Over the last few years, Hasbro Interactive has established a growing presence in the interactive entertainment business, taking many of its most popular board games of yesteryear and translating them to the PC CD-ROM platform. This astute if conservative strategy has paid off handsomely for the fledgling computer game publisher, capitalizing on its library of renowned board games to a huge, pre-installed base of consumers that fondly remember playing these classics.
In the case of Sorry! CD-ROM, Hasbro Interactive has not only crafted a faithful representation of this ageless board game, but in so doing has included an array of extraordinary features that breathe new life into a time-honored favorite. For the uninitiated, Sorry! is a simple yet enjoyable board game, in which you take turns hopping your four pawns along a single rectangular track, moving each pawn from its separate starting area to its home base. You take turns drawing cards from a special deck, moving your pawns in accordance with the card's instructions. Pawns can move forwards or backwards along the track, advancing several additional squares if they land at the start of a slide. Depending upon the card played, pawns may also trade places with an opposing player's pawns or perhaps land on them, sending them back to their starting location to repeat the process all over again. The object of the game is straightforward enough - be the first player to successfully move all four of your pawns into your home area.
From game setup through actual play, Sorry! CD-ROM employs a mouse-driven point-and-click interface that's both intuitive and simple to use. In addition, you can choose to view the board from either a catty-cornered 3D perspective or a more traditional head-on vantage point, and you may even rotate the board to have it face any desired direction. Once you decide which pawn you'll move and where you'll move it, a letter-boxed window momentarily replaces the game board, depicting, in rather whimsical fashion, where the pawn has relocated. Pawn movement is portrayed using a wide array of cute animations, ranging from steam-rolling flywheels to hoola-hooping buffoons. Moreover, all of the pawns, be they computer or human controlled, routinely utter short, amusing remarks, which hold your attention even if it isn't your turn to move.
Several different modes of play have been included, covering everything from the familiar, classical game of Sorry! to an entirely new variant called Way Sorry!. In Way Sorry!, several new cards are added to the deck, including the so-called "Bully" and "Buddy" cards. The Bully card lets your pawn switch places with an opponent's pawn, sending the opposing pawn back to start. On the other hand, the Buddy card lets you move your pawn adjacent to the nearest pawn, which can be located in either direction on the board. Furthermore, you can opt to play the game by yourself or with a teammate, or you may play the game in either classical or strategy mode. In classical mode, you take turns drawing and playing one card from the deck moving as many pawns as you dare onto the game board. In strategy mode, you start out with five cards, which are kept hidden from your opponents. When it's your turn, you may choose to play any card in your hand, which is then replaced by a new card at the conclusion of your turn.
As with Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, and Battleship, Hasbro Interactive has successfully ported the venerable game of Sorry! to the computerized medium, reacquainting a legion of hard-core and casual gamers with an old, if sometimes forgotten, friend.
