Card Games for OS/2 v2.7

- by Mikael Engdahl

One category that, until rather recently, has suffered from a lack of commercial OS/2 software is entertainment and games. To make up for this there have always been a lot of nifty shareware games available; Card Games for OS/2 is one of them.

Card games is, as you can imagine, a collection of card games (solitaire) for OS/2. In fact, there are nine of them. It is a very simple (and small) game, but still very addictive.

The installation is relatively simple, just unpack the game files in a directory and run the installation program by typing "setup". If you, for some reason, prefer to install it manually you can also copy the game files where you want them and create a desktop object. This is just what the installation program does.

The nine games included are Astra (gif 11.5k), Scrooge, TidyUp, Elevens, Shift, Towers, King & Ace, Calculation and Klondike. Since there are so many of them, you can really play a lot without getting bored. Card Games doesn't contain any fancy high-res graphics, sounds or other multimedia features. They aren't needed; that's not the point of the game.

There are quite a few options and settings you can change to make the game and tableau look nicer (different deck patterns, different background colors, etc.). There is also a time counter and a high score list. Other nice functions include undo, redo (undoes the last undo) and cheat if you happen to get stuck.

Card movement is simple; just drag it with the right mouse button to where you want it. An alternate way is to click on the card with the left mouse button, and if there is a valid move the card will automatically be moved. You can choose to use either a single or double click from the options menu. In most games though, when a card can be moved to more than one place you have to drag it.

The game also has fairly good help files. It is quite a small game and a major help system isn't needed. I found the existing one sufficient. Card Games for OS/2 is shareware and after a trial period of 30 days you have to register it, though the evaluation copy is fully functional. The registration fee is $28. The author of the game is German and therefore both English and German language support is included.

Card Games for OS/2 is easy to start off with, fast, and is an overall pleasant game. I wasn't too impressed with it when I started playing, but a few hours later, I somewhat reluctantly realized I had changed my mind. My only complaint is that I thought some of the games were a little too similar. Still, it's the kind of game that you intend to play for just a couple of minutes before you get on with your work. And after playing for a couple of minutes you decide to quit, but you need just "one more go", you just need to reach the high score list. Then a couple of hours later you're still sitting there, intending to play just, "one more time. . ." It's not the game that will revolutionize the gaming industry, or turn OS/2 into the leading games platform, but if you're already stuck with the OS of the future it sure is worth a try.

Send a letter to the editor.

Contents | Previous Article | Next Article

Copyright © 1995 - Falcon Networking