Total Game Boy
28th November 1999
Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Take 2 Interactive
Machine: Game Boy Color
Published in Total Game Boy Issue 02
Don't lose your shirt with this card game compendium!
Cool Hand
Card games probably aren't the most exciting activity you could think of. They were probably quite wild in the 'Old West' where a dodgy hand could result in an all-out gunfight, but these days they've lost most of their glamour.
Cool Hand offers you the chance to try your luck and skill at three different card games: Black Jack, Cribbage and Solitaire - the latter allowing you a choice of four different styles.
Each game comes complete with full instructions and an in-game help function which can advise you of the rules as and when they apply and also offer you advice on the appropriate course of action.
Whilst card games aren't the first thing you'd think would make a fun computer game, it has to be said that they are well-suited to the Game Boy Color. Cards are a great way to pass the time on a long journey and it's not always practical to spread out a pack of them on a train, coach or in the back of someone's car.
Cool Hand also gives you the chance to play against an opponent - in the case of cribbage and black jack - without having to accost some stranger unlucky enough to be travelling with you and forcing them to join in. Graphically, it must be said that the small screen of the Game Boy makes some of the solitaire games a little cluttered. However, the other two games are clearly presented and the black jack mode lets you take on a casino without the risk of losing any actual money - which has to be the best way to play (although, of course, you don't get to walk away with a fat wallet when you do manage to beat the dealer).
Cool Hand is a collection of fun card games and not a bad little buy, although an actual pack of cards would obviously be much cheaper.