You are a very bored and desperate gamer playing the card game 'solitaire' in [b]WYVERN STUDIO SOLITAIRE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION[/b] by [b]Denki Gaka[/b].
A deck of ordinary playing cards was once described as the most versatile form of entertainment ever created and it's not hard to see why. From poker to blackjack, solitaire to gin rummy, war to 'go fish,' there are a seemingly endless variety of ways to create games of skill and chance with only 52 cards and the occasional joker (and that doesn't mean Batman's arch-nemesis).
Long before video game consoles began entertaining kids (and frustrating the occasional parent), a deck of cards was the original multiplayer and single-player gaming experience. With it's portable size, durability, availability and versatility, it was the 'killer app' for many generations of yesteryear. And while even a seasoned card game designer would be hard-pressed to translate the modern-day gameplay of such notable multiplayer games such as 'World of Warcraft' or 'Fortnite' into a card game, just about any seasoned video game developer can probably hack together a serviceable enough computer game rendition of 'solitaire' or 'poker,' either for their own amusement or for a niche crowd of enthusiasts.
If I had ever stumbled upon Wyvern Studio's solitaire from 30 years ago, I don't remember it. At the time of writing this review, 30 years ago was the year 1994. Windows 95 was still a year away from being available to the general public (the '95' in 'Windows 95' meaning the year 1995). The Disney-animated film "The Lion King" was the top-grossing film worldwide for the year. Singer Kurt Cobain, actor Burt Lancaster and former American President Richard Nixon all passed away that year. The 'Warcraft' franchise begins with the release of 'Warcraft: Orcs and Humans.'
The card game 'solitaire' has numerous variants but Wyvern Studio Solitaire (WSS) features only two such variants at the writing of this review: Klondike and Pyramid. Players can choose which card designs that they would prefer and also which rule variants from within Klondike and Pyramid that they'd prefer to play. There's a lot of superfluous options that the player can adjust, including the style of background that the cards are on and even the color of that background.
The game itself is competent and there's nothing to really discuss. People who know what Klondike solitaire looks and plays like will feel perfectly comfortably playing this rendition of the card game. Although I wasn't familiar with Pyramid solitaire, I have no doubt that WSS created a faithful rendition of that card game as well. I was fortunate enough to win at both and the victory celebration of the cards all scattering about was perfectly fine.
One should never question sincere motivations; Looking into the proverbial gift horse's mouth is never polite. Yet I'm at a loss as to why WSS exists.
With a genre, such as first-person shooters (FPS), there are inevitable similarities between any group of FPS games. You are the hero, you have weapons, there are obstacles (such as enemies) that you have to overcome. There are door and buttons and keys that you may have to acquire. There are power-ups such as health and additional ammunition that you may pick up. Yet, because it's a genre, there are also differences in the gameplay mechanics of those games - One game might have auto-regenerating health while another might not. One game might be set in the far distant future while the other is set in contemporary times. With changes to gameplay mechanics, one FPS game can feel very different than another.
Card games, though, can't alter their gameplay; They are games, not genres. If you alter the gameplay mechanics of Klondike solitaire in any meaningful way, you no longer have Klondike solitaire but something else. Being able to choose your background and choose your card deck design is nice but it's not critical to the gameplay experience. Are there really solitaire enthusiasts who won't play these games if the card design is red as opposed to blue?
An odd aspect of this game is that it is not exactly small in size for the entertainment that it provides.
A reasonable person would expect that a card game (even if there are [b]two[/b] card games and each one has variants and the cards have different card designs) would not be as large as, say, a first-person shooter. The original version of the first-person shooter, [b]Quake[/b] (later Quake 1 because of sequels), was less than 100 megabytes in size. That was the entire game; Both single-player AND multiplayer.
WSS clocks in at nearly 400 megs in size; That's over 4 times the size of a revolutionary game that came out nearly a quarter-century ago using state-of-the-art coding technology. Yes, there are modifications that can be used with Quake to have better-looking weapons and monsters and environments and so forth; Quake can easily push past the 1 gigabyte size if someone so chooses. But, then again, why would you? Just as WSS is a card game; Quake 1 is a fairly simplistic FPS. At some point, the size-to-entertainment ratio simply becomes irrational. Even for Quake enthusiasts, at what point does the look of the Lightning Gun matter?
There's nothing 'wrong' with WSS; I can't [b]not[/b] recommend it. It's currently a free game. If you're a solitaire card game enthusiast, you'll likely enjoy it. It follows the conventions of the card game rules faithfully. The game didn't crash while I was playing it. The graphics were perfectly fine for what it needed to do. If you've ever wanted to play either Klondike or Pyramid solitaire on Steam, here is that opportunity.
But how many people are going to want to keep a nearly 400 meg solitaire game on their computer? It just doesn't make sense. I hope that Denki Gaka continues working on this game and enjoying their time continuing to develop it. Yet I don't know who will truly enjoy this particular version of this game.
