on the iPod Touch/iPhone. Please keep in mind that although the review was done on an iPod Touch that Astraware Solitaire is available on many other mobile platforms: Palm, Windwos Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry,

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Do you ever find that you’re bored at certain times of the day? Say, during the morning or afternoon commute to and from work? Wouldn’t you like to do something interesting rather than just sit and stare at the traffic around you? Or how about when you’re having your break, whether it be coffee or lunch? What better way to “get away” from work than to relax and enjoy a game or two on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Unlike other smartphones that require you to press on physical buttons, with the iPhone or iPod Touch, most times, you lightly touch the screen and drag virtual items from one place to another, which may almost seem effortless, compared to the physical key pressing. And, the best thing is that it’s solitaire so you are playing by yourself. No need to wait for your turn. I love Solitaire games.

Today, I’ll be reviewing the very popular game called Astraware Solitaire for the iPhone and iPod Touch by Astraware. As most of you who may be familiar with the beautiful graphics in Astraware games, this is no exception. Plus, the added sound effects really make the game enjoyable. Also, not only are you getting a solitaire game with your purchase, you are actually getting TWELVE, yes, count them, TWELVE Solitaire card games! Wow! That’s 12 games for the price of one! What a great deal!

At program launch, you’ll be greeted by the main screen offering you a choice of twelve solitaire card games: Klondike, Free Cell, Spider, Calculate, Golf, Idiots Delight, Canfield, Clock, Four Seasons, Yukon, Soltans Harem, and Pyramid. You can tap on them and be greeted by a screen that offers you more choices. At the bottom, you also have a few more options: About (credits and info on the game), Trophy Room (a screen of all the available trophies received and to collect), Settings (settings for the game), and Get More Games (access more mobile games from online mobile store). Click on the card representing any of the twelve games available.

On the next screen, you are presented with the layout diagram of the game you’ve chosen. You can choose to start playing by tapping the “Play” arrow at the top right or simply tap on the layout diagram. Or, you can go back with the “Back” arrow at the top left. Or, select any of the available options near the bottom. You can access more info on the game by tapping on the card labeled “Info”. This provides information on the difficulty, win chance and other info on the game. The next card is the “Stats” card. This provides you with stat info on games played, how long you’ve played, the games played, etc. “Game Rules” is the next card. Tapping on this card will give you info on the Game Rules. You can make changes to the rules according to your preference or leave it as is. The last card is the “How To Play” card. Tap on the card to get a brief summary of the game objectives. Or tap on the larger card forthe full instructions. On the left and right side of the main card are triangular arrows, allowing you to easily move left or right to the next available solitaire game. As you can tell, selecting and getting around the game is quite easy. You can go back by clicking on the “Back” arrow at the top left, or scroll to the next solitaire game by tapping on the left or right triangular arrows.

Playing the solitaire games involves tapping on the cards, lightly touching a card and dragging it to a specific slot or area. It’s very easy to figure out. Most of the action (ie. shuffling, flipping cards over, etc) will be performed by the game itself. I like not having to tap on the card to flip them over and watching the graphics and action and hearing the sound effects.

During the game, you have several options available to you at the bottom of the screen. You can go back by tapping on the “Back” arrow at the bottom left. “Undo” moves by tapping on the counterclockwise arrow. You can also “Redo” moves by tapping on the clockwise arrow. Tap on the “Hint” and you will be provided with a hint on what to do. Or, you can start a new game by selecting “New Game”.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Slideshow of Astraware Solitaire for iPhone/iPod Touch

Video of Astraware Solitaire

Astraware Solitaire video review at YouTube

Here are my observations:

I Liked:

Ease of play

Even if you aren’t familiar with many of the solitaire card games available, the game offers enough instructions to help you along. If you can tap with your fingers and lightly move your finger along the touch screen, you should have no problems playing the games. It’s that simple.

