Hoyle Card Games 2009 is the latest edition in the popular card, puzzle and casino series. Previously published by Sierra, they have been published the last several years by Encore. Our family has really enjoyed these games over the last several years, especially the puzzle editions, which features board and puzzle games. But how much can change in a board and puzzle game from year to year?

Well, not much, really, besides graphics and small tweaks to the content. Hoyle Card Games appears to have changed the most in the way it looks. The design of the playing areas, backgrounds, and cards all look different. The computer characters are the same, though, and the Face Creator utility is the same. This is the utility whereby players can design their player avatars. It is amazing how close the characters can look like us, even though they are cartoonish! The manual and tutorials are basically the same, and this is a good thing. They are informative and clear to understand.

The changes to the content consist of placing the games in categories such as Team, Competitive and Solo groupings for convenience. The online mode is also different, in that it is incorporated into the profile designing area. It appears that this time around, online players will have to have a copy of the game to play online, as the connection is run from the game itself. There used to be a free online Hoyle site that didn't require the game to play, but didn’t let players use their own avatars from the game. I don't see it now, though.

I was unable to test the online play, as it required an additional install download from the Internet. Each time I tried it, it took forever to download, so I gave up. And, if players don’t download the installment, the game pops up a window every single time the game is ran.

There are two new card games, President and Whist. I’m familiar with Whist, although I’ve never played it before. I like historical novels and whist is often mentioned in them. It is similar in concept to Bridge and is a fun partner card game. President is a lot of fun and I’ve been enjoying playing it. It’s a bit similar to UNO, but there are no action cards. Instead of matching cards, cards that are higher than the current card or set of cards are played next. The first person out of cards wins.

The newly designed playing areas look attractive at first, but then it becomes apparent that utility was sacrificed for looks. The cards are very small and difficult to see (especially in the Solitaire games), and it’s hard to manipulate them. Canasta is especially frustrating; it often takes multiple clicks to move a card from a hand to the table. I popped in my Hoyle 2007 version, and the cards were much bigger and easier to see. I would suggest that players choose the Casino Large settings for the cards; the numbers are bigger and easier to see.

I enjoy the Hoyle series, and have played several different versions since they began releasing them. While this version isn’t a bad card game as such, the other Hoyle editions are better. I would recommend either playing the ones you already have, or if you don’t have one, wait until next year and hopefully there will be some improvements.

Gameplay: 6.5
This is a good collection of different card games, like always. The gameplay itself isn’t as good as usual, though, because it’s too hard to see the cards and it is difficult to manipulate them. This is frustrating and annoying.

Graphics: 7.0
The new graphics look nice and there are lots of backgrounds and card designs to choose. However, the cards are just too small.

Sound: 7.0
The music is always good, and players can earn more tunes by winning card games.

Difficulty: Medium
The level of difficulty only lies in the settings of helps given to players during the games.

Concept: 6.0
There isn’t anything really new, and the execution isn’t as well as it could be.

Multiplayer: 7.0
Although I didn’t play the online mode in this new version, I have played the previous games in online mode and this setup looks the same as in the others, although it is ran by a new service. Players can pick either casual or competitive lobbies, and be ranked on leaderboards if they desire. This mode has always been fun in the past.

Overall: 6.5
The Hoyle series has been around for a long time. Most of the editions have been excellent. Hoyle Card Games 2009 is not the best version, though. While the new graphics seem nice at first, the functionality is compromised. Having smaller cards may not seem like an important consideration, but it is, especially for us who are over 40. I’m not sure if the difficulty of moving the cards around is caused by this new design, but it is aggravating and much worse than in other versions. I would recommend waiting for the next version.