Game Freak's greatest achievement isn't creating an infinite money fire hydrant in the form of the biggest media franchise in the history of human society, it's a $7 budget game where you're killed by a horse and revived by an "angel" with a gambling addiction on the condition that you win the off-brand Kentucky Derby or he'll delete your save file for eternity.
This game is isn't as good as it is just because of its goofy charm though. Never in my life would I have thought solitaire and horse racing would be a good fit together, but somehow the combination is video game chocolate and peanut butter.
Each hand of speed solitaire determines how much energy you'll have and how efficiently you can spend that energy in the next race maneuvering segment, and your position relative to the field and any bonus cards you pick up while going around the track change the difficulty level and timer length of the next hand of solitaire. Then your position at the end of the last track segment, total energy earned from all rounds of solitaire, and boost cards grabbed (both during a maneuvering phase and the solitaire hand immediately after) are combined into one last chaotic sprint down the final stretch.
It's also got an entire side mechanic for breeding new horses that inherit the strengths and weaknesses of two of your retired adult horses, which is pretty neat too. Haven't spent much time with it since you can just pick a new, randomly generated horse every time a horse ages and eventually retires, but having the option to start a lineage if you find a horse that fits how you like to play the racing segments or has solitaire powers you like is a welcome addition.
Add on to all of that some great music and hilariously entertaining random names on opponent horses, and the entire experience is a blast. It's a shame that it's probably going to be left behind with the 3DS, because a game this fun deserves to be played by a wider audience.
This game is isn't as good as it is just because of its goofy charm though. Never in my life would I have thought solitaire and horse racing would be a good fit together, but somehow the combination is video game chocolate and peanut butter.
Each hand of speed solitaire determines how much energy you'll have and how efficiently you can spend that energy in the next race maneuvering segment, and your position relative to the field and any bonus cards you pick up while going around the track change the difficulty level and timer length of the next hand of solitaire. Then your position at the end of the last track segment, total energy earned from all rounds of solitaire, and boost cards grabbed (both during a maneuvering phase and the solitaire hand immediately after) are combined into one last chaotic sprint down the final stretch.
It's also got an entire side mechanic for breeding new horses that inherit the strengths and weaknesses of two of your retired adult horses, which is pretty neat too. Haven't spent much time with it since you can just pick a new, randomly generated horse every time a horse ages and eventually retires, but having the option to start a lineage if you find a horse that fits how you like to play the racing segments or has solitaire powers you like is a welcome addition.
Add on to all of that some great music and hilariously entertaining random names on opponent horses, and the entire experience is a blast. It's a shame that it's probably going to be left behind with the 3DS, because a game this fun deserves to be played by a wider audience.