You don't need a heart to love this game (Hearts (PC))

Member Name: mjw92

Product:	Hearts (PC)
Date:	19/07/08 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Gameplay, Customizable features, Suitable difficulty level

Disadvantages: Games can draw on, Luck is very involved, Little Repetitive if played too often

Hearts is a card game that to most non-pc users is unfamiliar as the game became popular due to its inclusion in the windows games.

~~ Location ~~

For a computer using windows, you can get to the game by using the start menu: accessories: games: hearts.
For windows vista packages you simply go from start to games to hearts.
Alternatively the game can be found on many sites on the internet by searching for: "hearts card game" in google.

~~ Rules ~~

The objective of the game is to accumulate the least number of points throughout the game and the winner is the player with the least number of points when another player breaches the 100 points barrier.
A player receives 1 point for every heart they accumulate and 13 points for receiving the Queen of Spades.

The game starts as 4 players divide the deck between them meaning they each have 13 cards. The computer sorts them into suits, with each suit being organised numerically so as you look at your hand you have:
clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts.

Following this a rotation system is used:
first round: you make a (conscious) choice of 3 cards to pass to the player on your left
second round: you make a choice of 3 cards to pass to the player on your right
third round: you make a choice of 3 cards to pass to the player opposite you
fourth round: no cards are swapped.
At the same time you receive three cards from your opponent, so everyone will still have 13 cards.

Each round is comprised of 13 segments, where one card is played by each player.
In the first segment, the player holding the two of clubs must start the game with this card. Every other player must play a club if they have one in their hand to follow suit, *however if not they can play any other card.* (* refers to all the game, however one the first segment of any round, a player can not play a heart or the queen of spades *)
The highest valued card of the suit that led the segment (so the first hand being the highest club) will take the segment and will then choose which card to play for the next segment and everyone must follow that suit.
As a small note to add here, you can not open a segment with a heart, unless you only have hearts left in your hand or someone else has played a heart on a previous segment (i.e. if someone played a heart as they had no diamonds)
You get a score if in a suit you collect, there is a heart or the queen of spades, then the value is added to your overall score.
A great tactical feature of the game though is the off-chance of a score called: "Shoot the moon." With all 13 hearts and the queen of spades, the amount of points you can get on a hand is 26. If you obtain all 26 points, you actually score 0, and the score of 26 is given to every other player, which is an extremely great feeling!

The rules are quite complex at first if you have never played, which is a disappointing feature of this game as it puts many people off, though when you play it is much easier to grasp the game and play is very enjoyable.

~~ Strategy ~~

Many players will have different views as to which strategy is most successful and it mainly depends on the player involved, however I believe I have quite a successful strategy, as even though luck can dictate a lot of the play, I still tend to win about 85% of the time.
The most important factor is to avoid receiving the queen of spades, as 13 points is equal to receiving all the hearts. Therefore it is important to be careful if you end up with the queen, king or ace of spades. If these are seen in your hand swap them immediately if you can or otherwise be careful when you release them. Also on this subject, keep a few lower spades so if you are given the queen you can give low spades, rather than have her drawn out by other players.
A second tactic I find good to use is to try and practically eliminate one suit. If you start with no diamonds then when diamonds is played you can get rid of any card you want to. This can provide a huge advantage, especially if you have many high cards in your hand.
High cards are a big problem as when a player has nothign in a suit they will play a heart (or the queen) and the highest card will receive these points so get rid of high cards quickly and safely.
My final point that a lot of players disagree with is I choose to sit back and not lead out hands. I believe if you don't lead out you have more information what your opponents are doing and make more of an informed decision.
Other than these points just small general things like remember what cards are played so you know how many of a suit is left and if you ahve the highest card of a suit etc. Also watch out for players shooting the moon, as this will distribute you 26 points and can make it a nightmare to try and recover.

This is just my opinion of strategy and otehr peoples views may vary, but as I stated previously, each to their own.

~~ Other minor features ~~

There are some minor features in the windows version that allow you to make it a more personal experience:
You can customize the names of the computer players to anything you want and you can add your own name in.
You can save a record of your statistics to see your winning percentage rate and best winning score.
In the Windows Vista mode you can save a game you are playing in order to continue it at a later stage.
Finally, in Windows XP and Vista, you are able to customize the playing surface and style of playing card you use.

~~ Opinion ~~

My personal opinion is that hearts is a great game that is very compatible with computerized play. The computer opponents don't single you out and play very strategically and this is a great change compared to other card game simulations, and so in this aspect I must give full credit.
The game is at a suitable difficulty level as I have played for many years and half of the game I play I struggle to win or end up losing. For less advanced players who would play on a less regular basis, the difficulty is quite high, though you are probably able to win a third of the games at an enjoyable level.
A downside to this game is that luck does play a key roll and sometimes it does feel as though luck is against you a lot and this is perhaps the factor that disappoints me most about this game.
Another slightly negative point is that although the gameplay is great, games can go across many rounds without a player reaching 100, so games can draw on time wise and gets a little repetitive if you play two games in a row, compared to other windows games like freecell or minesweeper.
Despite those two minor points it is great gameplay, with added customizable features and therefore to anyone who has never played I would recommend giving the game a few plays to get the gist of the rules and enjoy the game.

Ideally I would like to say 4.5 * however I can't and the small factors of repetition, time of a game and luck make me give this product 4*, though on a better scale I would say 9 / 10.

Summary: I would recommend playing.