Hardwood Spades (Tegra)

When you're locked in a tense battle of wits with someone called 'ATory36' you know you're not playing Modern Combat.

Clearly designed for the Telegraph-reading crowd, Hardwood Spades is a stoic recreation of the classic team-based card game for Tegra 2 Android devices by Silver Creek Entertainment, developer of the strikingly similar Hardwood Solitaire.

Spades is not the easiest game for newcomers to pick up, so the inclusion of lengthy well-presented tutorial is a step up from the text-based help screens of Hardwood Solitaire.

With AI controlled characters showing you the ropes, as well as bickering among themselves like old poker buddies, it's easy to pick up the rules and some of the standard tactics of the four player game.

Working in pairs, you race to hit the target score by laying the highest card in a particular suit and winning hands. The titular spades trump the other suits, however, and the real challenge comes from bidding on how many hands you’ll win in a game based on your starting cards.

Guess right and you’ll get bonus points, but any extra hands won go in the ‘Bag’. Collect ten ‘Bags’ and you lose 100 points, and often the match in the process.

It’s pretty simple to learn the basics, while the intuitive touchscreen controls and smooth card animations also give a welcoming and authentic first impression.

You get seven variations of the game bundled with Hardwood Spades, from the standard Partnership experience to the daunting-sounding Individual - Cutthroat Mirror, and they can all be played alone against the relatively robust AI, or online with the likes of ‘ATory36’.

There’s a simple lobby system showing Open and Closed games, along with quick text chat which you may find friendly yet slightly insular unless you’re willing to join the community.

Although there are Quick Chat options, you can also show pleasure or displeasure by ‘Fooming’ players – either sending hearts and kisses to thanks your partner (weird), or zapping rivals with lightning bolts, balls of flame, or freezing ice blasts.

It’s a cute little novelty on Silver Creek’s part, but most online players seemed to ignore them in favour of faster play.

Hardwood Spades is undoubtedly a robust virtual take on the game that is ideal for playing online with other card sharps, and shines on powerful Tegra 2 devices.

The only niggle is the regular suggestions to splurge for DLC like card decks, avatars, and tables, but they’re not nearly as intrusive as the bombardment found in Silver Creek’s previous title.

Basically, if Spades is your card game of choice, then stop shuffling around the Android Market and deck out your device with a copy pronto.