Beautiful graphics and effects

As expected with Astraware, the graphics in the game are amazing. The colors are very bright and sharp but not too much to distract from playing. The action and effects of the cards are impressive. I like not needing to flip cards myself as it’s set by default. But, you can do so if you wish. Simply change “Auto Flip card” to “Off” in the Settings. Plus I like the sound effects of card shuffling, or card flipping as it adds to game enjoyment.

Support background music playback

You can have music stored on your iPhone or iPod Touch to play in the background while you’re playing the game. This can make it much more enjoyable as you play and listen to music at the same time.

Twelve games in one

Having twelve different solitaire card games in one really adds to the value of this game. Even if you get bored with playing, you can easily choose and play any one of the other eleven games. So, it’s practically impossible to get bored with this game.

Supports landscape playing

I really enjoy being able to play the game in landscape mode as I find that in portrait mode that the layout seems a bit cramped. Flipping the screen over allow the cards to be laid out without feeling cramped. I prefer playing the game in landscape.

Support pinch zooming

As if Astraware already figured out that the card layout may seem a bit cramped and the cards seem a bit small, they have provided support for the “pinch zooming” feature in this game. This allows me to zoom in or out according to my preference. And of course, I can move around with my fingers to see the entire layout by dragging the screen in any direction. This is one nice feature I didn’t expect and glad it was added in.

Backgrounds and card back customization

One important feature for solitaire games is the ability to change and customize the background and playing card back design. And Astraware Solitaire offers this feature. Plus, Astraware went a bit further by offering special backgrounds and card backs as you unlock and receive new trophies! This is one nice thing about Astraware, allowing special features, items to be “unlocked” or revealed as you continue to play the game.

I Didn’t Like:

Cramped layout

The only complaint I have of Astraware Solitaire really doesn’t have much to do with the game itself but more of the limitation of the iPhone/iPod touch screen. The layout of these solitaire games takes up a lot of space and in order for the games to be displayed, the cards must be at a size small enough to allow everything to fit and be laid out. And in this case, the cards on a lot of the games may seem a bit small and the layout seems a bit cramped. Thus, this is probably why Astraware allowed the pinch zooming feature. But if you zoom in, you won’t be able to view the entire layout. So, it’s a catch twenty-two.

The game is well designed but given the difficulty of compromise between displaying the entire card layout or having bigger sized cards for viewing or playing, it’s difficult to have both but at least you have the option of either zooming in for a better view or viewing the entire layout. Astraware Solitaire is a solid, aesthetically pleasing solitaire game that will have you play for hours and not get bored.

Review Summary

Astraware Solitaire for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a solid solitaire game that offers a lot for the money and endless hours of enjoyment. You have the choice of twelve different solitaire card games to choose from. The graphics and effects both visual and sound are excellent. Prefer to play the game in landscape mode? Flip your iPhone or iPod Touch around and the game will rotate the screen around for a better rendering of the layout. Want to get a closer view of the cards? Pinch out to zoom in and pinch in to zoom back out. Drag your finger along the screen to move the focus of the screen around the layout. How about changing the backs of the cards or the background? You can do that! Choose from amongst the various choices available. As an added special bonus, when you complete the entire trophy deck, you can use it in the game! Wow! That’s something special! You can play the games simply by tapping on the cards or specific areas and the action will be performed for you. Or you can opt to drag and drop the cards yourself. It’s up to you. You’ll find endless hours of enjoyment with Astraware Solitaire that you may end up not wanting to get back to work

Don’t forget that Astraware Solitaire is available on many other mobile platforms: Palm, Windows Mobile Professional, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Symbian, Blackberry, Android and of course, iPhone/iPod Touch.

Check out Astraware Solitaire for other mobile platforms at Handango:

Astraware Solitaire - Palm OS

Astraware Solitaire - Windows Mobile Professional

Astraware Solitaire - Windows Mobile Smartphone

Enjoyed this review? Check out the many other Astraware reviews, Palm Discovery software reviews here such as palm os software review, windows-mobile software review, symbian os software review, iPhone and ipod touch software review.

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