Review: Elevens HD

Simple yet addictive, Elevens HD is a card game you’ll get lost in for hours on end.

Created by Sector3 Games, this $2 download has you searching your deck for cards that add up to eleven. At least two cars are required, but if you can use more than two, you’ll get bonus points. The downside is that you’ll have used up more of the deck, making it harder to match cards later in the same hand.

There are three stacks of cards, in a sort of pseudo-pyramid layout. These are pre-set for you when the game starts. Then there’s the deck of extra cards, which you can flip through up to three times to try and match up cards to eleven. There are four different difficulty settings, ranging from easy with fewer points up for grabs, to expert with greater points available to win. Each game consists of three rounds, but if you manage to clear an entire board, you’ll be rewarded with a bonus round, where you can achieve extra points. You can even get a bonus round by clearing the board in your bonus round, so conceivably a game could go on indefinitely.

Elevens HD is great looking thanks to its high-res graphics, and it sounds pretty good too, with some cute sound effects. There are four different card decks you can choose from, and four different carpet colors to play on. The built-in music is decent, though it would be nice to be able to sync up your own iTunes playlist. Elevens HD takes advantage of OpenFeint’s leaderboards so you can compare your scores with your friends, but there’s no other multiplayer modes or support.

For two bucks, Elevens HD is surprisingly addictive. And the iPad makes it super easy to play, with simple finger touches. Sit down to play a single round and I guarantee you can’t play just one.