Main Street Mobile Arcade: Disney Solitaire
oh boy it’s been a minute since I did anything related to mobile games. I was honestly starting to wonder what was going on with Disney in the mobile space, as releases were getting far less frequent than they had been in the last few years (which may still be a topic for a future blog entry). But lo and behold, a new Disney mobile game has indeed dropped. And it’s… solitaire? Well, there’s lots and lots of solitaire games out there, what is Disney’s unique hook for this new mobile offering and does it work?
So the biggest thing Disney is offering here as a hook in Disney Solitaire is the chance to recreate and watch some of your favorite scenes from Disney’s rich history of animated films, ranging from classics like Alice in Wonderland to more modern hits like Frozen and so on. Classic tunes from said movie play in these scenes as well. The only downside to this, and I understand it’s a mobile game, is that instead of getting the beautiful animated sequences you see in the movies, you get, well, mobile-level graphics recreating those scenes. It’s fine; kids will probably enjoy it, but it could be done better.
Otherwise, Disney Solitaire is pretty much what you would think it is. It’s not straight-forward, no frills solitaire. Various gimmicks get unlocked as you progress, including cards that constantly change, bonuses that add to your deck, “wild” cards that can match any other card, etc. As someone who is not super into solitaire, it definitely helps mix things up and keep them interesting.
The biggest complaint I have about the presentation of the sessions is the music. While you are looking at the classic Disney scenes being recreated, you hear the music from the movies. That’s great. Why isn’t that the case when you are actually playing the game? The music when you are playing solitaire is generic and awful. Granted, this is easily fixed by listening to something other than the game’s music, but c’mon Disney if the idea is to bathe in nostalgia while playing a card game let me really soak in the nostalgia and play classic Disney music the entire time.
A huge plus of Disney Solitaire is that there are no ads. I’ve spent plenty of time with it in the past two weeks since it launched, and not one has been seen. That’s not to say there aren’t pop-ups to spend money to get power-ups and bonus currency, those are there but pretty inoffensive compared to many other mobile offerings out there.
But the real question of Disney Solitaire, like many mobile games, is how fast and how often it hobbles you and pressures you into spending money to progress? I will say that occasionally it really feels like the cards just don’t fall in your favor a significant amount of the time when you really get going (i.e. past the first couple dozen rounds or so), and that can get annoying and is definitely designed to tempt those with addictive personalities to waste the in-game coins they have getting a few extra cards or getting a another extra round.
However, Disney Solitaire doesn’t feel particularly exploitative in that if you have some patience, it will give you enough coins for another round (nearly hourly). So, if you play it like something where you just want to get a quick session in here and there it’s more than fine for that function.
There’s not a whole lot more to say about Disney Solitaire. It’s solitaire with no ads, Disney-themed and throws in some interesting hooks here and there to keep you interested. Is it going to be your new mobile-game addiction? Eh probably not. But is it a perfectly solid and fun offering of something to get a quick game in that doesn’t feel exploitative like so many other mobile offerings? Absolutely. If you like solitaire and Disney, Disney Solitaire is an easy recommendation.
That’s all for today. I’ll certainly have another entry in the next week so see ya real soon!
