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Release Dates Out Now (North America) Out Now (Europe) |
Review
The reincarnation of classic card game UNO, now celebrating its 35th anniversary, on the Xbox 360 Arcade is a prime example of what modern entertainment has come to be. Gone are those days when families gathered around a dining table to enjoy card games. Now all gamers need do is power on their Xbox 360 console and they're able to play virtually anyone in the world at will at the very same game. You can look at that as a good thing or bad but one thing's for sure: UNO is every bit enjoyable on Xbox 360 as I remember the original to be.
For those unfamiliar with the premise of UNO, it is card game that uses a special 108-card deck consisting of four coloured suits: red, yellow, green and blue. Each suit contains cards numbered from zero to nine. A player's objective is to get rid of all his or her cards by playing them where appropriate. Players can only place down cards that match the preceding card in terms of either colour or number. To mix things up, there are several additional cards that cause special actions such as reverse the direction of play or cause the next player to pick up cards from the deck.
If you've not played UNO before, it is not a difficult game to get to grips with and the in-game rules explanation is clear and easy to understand. Mastering the concept and beginning to win rounds against the CPU players takes a little more getting used to, however.
When a player plays their penultimate card in their hand they must say "UNO!" by pressing the X-button. If a player fails to do this another can challenge them by pressing the Y-button before the following player takes their turn, causing the offending player to draw two cards. Challenges can also be made when the "Wild Draw Four" card is played. This card usually forces the next player to pick up four cards, but if that player believes the other could have played another card in its place (likely if they have a lot of cards in their hand at the time), they too can make a challenge. If the challenge succeeds then the player who played the card picks up a total of six cards, else the challenger does.
What makes UNO an interesting game to play is the way things can suddenly swing in and out of your favour. One minute you could be singing out the word "UNO" in your opponent's ears, the next you could have just picked up six cards for a misjudged challenge. The balance between judgement, cunning and luck is very effective, and that is what can make the game a thrill to play.
On numerous occasions I've become quite annoyed with the game when one of the computer players seems to land me with every offensive card it has in its possession only to find another snatches the victory. Other times you can do exactly the same back at them so it works both ways. Fortunately, where the game rules are concerned there's a lot you play around. Variety to your liking comes in the spade full.
Of course, where the real fun begins is playing against the unpredictable nature of real human players on Xbox Live. Four players can go head-to-head in thrilling unranked or ranked matches and since there must be four players taking part a time, the computer can cleverly begin controlling a player should they drop out or quit the game.
UNO is a finely-presented game. The graphics are very clean and vividly coloured to match the colours of the suits. It's tempting to say it's quite simple but there's no way it needs to be any more adventurous since it gets the job done adequately well. The same applies for the audio, with jazz-like music that blends exceptionally well with the feel of the game.
To top it all off, UNO won't break your Marketplace bank since it costs just 400 Microsoft Points. It's also the first game released that will support the Xbox 360 Vision Camera releasing in September this year so hooking that up will likely add another dimension to the game.
Xbox 360 Arcade already has several worthy games available and UNO is another very creditable addition that will keep you addicted for hours upon end.
Review by Miles - 1st June 2006
Scoreboard
| Gameplay: | 8 | ||
| Visuals: | 8 | ||
| Audio: | 8 | ||
| Presentation: | 8 | ||
| Lasting Appeal: | 8 | ||
| Overall Score: | 8 |
Awards
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