The great thing about Uno is that it’s incredibly versatile. Almost every single version of the game has custom rules and optional additional rules, allowing for high versatility and relatively simple understanding. Uno isn’t complex and almost anyone can play it, explaining its universal appeal. Now, developer Snap Finger Click and publisher Ubisoft have brought us the newest version of this venerated game for consoles and PC, Uno Ultimate Edition.
The first thing you should probably know about Uno Ultimate Edition is that it requires you to Join Ubisoft Connect for all online play. This is going to be a deal-breaker for some people because third party launchers and services are loathed in gaming and most especially in consoles. If you already have Ubisoft Connect, this isn’t a big deal unless you can’t remember your password, but just be aware that connectivity will require a free membership. The game automatically logs on once you’re set up though, so it isn’t a huge hassle.
Once you’re into the game, there is a bunch of rather odd iconography. Rather than clear menus, you’re faced with a series of Uno cards that have tiny labels when highlighted. Your options are 1-2 player local play, 1-4 player online play, the ability to create your own lobby, 2-4 player multi-console play, and the Uno store. At the top of the screen you can also access settings, an online leaderboard if that’s your thing, the MyDesign area so you can create custom backdrops and animations for your Uno games, Ubisoft Connect settings, and the progress bar, showing you in-game achievements and progress. That seems like a lot, right? It is and it takes a bit to sort out where to go and what does what, though the labels are clear.
Let’s just start with local play. Tapping on the local play menu allows you to select from even more options. A new set of cards comes up with Classic Uno, MyDesign, Add-Ons, a Tutorial, and a Resume Match function if you had to go mid-game. There’s also a 2 versus 2 mode available here and everything is touch enabled if your Switch is undocked. Tapping on Classic Uno will let you choose from a variety of options including score limit, number of rounds, and which of the custom rules you’d like to allow. There are six of those: Stacking (add your +2 to someone else’s), 7-0 (Swap cards with other players), Jump-In (play when it isn’t your turn if you’re fast), No Bluffing, and Draw-to-Match (keep drawing until you can play a card). Adding or subtracting these rules significantly changes game flow and can make the games wildly chaotic if all the rules are enabled.
The game will provide a brief overview of all the rules you have enabled so if you’re not sure what they are, you’ll know quickly. Once you’re in the game, play proceeds normally and if you don’t know how to play Uno, either you haven’t ever played it before (you should) or you didn’t bother to check out the tutorial (you definitely should). It’s a fairly straightforward game, except for one pesky little detail in Uno Ultimate Edition. There’s no option for turning off computer players. That means that you’re stuck with AI players. It’s worse than that though. Trying to play with another player via local play appears entirely broken. While the game tells you that it’s 1-2 players for local, activating a second controller on the Switch turns the first controller off immediately and there’s no controller passing option either, leaving you playing Uno with 3 bots ad nauseum.
The shenanigans continue with online play where you must be connected to Ubisoft to even play and even here, a second controller immediately deactivates. This kills the entire couch co-op experience dead. You simply cannot play in a group without multiple systems and to play any DLC you all have to have it. Unfortunately for this review, we only had a single system to play the game on, so there was no way to test head-to-head multi-system play. Just keep in mind that if you want to play Uno with friends, you’ll have to be hosting remotely and each of you needs a Switch. It’s definitely a hassle and really puts a damper on some of the better things about the game.
While there are some massive missteps in gameplay implementation with regard to players here, the DLC in Uno is actually very good. There are 10 different versions of the game for you to play: Rayman, Rabbids, Winter (theme only), Uno Flip!, Just Dance 2017, Fenyx’s Quest, 50th Anniversary, The Call of Yara (Farcry), Valhalla (Assassin’s Creed), and Uno Party! Mania. That’s a hell of a lot of Uno. Each one has unique rulesets in addition to the six built in rulesets that are the same across all versions. Breaking down the rules for each would be wildly time consuming and honestly, it’s more fun if you play. To get an idea of what you’re getting into, in Valhalla you’ll be conquering areas, in Fenyx’s Quest you’ll be empowered by the gods, and in Call of Yara, you can phone NPCs to help you out if you earn enough cash. In addition, some of the less complex variants like Rabbids include special cards liked dynamite attacks and Uno 50th Anniversary has some coin flipping. They’re all quite fun to shake up the basic formula a bit and assuming you can play with others, worth the price of admission.
