Back when I was a broke-♥♥♥ kid my only gaming option was my grandma's PC. It was a 386, and my choice of games were limited to the bargain bin at Wal-mart. Still, I got to play a lot of games that would influence my interests as I got older.
Castle of the Winds - Got me interested in rogue-likes, and then loot-heavy action-RPGs (Diablo, Torchlight, Path of Exile).
The Bard's Tale - Naturally it led me into other dungeon crawlers like Elminage, Etrian Odyssey, and so on.
Wolfenstein - Enough said.
And then there is good ol' Windows Solitaire....I hated that game so much. When I got bored of everything else it was back to Solitaire. You know that saying: Wherever you go, there you are. That's how I feel when I play Solitaire, it's such a depressing game. Today I own an Xbox 360, a WiiU, a Playstation 3, a PC that can play most anything, a 3DS, a Vita, and a freakin' Japanese Saturn. Next year I'll probably get a PS4, but you know what? None of that ♥♥♥♥ matters.
Because I'm reviewing a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Solitaire game right now. I just can't get away....I....just...can't....get.... ARGH!
As a bonus this game is called Zombie Solitaire. It's like my own personal hell. Zombies used to be cool, but when rotting undead that eats brains is somehow as kid-friendly as Strawberry Shortcake, you know something's wrong. Personally I'd rather the zombie apocalypse actually happen so I'll never see these freakin' games ever again.
Where was I? Oh right...I'm reviewing a game or something.
Zombie Solitaire has all of the qualities of a Solitaire game, it is addictive as hell, and it kills your productivity. Unfortunately ZS isn't even a better game than the Solitaire that came with your copy of Windows (Unless you're a Win8 user). No it's not just because it has zombies in it. ZS doesn't work because it's a bland overly-safe vanilla soft version of Solitaire. It's good at wasting your time, and not much else.
(This paragraph was originally an overly-long explanation of how Solitaire works.) Basically the goal is to get rid of all the cards
Zombie Solitaire adds a bunch of stuff. First off there's a store where you can buy special cards and tombstones. Tombstones are numbered cards (2-9) and you can use them whenever necessary. Special cards are straight up cheats. My personal favorite is the sudden strike, which simply destroys all of the cards, making you the winner. This is just plain silly because ZS has a ranking system, and even if you use the sudden strike, you still get the best rank. Sure they're expensive but money is easy to come by. Sure you know you cheated, but the game doesn't treat it as such. By the way, getting the best ranks in Zombie Solitaire is not at all brag-worthy.
Even without the overpowered cards, this game is still too easy. About 90% of Solitaire games are winnable, so it stands to reason that luck plays a factor. Zombie Solitaire has tons of levels, but there's still randomness to the cards that are dealt. The later levels are supposed to be more difficult, but if I get a good deal, then it's all rendered moot. At least Windows Solitaire tracks your wins & losses. Plus it captures the main appeal of the game, the combination of logic & luck. It's dealing with potential worst-case scenarios, decision-making, regret, and ultimately despair.
YMMV however. I spent far too much of my free-time playing Window Solitaire, and have become jaded because of it. If you're looking for a way to kill time, this is a decent way to do so. I'm not hip to the PC Solitaire scene, so I don't know if there's some Ultimate Solitaire 2014 simulator or whatever, but if you want something different, you could probably do better than Zombie Solitaire.