Hearts ∙ Reviews

by UXJesi

I thought that 1 star reviewer reporting card counting was being salty but it HAS to be the case. I never leave reviews but I came back to see if anyone else noticed the cheating and I’m not the only one! I’ve played dozens of times and I can win maybe one out of 20 games? You can dismiss this review and just assume that I’m a bad player lol but I don’t think I am, I love playing this app with friends and spades and am an avid strategic board gamer. The hands that are played by the AI have to be based on what’s in your hand - there’s no way for a player or AI to be “lucky” that often where they know exactly what to play and exactly when, unless it’s counting cards and all 3 AI know what’s in your hand (working together, which of course it will - its all the same AI). Im all for challenging, and this is essentially a game
of awareness of what cards are out there, but the AI shouldn’t know “who” has which cards and it essentially does - so it can set you whenever it wants. That doesn’t make the game is hard, just unfair. Perhaps it should just be unfair mode (other games have that mode lol). It should be making educated guesses based of unknown variables per player/AI, not as a collective team that knows your hand.

As a positive, the UI of the game is pretty good. I just wish I could get my $1.99 back.

by Jeff & Steve

I had Hearts on my phone for years and played the game nearly every day. There always were things about it I didn’t like. As many others have reported, I played this version of the game long enough to recognize that it is rigged against you. You can have the lowest score, yet other players, when given the opportunity to dump the Q of spades on a higher scoring player will choose to hang onto it and dump it on you in a later hand, at the detriment of their own game. It happens time and again and completely illogical and counter to serious human game play. Even so, it is particularly inept at preventing the human player or others from shooting the moon. This can even things out sometimes for the human. Another unrealistic element is that I don’t worry about the cards I’m passing and what it tells the receiving player about my likely strategy for the round. All that said, I still enjoyed playing the game UNTIL the annoying ads became unbearable with the addition of audio. I played this game almost exclusively as a way to help me fall asleep. No more, after it woke my spouse twice. Now it is gone from my phone.

by Word Stud

The computer counts cards AND it knows what cards I have in my hand. I have played hundreds of games on Hearts. I have studied it time and time again.
For example, left player played a 9 of diamonds. One player played a heart, and the other played queen of spades. I only had the 10 of diamonds. This forced me to take the truck and eat 13 points. We still had 10 cards each left in our hands, and I closely watched the other cards player 1 could’ve played. They could’ve played their 3 of clubs, or their 3 of spades. This would’ve kept them from taking a trick, yet they played a high diamond knowing i only had one higher diamond in my hand, and knowing that the other players were going to play point cards against me. I QUIT!!!
I’m going to find another version that doesn’t cheat. If I could count cards, and know what my opponents had, I could win just about every hand, too.
I don’t mind losing if it’s fair; however, if you have to cheat to win; how good are you?!?!

by Sami2691

Now you will get the queen of spades very often, specially when you are winning. Some how all others know what is in your hand after the second card is played at any round. You will get the queen of spades when the other 2 have smaller cards than the smaller card you started. Passing the card is rigged, you will always get high cards no matter what. Starting hand has the highest cards of all times. Sometimes, it will favor one player and keeps on saving that one. Even if you have 5 spades with the queen you will be stuck with the queen some how. I’ve been playing this app for 50 years, some how i am always losing to this particular game from Optime. If there were (0) starts i would have chosen that. Never run into a game that MUST beat you at my cost, and you are NOT allowed to win no matter what. It seems that some reviews are like the game rigged. And try to hove (1) star on Hearts , it won’t go through!!!

by Minnesota Maiden

In general, I like this game because of few ads. However, I agree with the others that it cheats. I haven’t found a this app game that doesn’t cheat though. The cards are stacked against you, only letting you win once in a great while. The “others” know what’s in your hand and exactly how you will be forced to play them. That’s no fun at all and I end up stopping that particular game because there’s just no way to win. I never get to shoot the moon because one of the other players is programmed to not let it happen. Frustrating to say the least, but they are all poorly designed this way.

...aaand, game froze up once again. 😡. I am deleting this game now...I’ve had enough. Even on easier mode, difficult to ever win a game.

by Sandro From Gearhart

Most important Fact: this game does not include “show last hand” as in the rules of a real this app game. Tricks disappear so quickly that they are impossible to track. (A true bonus would be an option to back track through the consecutive tricks of an entire game to see where you went wrong.)

A Huge Weakness: The Jack of Diamonds Option: The game is also not programed for three robot players to weigh covering for the Jack of Diamonds early in the game. This removes a great portion of the element of risk in Jack of Diamonds vs. Queen of Spades strategies. The designers threw in the Jack of Diamonds element (good) without including any logarithms that mimic human strategy decisions.

Good graphics with this game. If this review looks disjointed it’s because the review page does not form for an iPhone. i.e. I can’t see all I wrote in paragraph 1.

This is an OK game, but the end result of these flaws is that they lead to bad habits when you play real human beings. They make you a worse player in real life..

