Heartwild Solitaire

by Amanda Nettgen

(USA)

Game:
Heartwild Solitaire
Download it from:
Amazon (free 1hr trial)
Rating:
3/5

Quick verdict

Heartwild Solitaire is a graphically gorgeous card game that’s more mahjong than solitare. It’s very relaxing and has a tarot-like theme.

What’s it about?

If you’re the type who bothers to read the storylines of all games, you’ll see that this one is about a woman who is attempting to escape her hard life using the guidance of tarot cards (not a wise course of action in my opinion, but to each her own).

If you skip past the cumbersome pages of text, you’ll quickly realize that this game must only be relying on the storyline to motivate you, as there’s little variety to differentiate between the individual rounds.

Each level contains a beautiful spread of cards configured into some form of design. The goal is always the same; pair up two cards of matching numbers like in mahjong. If you can make a match of exact suit, you’ll earn a higher score. You want to try and work with the cards already laid out in the playing field first before tapping into your draw pile.

One helpful hint I can offer you is that it is more advantageous to pick a card that has others under it when pairing digits if you can rather than cards that aren’t on top of a pile. I found you can also mate the cards in the stock stack, too.

If you can make matches fast, a score meter will fill up and multiply your score. I don’t see the motivation for doing this, however, as the scores in this game are pretty arbitrary and pointless.

You have a number of power-ups at your disposal (undo’s, reshuffles) to aide in clearing the cards, so it’s unlikely that you’ll ever lose a level. I think this is unfortunate because part of the fun of playing games is having a little challenge.

Pros and cons

+ The levels look so pretty.

+ It’s very soothing.

+ The slots-style bonus game in-between the levels is fun.

– It’s the same boring way to play, over and over.

The verdict

Heartwild Solitaire could have melted more hearts simply if it had incorporated more types of games to play. Look into it only if you’re not looking for much of a challenge.