Reviews

Acid Spider

January 20, 2005

If you’re a fan of handheld card games, then chances are you’ve already played at least one game from Red Mercury— makers of AcidFreecell and AcidSolitaire. Their latest offering is AcidSpider, and it’s definitely a winner.

Spider is my favorite variation on Solitaire, so I was thrilled when I got the news last week that it was getting the “acid” treatment. I’ve been playing for several days now, and all of my expectations have been exceeded— AcidSpider is fun, fast-paced, and full of little surprises that make the electronic version so much more fun than actually searching out a deck of cards. For starters, you get a comprehensive tutorial that shows you not only how to play the card game (as many other versions provide) but also how to play AcidSpider— the various shortcuts and tricks that will get you up and running in no time. If you have a modern device with a five way navigator, you can even play without a stylus, and the tutorial will give you all the information you need and even show you, much as you find in many Windows desktop application tutorials. If you don’t want to go through the tutorial, a single tap will release you, but I highly suggest that you go through it. It takes just a couple of minutes and is informative without being tedious or boring.

Once you start playing, you’ll find that there’s always something going on or something to see. Whether it’s a cool sound effect or the bouncy little AcidSpider logo at the bottom of the screen. The details are quite nice as well; when a particular stack gets long, the less important library piles at the top are “shrunk” so there’s more room at the botton of the screen. Need a hint on what to do next? Instead of merely flashing the card you’re eligible to play, AcidSpider has “Sparkle Hints” with stars that show you which card you can move and where it can go. Want to change the look of the game? Use the Menu button in the middle of the screen to select a different background (eight different ones are included, all great looking). You can even use your own JPG image or a picture taken with your handheld’s built-in camera to as your background.

Having a hard time solving the game? Each deal in AcidSpider is solvable is you make all the right moves, but you can lower the difficulty by using only one suit of cards, instead of two (challenging) or 4 (very hard). At the end of each game you’ll see your statistics. AcidSpider keeps an extensive set; instead of merely telling you how many deals you’ve won or lost, you’ll also see your percentages, current and best win and lose streaks, the number of minutes played today and over the course of the game, your fastest game time, and even your best total moves.

I’ve long been a fan of AcidSolitaire and AcidFreecell, and AcidSpider is a fine addition to the Red Mercury family. The graphics are gorgeous, the backgrounds are cool, and the sound effects are fun without being overwhelming and tiresome. If you have a high res + device like the Tapwave Zodiac, you’ll enjoy fullscreen play and both portrait and landscape modes. There’s also a handy battery monitor/clock at the bottom of the screen so you don’t have to worry about playing so long that you forget to go to your next meeting. Overall, this is a great package with big, easy to see cards and snappy, responsive, addictive gameplay. AcidSpider requires 495K of space and costs $14.95. You can get a free trial or purchase a license at the Red Mercury web site.

PocketGoddess Rating for AcidSpider:

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