Crazy Nick's Software Picks: King Graham's Board Game Challenge

The Good
After making award-winning adventure games for years, Sierra wanted to do something different, such as their overlooked Crazy Nick series. I don't know who Crazy Nick is, but I do know is that Sierra capitalized on different elements from a specific line of adventure games. Roger Wilco's Spaced-Out Game Pack, for example, contains games that you could play in the Space Quest I remake and Space Quest IV, while Leisure Suit Larry's Casino contains a set of games from that series.

An exception to this rule is Nick's King Graham's Board Game Challenge starring “yours truly” as your only opponent. Everything reminds me of Hoyle Official Book of Games: Volume 3, from the interface right down to the games that you can select. During the games, Graham's portrait looks good. The boards you play on look colorful enough, and the animations of each of the pieces are brilliant. I like how you can read up on the rules of both games if it has been a long time since you played them and forgotten the rules. Finally, the three levels of difficulty are nice; even on the “Beginner” level, Graham plays really well.

The Bad
Well, there are only two games available; and there is only one piece of music, which can be heard on the option screen. I have no idea why you are asked to enter your name, since Graham doesn't even mention it while you are playing a game with him.

The Bottom Line
I can understand why good King Graham is the only opponent in the game, because if he wasn't, then the title would be different. There are only two games available, which are the same ones from Hoyle 3 and the interface and game mechanics between the two titles are similar. So if you played Hoyle 3, then don't bother with this.