King Sol

.: By: Corn Bread :: Device used: EM-500 :: October 18, 2001 :.

If you were forced to have only one game installed in your Pocket PC, which game would that be? Hard question, eh? But don’t worry, I’m here to make the decision making easier for you, because here is a game that’s a very strong contender for your valuable RAM space. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, King Sol.

Are you ready for King Sol?

What is King Sol you may ask? King Sol is a collection of 70 solitaire game variations, from the ever-popular Klondike, to the more obscure Letter H and, with a choice of 70 games, you’ll surely be able to find a game which suits your playing style. Some of the games require an insane amount of strategy, some rely mostly on luck, while others offer a good mix of strategy and luck to be able to complete the game.

You won’t have to worry about not knowing how to play any of the 70 games as there are detailed game descriptions for each showing the odds of winning, an explanation of the game itself and if the game is luck or strategy based. A well written rule book is also included to guide you through each game, but don’t worry about being bored reading long manuals - the instructions for playing each game are efficiently written since they only use a few sentences whilst still managing to clearly convey how each game is played.

King Sol stands out from its competitors in that it is currently the biggest Solitaire/card game compilation out there. The sharp and clean graphical interface is also worth noticing, and the cards respond and move smoothly to my stylus taps. Moreover, the sound effects are absolutely adorable. There is also a save feature where you can simply stop the game and continue later on where you left off. This is a very valuable feature since most of us play games on our PPC in between our usually busy schedule, and it gives the game more flexibility to adopt to your lifestyle. You can even build your own Favorites list so you can keep track of the games you play most frequently.

Confused as to which game to play? Let the computer choose for you!

The level of customization in King Sol is astounding. You have the option of changing the background, deck of cards and sound effects of the game, plus there’s also a randomizer feature which allows you to have a different background and deck of cards every time you play. There are more backgrounds, decks, and sound effect themes available from King Sol’s website where you can download them for free. Installation of these is quite easy; you just copy the files into the appropriate folders. You also have the ability to turn off/on card shadows, sounds and animations.

Customization is not only limited to aesthetics only; you can also change the controls to fit your preferences. You can tap and drag cards, single or double tap a card to automatically command it to make a legal move, and there’s even an auto-play feature for those who are too lazy to tap a card! For the cheating element that exists in all of us, there’s even an option to set an unlimited undo command to help ensure a victory every time you play. (Personally, I never used the unlimited undo feature... honest!)

Download more skins from the Customization Gallery

For the serious Solitaire players, King Sol has a very detailed statistics chart to track your game playing time and win/loss percentage for each game. This includes a pie chart, best time/score table, game play history and win percentage. You can also choose to either view the chart on a per session basis or covering all of the games you’ve ever played. I find the statistics chart very useful in tracking my game play style - by referring to this chart, I can see in which games I excel, and which ones I frequently play. It also comes in handy when you compete with other people as you can compare charts with each other. After all, what fun is playing without a little competition right?

Will you be the King of King Sol?

All in all, King Sol truly deserves the title “The King of Solitaire Games”. It has a lot of game play value that will keep you hooked for a long, long time to come. Whether your a Solitaire fanatic or not, I’m sure you will find this game very entertaining. There are only a few games out there that can come close to the perfection of King Sol, as the amount of games and options that it offers is truly unmatched!

I can honestly say that this game has earned a permanent place in my Pocket PC; give it a try and you won’t be disappointed. It should be noted that King Sol has recently won a Best Product Award year 2001 in the card game category at the Pocket PC Summit. This, in my opinion, is an award that Rapture Technologies truly deserves. Kudos to them, and let's hope they continue to churn out lots of great games for the PPC. King Sol is available for all major Pocket PC's, priced at $19.95, requires 834KB storage memory and needs 800KB program memory in order to run it.
 

Pros:

• High replay value.

• Completely customizable (controls and graphics).

• Thorough Statistic/ranking table.

• Very efficient help/rule book.

• Smooth animations and clear sound effects.

• Good graphics.

• No unexpected bugs/crashes.

Cons:

• None of note.

.: Game category: Card & Casino Games :: Reviews Index :.