Hardwood Hearts Review

Hardwood Hearts is a Hearts game for Hearts fans. If you don't already play Hearts, you aren't likely to get much out of this one.

Hardwood Hearts is one of three Hardwood games currently available on the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade. Hearts is somewhat similar to Hardwood Spades, and all three games have roughly the same presentational quality, which is to say, all three look and sound awfully bland. If you're a fan of Hearts and you're looking for a new way to play it, then Hardwood Hearts fits the bill.

Don't take any of the hearts! Points are a bad thing!
Don't take any of the hearts! Points are a bad thing!

Hearts is a four-player card game that can be played in teams of two, if you'd like. A deck of cards is divvied up between the foursome, some cards are passed around, and then play begins. The goal is to avoid getting points by not taking tricks that have hearts in them. There are different options that count the points you get from hearts differently, as well as a few other alternate rule options that vary the game slightly. In short, if you're familiar with Hearts, you'll find this to be a version of Hearts. In addition to playing alone against three CPU-controlled opponents, you can also go onto Xbox Live and play against live players in ranked or unranked games.

Graphically, this game has a very basic, stripped-down look to it. You have a few different background choices, but all of them are awfully bland. The music and sound effects are also repetitive. You'll notice this even more if you've played any of the other Hardwood games, as they all use the same graphics, music, and sound effects.

The uninitiated can certainly download the demo version of this game and see if it's up their alley. But, unless you're a big fan of Hearts who happens to be looking for a console version to play, then it's unlikely that you'll get much out of this game. Though, if that's you, then you might find that this is just what you're looking for.

The Good

  • Tutorial gives you the basics to help get you started
  • Xbox Live support lets you take on the world

The Bad

  • Rather ugly graphics
  • Repetitive sound and music

About the Author

Jeff Gerstmann has been professionally covering the video game industry since 1994.