70 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
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HOUSE OF CARDS
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HOUSE OF CARDS from Virgin Mastertronic is another popular card game entry in
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an ever-increasing line of these collections. This offering comes with six card
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games -- Bridge, Hearts, Spades, Cribbage, Pinochle, and Gin Rummy -- all of
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which you play solo against the computer. This review is based on the IBM-PC
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version.
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After starting HOUSE, you're given the option of using the keyboard, joystick,
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or mouse. Using the mouse is an exercise in frustration because control isn't
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easy, especially when trying to rearrange your hand. I'm not sure whether the
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joystick option is any better, but keyboard control is much easier, and the
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expected action is executed properly.
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Now that you have your control option out of the way, you're presented with a
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menu of the available card games. Selecting the one to play is done by entering
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its corresponding number. The next menu is the Play Options menu, where you
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decide how many points the game will be played to, whether or not you want the
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rules made available during play, and the speed at which the messages are
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displayed. Other selections on the Options Menu will change, depending on the
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game you've decided to play.
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If you decide to select the Practice Mode from the Options Menu, you'll be able
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to play through as many hands as you wish until you understand the game. During
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the Practice Mode, the computer's hand will always be displayed.
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Another option available is the Demo Mode. If you select this, you can watch
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the computer play against itself to get an idea of how the game is played.
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As for the games themselves, they've been faithfully programmed to reflect the
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real thing. So far, the only complaint I have about how the rules have been
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interpreted is in Pinochle. If the bid is dumped on you (by the computer), no
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matter how many of one suit you have, you cannot select that suit to be trump
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unless it has some meld (points) in it. I had a hand of eight clubs (double
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aces, double tens, double kings, and double jacks); however, the computer
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wouldn't allow me to make clubs the trump. I had to make hearts the trump,
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because I had a marriage (king and queen) in it. Needless to say, I was "set"
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(didn't make the bid), and the computer won the game.
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The graphics are okay, but nothing fancy. I played HOUSE on a PS/2 with VGA
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graphics; at best, the graphics were EGA, although I was given the MCGA option.
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The graphics might be smoother on a PC with more RAM (I only have 512K). There
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is no music or sound card support. The sound effects include shuffling, "buzzes"
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for incorrect card handling, and high-pitched "beeps" for trick-taking and game
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wins. All sound is through the PC's internal speaker.
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HOUSE comes on one 5-1/4" floppy diskette; a 3-1/2" diskette is not supplied or
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offered, but one is probably available, since the box states plainly that a
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5-1/4" disk is enclosed. The diskette, however, is not copy-protected, so it's
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easy to copy the game to the proper disk format, if you have that capability. In
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fact, there is no copy-protection method used anywhere in the game.
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Graphic displays supported include CGA, EGA, VGA, and Tandy, and 256K RAM is
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required. Because of the lack of copy protection, HOUSE can be installed on a
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hard disk.
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The documentation is sparse, comprising seven 4" x 2" pages. Apparently, all
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the documentation about how the games are played is on the diskette, and getting
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to that information is done via the Options Menu. What's interesting about the
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documentation, however, is the brief history given for each of the games.
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HOUSE OF CARDS, while not graphically dramatic, is fun nonetheless, and you'll
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find yourself returning to it time and again.
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HOUSE OF CARDS is published and distributed by Virgin Mastertronics.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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