If the designers could fix these problems, this would be the best this app option on the Internet.

by LoganL2

I downloaded Hearts primarily because of nostalgia, I played this game 9 years ago on my first iPod. Hearts works great, even if it is only single player and not online. However, I would've expected after all this time for most apps, and all popular apps, to have universal support for iPod and iPad. I almost have Hearts more stars for at least opening, but then I realized that all apps should open and not crash, so no extra stars for that.
Btw, I'm only complaining about the full screen ads. I'm going to play this game with the WiFi off so it stops bothering me.

by Ya Kiwi

This game is designed to beat you through conspiracy. There is a designated winner (whichever player finishes round one or two with the lowest score) and whose two collaborators protect that designee by absorbing flak; by feeding them the jack of diamonds; and almost always by passing you the Q, K, and/or Ace of spades. To win this game you must be able (when given enough high cards) to set up your hand to shoot the moon; be capable of saving your worst for the designated winner; and be able to block other players who are preparing to shoot the moon. When you win this game you’ve beaten a cabal as opposed to three separate players.

by Jbig9

If this game played like actual game play it would be great, but it doesn't! Since when is it the objective to constantly play against me rather than chase the low score, which is usually Ann?! The computer players will give up 2-3 cards during play to help each other shoot the moon. Also computer seems to know what cards you pass making it even more difficult to get a feel on what to play! Lastly, the computer will always " conveniently " know just when to set you up for the queen if you've given it to them! I can see I'll be searching for a new this app game soon!

by Bjnewco

I don't usually write reviews but I have to say the way the computer plays you isn't consistent with real life play. It purposely plays cards that wouldn't realistically be played during your game and the harder you set the game the more unrealistic it gets. Maybe I'm being sensitive to it, but I would say I'm 50/50 for winning and losing which is fine but I just don't feel the game is set fairly for the computer side. It plays the game just a little too good when you're the first or second player to lay down a card...

by Mowfree

I love to play this game and I have spent many hours having fun with it. But the past year it has gotten problematic. Right now, there is a Mahjong ad that has taken over the whole screen and I can’t get rid of it. I can’t access the this app game at all. And, again this past year, sometimes it won’t allow me to play during the game even after I have started. I have to quit the game and start over.

A few other funky quirks have shown up: like a game too easily won; an opponent using a queen of spades to take a trick but having lower spades left in his or her hand (while not having a very strong hand at all, so it’s not a strategic thing, it’s just a stupid thing).

I’m off to look for a better this app game now. I hope the developers work on this game and get it back to his former reliable level.

by Natureboy 1969

So adds come up with x's to exit. The top right is generally where you exit but they switch it with a slightly different x and says x cross install. What the hell is a cross install. Anyway, it's not brain surgery but I am uninstalling due to deceptive adds. Game developers should not try to trick you into downloading apps. I'll just go with one of the other 10 hard games available. Way to screw up a perfectly good app. Oh... and there's no volume control. The sounds are annoying as well.

by Renaissance2@yale

I’m less convinced than the next reviewer that the 3 computer players gang up against the human. Instead, I think they’ve programmed vindictiveness (a strikingly human element) into the program: If you lay the queen of spades on a player, they will, in the next hand, hold off playing the queen of spades (if they can avoid getting stuck with it) until they can give it to you. My one complaint is that, even in the “Hard” mode, the game-play still seems far too easy, with the computer players making lots of mistakes. Unfortunately, that still doesn’t mean that I win regularly, but the game should be more of a challenge.

by Kitchigammi

The play algorithm seems to be a close mimic of a real game. However, being asked to accept the cards passed to you at the start seems odd since you can’t refuse them. Maybe this is for the newer player so that he/she can see what cards are added to his/her hand. My biggest issue is with the deal. The first card dealt always appears in front of the avatar on the left. Maybe I am slow but I can’t tell which position dealt played the 1st card. Which really effects the strategy. They need to show the card in front of the player who played the opening card like most apps do.

by Crg413

I have enjoyed playing this, but I wonder if there could be an option to end the hand when either all of the points have been played OR when it is clear that one of the players is going to get all of the rest of the tricks! I agree with another review that there are times when the computer players make mistakes even in hard mode, but I still don’t win all of the time.

by Jskdorjgfjd

I've gotten used to the controls and the ads aren't as bad as some.
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It seems to work fine, and the AI is challenging. The use of screen space is suboptimal and you have to tap twice to play a card, which is stupid. The played cards are displayed in a row instead of in a diamond, so it's easy to make a mistake. It doesn't lowlight cards you can't play. There's also no auto-play when one player wins the remaining tricks. This would be very useful, developers.

The ads are unobtrusive so I will continue to play.

by Hearts Fan 2013

I like playing this app with this software, but I wish the software was set up for each of the computer players to play to win. Instead, the game is set up for the 3 computer players to team up to keep the 4th player from winning. After playing it a while, it's easy to see that the computer players help each other "Shoot the Moon" and also that each of them is willing to collect points toward the end of the game so that the player is kept from winning. I still enjoy playing it, but would prefer it if the deck wasn't stacked against me from the start.

by Nagburn

I enjoy playing but I too think the bots are crazy to deliberately give you the queen when you are running this app. I too would like to speed up the hand when all points have been played. I wish you didn't have to play to the very end when it's plain the right st of the cRds are yours. I Grew the queen is given to me too often.

by Reeltown

Please fix the latest update!! Hearts locks up and won’t let you do anything for several minutes then it will start back playing and then it will lock up again and again!! I have given up playing-this was one of my favorite games that I played on a daily basis. Please fix it.

by Kshwisk

Speed this game up or loose me forever. I also like the idea of being able to speed through the last tricks once all the points have been played. For users that want to "slow their lives down" they can select the slower speed option. Fast should be fast! This is 20 frickin' 15!!
UPDATE... Love the new speed. Hearts is the bomb!! For people with a pulse this is the only way to go. I am deleting my other this app apps.

by 66loser

As soon as you are winning the AI knows what cards to team up with the other hands and what do you know you’re losing. It’s consistent other reviews say the same. Happens all the time. Wish there was a TRAM button cause as soon as the others stick you....you have to complete each hand. Had the game a while back got frustrated because of the AI’s cheating and deleted it. Got it again a year later and it’s the same BS!