Chances are you’ll be playing with AI players a bit though. Even in online hosted games, players kept dropping in and out at random, replaced by AI players who seem to get all the best cards consistently. The game feels unbalanced with AI and it’s extremely hard to win games. You get a few here and there but for the most part, you get roasted almost every go around because Uno is by and large a game of luck. That doesn’t translate well when you’re playing with a bunch of bots who use algorithms and you end up frustrated because there just aren’t that many people on the servers and you can easily get booted. Waiting for matches can be time consuming too depending on the hours you keep and there’s almost always a bot in every game.
If you’re hosting your own matches and you have some friends, fun can be had but there are no chat options available so you can’t really taunt other players, half the fun of Uno in the first place. You set the rules and mode when hosting, but your friends have to have the DLC too, so make sure you know what versions they have. You can also use the custom-designed decks you make in MyDesign if you’d like, allowing you to tinker with the sounds, backgrounds, character pictures and rule-sets. The more Uno you play, the more stuff unlocks, allowing for further customization, but again, bots don’t let you win that much so you’ll end up very slowly unlocking things. It’s neat to mix and match art and sounds but there’s enough content in Uno Ultimate Edition that chances are pretty good you won’t bother with MyDesign very much.
Moving on to visuals, Uno does have very good presentation. The cards are colorful and easy to understand and the pop-up animations for cards are a nice touch. Everything is bright and vibrant, though if you’re playing with low brightness in handheld mode, Uno 50th Anniversary is quite hard to see. The DLC content is particularly visually appealing with wide changes from deck to deck and neat backgrounds ranging from dance parties to outdoor picnics and more. The only major flaw in visual design is that the card playing prompts are extremely small and on portable mode they’re nearly invisible. With your eye being drawn to the animations, it’s difficult to see the prompts, the buttons are not clearly color coded, and the time windows for responses are so small that it’s easy to miss opportunities to play cards when they pop up. It’s even worse seeing the pop-up for prompts and missing your chance because it goes by so fast and the implementation of this could have been substantially better. It isn’t helped by the lag in response time of the game itself either.
Audio on the other hand is basic at best. There’s a soundtrack but it’s wildly repetitive with one track for each game that plays on an endless loop until it worms its way into your brain and slowly sedates you while you play. The music is simplistic, though some of the variant soundtracks are a bit better. Eventually, you’ll probably just want to turn the music down or off though. This is not a game you’re going to play for the catchy tunes, even though versions like Uno Just Dance 2017 have a bit more pep in their step.
Between the difficulties with multiplayer, the unfairness of the AI, forced use of Ubisoft Connect, and other issues, Uno Ultimate Edition can be frustrating. There are also technical issues with connectivity and lag, and often you’re waiting for the computer as it hesitates with three AI players in a game that should be lightning fast. When you can’t select your responses fast enough due to the interface but you’re waiting for others to sloooowly respond, there are too many problems with pacing. That gets worse with online play as the online game has clear hesitations when transferring turns and making decisions, leading to even more waiting and eventually players dropping out and being replaced with AI ones. As an Ultimate Edition, the user-friendliness of the game is not nearly as ultimate as it should be.
All in all, Uno Ultimate Edition is an interesting package. The game itself is quite fun and many of the DLC packs are interesting and well worth playing for the $30 cost of admission. But there are some glaring technical issues with gameplay that reduce the fun factor considerably. If you just want to host games or play head to head on systems, it’s a fine game. But if you want to play couch co-op, solo, or online, be prepared to be irritated and/or to lose…a lot. Because of these issues, the entire game ends up being a mixed bag that will appeal to some and frustrate others. This is very much a ‘your mileage may vary’ game based on usage. The DLC games are incredibly fun though and some of the rules options are great, making for a potentially wonderful experience. It’s just a shame that the execution is so uneven.
This review is based on a digital copy of Uno Ultimate Edition provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and played equally well on both. Uno Ultimate Edition is also available for Xbox, PS4/5, and PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.