They went to a lot of trouble for character creation so you can customize your image: different hair styles and colors, features, accessories, etc. Not important to me.

I think Hoyle has finally hit their stride.

For years, Hoyle was not compatible with Macs. This year they are. I can’t tell you how happy I was to find this out!

For years, you had to keep the CD in the drive. What a pain that was. Now you don’t have to. All I can say is, that is so good, it should be wrapped around a side of beef! (Thanks Marvin!)

I love everything about this game. I love the Marvin the T-rex, Harley the Bear, and Captain Scurvy the Parrot. They make me laugh with all their funny comments. And the other characters are pretty funny too. About the only character I don’t like is Hedda. But everyone else is great.

And the games are incredibly fun and addicting. I waste hours every night playing this after work. Get it, but only if you like having fun!

As anyone who bought Hoyle Card Games 2007 is aware, it wasn’t exactly the most… stable program in existence. It had a lot of sound problems–sound effects wouldn’t play reliably on newer computers, the background music would play the first few seconds over and over, the animation lip-sync was like a really bad Japanimation.

This new version fixes all that (at least for me) and in a way I’m slightly irritated this wasn’t a free upgrade for 2007 users. While the sound effects aren’t absolutely crucial, playing the game in silence isn’t much fun either.

The game is largely unchanged from 2007 (and from what I’ve read it’s very similar to the 2006 version). I don’t mind that; there wasn’t anything really wrong with the basic design, it was just the screwed-up sound effects which made it a pain. It has the same face creator, same characters, same voices, same comments (though the comments do seem to be a bit more relevant and focused).

Most of the characters are so annoying that I end up playing with the bear, T-Rex and “Chloe” the workout trainer. They’re harmless when the player comments are turned off, and the bear makes me laugh when he tumbles over about six times in a row (he really needs to lay off the fermented honey).

New games include respectable video poker, video blackjack and video “Texas Hold’em” emulations, and a separate program called “Miami Solitaire” with a ton of solitare variations–and, believe it or not, a story mode. I don’t play much solitaire so I haven’t looked at it very closely, but it might be interesting.

I mostly bought Hoyle 2008 because it has a decent Canasta game. There are standalone Canasta programs available from other companies, but they aren’t nearly as much fun to play (all of the ones I’ve tried have annoying sound effects, poor graphics, odd game variations, etc.) Many of the other Hoyle 2008 games are pretty good, and there are only a few I’d rate as “this is really bad”. Some standalone card/solitaire games cost as much as Hoyle; if you are interested in only a few of the games it offers I’d say it’s worth the money.

Be aware that Hoyle 2008 comes on DVD, and uses SecuROM 7.x copy protection in a fruitless attempt to make you keep the disc in the drive when you play it.