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The original UNO released in 2006 was one of my first downloads on XBLA and it remains a top seller to this day. The rules of the UNO card game were simple to understand and it made for a relaxing and sociable environment over Xbox Live. UNO Rush is a re-imagining of the universally loved UNO and it takes some liberties on changing the mechanics of the traditional game. UNO Rush is probably one of 2009’s biggest understatements and it comes with a free brain aneurism.

The most obvious changes are that you see everyone’s cards and you have a limited amount of time (several seconds) to make your move. The basic rules of playing matching colours, numbers or symbols and drawing cards if you don’t have any cards to play remain. But you now must line up your cards in the best sequence so they are automatically played one after another in one turn – sort of like stringing together a combo in a fighting game. Symbol (or Command as they are now called) cards such as Skip, Reverse and Wild are here but there’s a new one called Shuffle which rearranges your opponent’s meticulously laid out sequence of cards. Cards from your hand are discarded automatically once your turn arrives starting with the top card position. You can only rearrange your cards in between your turn so you have precious few seconds to get your sequence right or even lay a matching top card in time, and with Command cards mixing things up, it’s almost never “just right”.

The old strategies of feints and figuring out your opponent’s hand are gone now since everyone can see each other’s hand. So now you must plan your sequence of cards based on the last card that your potential preceding opponent is going to play and hopefully discard the maximum number of cards from your hand, while hopefully thwarting your following opponent’s next top card. It’s more about anticipation and planning like an RTS game. Fast thinking and fast reflexes are prerequisites to win. The “calling UNO” when down to your last two cards is still here but due to the speed of play it’s even more important you keep an eye out for the vital “UNO” button press. It’s all very hectic and luckily there’s a good tutorial to ease you into it, including a Slow mode but then you end up waiting ages for everyone to draw a card should you not have any playable on hand. Points are scored depending on how many cards your opponents are left with.

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