Amazon.com: Ultimate Card Games: Nintendo Gameboy Advance: Video Games

46 Reviews

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (46 customer reviews)

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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great handheld compilation of card games, June 24, 2004

By	maxmasa31 "maxmasa31" (Honolulu, HI United States) - See all my reviews

First off, I've got to say that I own a Palm, so I own most of these games in one form or another on my Palm. But I love card games, so I just had to buy this game when it came out. After playing it for a week or two now, I've got to say that this is one of my favorite games! Of course it's easier to play games like solitaire on a PDA with its touch screen, but I've got to admit, Telegames did a great job making this game as painless to play as possible. The selection of games is wonderful, as are the features. Here are some of the features I like:

--Backgrounds - You can change the background image to a picture or a gradient color.
--Music - There's an hour worth of music on the cartridge and it's playable CD-style, so you can pick and choose what songs you want to hear.
--Windows-style menus - This may sound crazy, but it really does make it easier to navigate options while you're in the middle of a game. You can save or load a game, view rules, change the music or background. All games should implement this system!

The graphics are wonderful considering how much the screen has to show, and on the photo backgrounds, the images are crystal clear--I never knew the GBA SP could display photos so clearly. There's even a simulated 3D face creator, so you can create your own likeness for when you play.

So here's what I don't like:

--Glitchy buttons - In order to rearrange your cards, you must first press the "R" button and then choose which card you want to move by pressing the "A" button. Thing is, if you're not careful, the "A" button also acts as the discard button, so you can lose a card you meant to keep.
--No female features in face creator - I'm sorry, but every single feature in the "Face Creator" program looks like a man's face. I tried making one for my fiance and decided against it as she would've killed me if I told her, "I think this looks like you."

These are small gripes and I think the game still deserves the five-star rating. This is a great game for all ages. There's no violence and the selection is such that there is bound to be a game you know, no matter your age. I mean, what six year old doesn't know "Go Fish"? And even if you don't know, the game has a pretty good "How to play" to get you started. I recommend this game to everyone, although I think adults will enjoy it more with the inclusion of Blackjack, Poker and Video Poker.

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51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I think we can eliminate "ultimate" from this games' title., June 1, 2004

By	Christopher J. Cross "Byff" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I, like many folks, waited months and months for "ultimate card games" to be released. I am underwhelmed by the game in it's final form.

Pros: 1. Very easy interface, you quickly pick up how to play your cards, make wagers, etc. 2. You can save games quickly and at any point during a game or even during a hand. 3. Game keeps your stats, if you're into that sort of thing, that's kinda cool. 4. As far as "classic" games go, you have a lot of selections. I was particularly interested in cribbage and euchre, and it's nice to have both of them in a handheld format. 5. The AI isn't overly smart, but when the CPU is your partner (at least in euchre) you can trust it to make the correct play.

Cons: 1. Non-existent game manual. There are token descriptions of games that you can read when you choose them from the menu but no rules, no how to play, nothing! I've always wanted to learn to play Bridge or Canasta but I'm not going to learn how here! How hard would it have been to give me a tutorial on these card games? At the very least put rules, etc. in the printed manual so I can figure out how to play these games. That's just lazy in my opinion.
2.They should've called it "Ultimate Solitaire with some other stuff thrown in". I'm not a big solitaire fan, for the most part I find it boring. Telegames gives you about a dozen versions to play and I'm saying, so what? If you like solitaire, you might give this game a higher rating. My problem is you've got a dozen kinds of solitaire and only one game (draw) of poker. Has telegames not been watching tv lately. Poker is HUGE! And while they may have given us the most familiar kind of poker (draw) they missed several great games. Like say...uhhh...I don't know....TEXAS HOLD 'EM! How about some poker with dueces wild or five-card stud or even regular seven-card stud?
3. Since we're talking about casino games. Where's Baccarat? Where is caribbean stud or pai gow? You give me black jack, draw poker and video poker (Video poker? What? I thought we were doing actual card games here? Why not just throw in pachinko, keno and slots and call it ultimate senior citizens games?)

4. The AI seems to get awfully good cards on a consistent basis. In both poker and cribbage I've had commanding leads and though my cards don't necessarily get worse, the AI's card become incredible! I've only been playing it a week so "lady luck" or random chance might have more to do with this, it just seems suspicious.

5. This technically is an addition to my first complaint. I've been playing euchre for roughly thirty years now and it's certainly possible that I and the millions of people who play it online are wrong. However, the last time I checked there were 24 cards in a euchre deck. This game has 25, the extra card being some sort of "super card" that trumps the right bauer (the highest card in a given hand). What is that? Get it right people, or at the very least include a game manual that explains this and all the other games in some sort of detail that would allow those unfamiliar to enjoy this "ultimate" selection of games.

6. There are hundreds of kinds of card games and I'm sure that Telegames wanted a few kid friendly games to attract the younger set, but maybe skip "go fish" or "crazy eights" and throw in pinochle or some other "adult" game.

Synopsis: This game has many good points, it has a decent selection of games. The interface is wonderful and easy to learn. However, the overemphasis on solitaire, the lack of any kind of manual and the limited variety in casino and poker games makes it difficult for me to recommend this at it's current price point (29.99). In no way is this the "ultimate" in card games.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All in all, a pretty good collection of card games, June 28, 2004

By	W. Titcomb (Bangor, ME) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It has plenty of card games to play. I purchased this mainly to play spades on the go. I wish it were more like Yahoo spades with more options in the menu so I could play double nil passing and suicide. Also, I would like characters with different difficulty levels, because I have only lost 1 game so far. I play on a regular Gameboy Advance, and I have found that if I create too many faces (3) and save too many games and settings, the game will freeze up. This can be corrected by going to the options menu and erasing your saved stuff. And I agree, there really isnt enough female faces. They all look like men. I didn't dare make one for my wife either! But, nonetheless, I love this game, as does my wife (gin rummy). I can't get the gameboy away from her! Hearts, Poker, Blackjack, Crazy Eights, and Go Fish are excellent. I would give this game an A, 4 stars because there is room for improvement. But it is my favorite gameboy game so far. Enjoy!