Caesar's Palace

for Sony Playstation

Distributed by
Interplay

Price: £44.99

Players : 1-2

Caesar's Palace is a casino simulator of five games: Roulette, Blackjack, Slots, Craps and Baccarrat, and all the sights and sounds are of the actual casino in Las Vegas, and you play by the same rules, with the same odds and payouts, as authenticated by Dr. William Bertram, Ph.D.

Starting The Game

When the game begins you are placed by the Signpost, from which point you can select any of the five games. First, however, you will need to go to the Cashier to register the number of players and collect your chips. From here you can also save/load your position to the memory card, or to save space you position is also encoded in the form of a password which, when entered, will restore your bank balance.

You can also select the Management option which will toggle computer players, game sound, play dialogue, and ambience. Finally the Tutorials option will go through each step of all games available apart from Slots.

Playing the Game

There are five games available which are as follows :

Roulette: The table is presented in front of you, and you place your chips by using the directional-pad to move your cursor onto the required number and clicking once. Further clicks add extra cash to that pile, and the amount that can be bet on each click of the button can be altered.

The game does not give any odds on each outcome, but these are explained in the tutorial, more of which comes later. After all bets are placed, the wheel can be spun and then fate decides the rest. The graphical representation of the wheel is very good and fills the screen, making it clear to see where the ball is going.

Slots: Three different machines are available, which have minimum bets of $1, $5 and $25 respectively. With each spin of the reels you can bet one, two or three times the minimum bet amount. The reels and main controls fill the screen, giving an easy readout.

Blackjack: This version of this game allows up to three players (with at least one being the Playstation). Firstly, place your bet and the initial cards are dealt. Then you can choose to hit (take a card), stand (take no more cards), or double-down (double your bet). If you go bust (over 21) you lose, and if you win you double your money, unless you score Blackjack (21) in which case you win at 3-1, as long as the dealer hasn't got a Blackjack either.

The other two games which are available are Craps and Baccarrat, neither of which I'm familiar with, but both are well-covered in the tutorials like Blackjack and Roulette.

Tutorials

Something I've not seen before in a casino game is a tutorial. For Roulette, Blackjack, Craps and Baccarrat, a tutorial is given in the shape of a full-motion video (FMV) clip in which an American goes through each stage of the game in quite a cheesy manner.

Graphics, Sound and Playability

The graphics look fairly classy as they are digitised from the actual casino, but what you're mainly interested in is the graphical representations of the games at hand, which are shown in plenty of detail.

The sound is also functional. The roulette wheel is spun - that's exactly what you hear. The cards are dealt in Blackjack, and sampled sounds of this is what you hear. The reels of the fruit machine go round and round, and... yes, you guessed it. However, it doesn't need anything else to be added to it. One nice addition though is the ambient effects of the surrounding crowd.

Playability is fine, but takes a bit of getting used to. Working your way around the cashier's desk seemed complicated at first, but careful following of the instructions will get you through. Also, in some of the games, after setting up your bets and then moving to "Next", it can be all too easy to accidentally double-press a button an undoing everything you've just done which can be quite frustrating.

Overall

The one problem with casino games is that their fun to play for a while, but to me their appeal soon fades as you're not winning real money. The amount in your bank is just an ever-increasing (or decreasing) figure, and if, in the case of the roulette wheel, you place a bet on every available option, you can't fail to lose. I've not always felt that way though, as I used to enjoy the Casino game that was available for the Atari 2600 VCS almost 20 years ago.

The consensus is then, that if this is the first time you've come across a casino-style game, you'll have a lot of fun with it, but if you've been down this road a few times before, there's not a lot more on offer here. This can be shown by the fact that I didn't play each game for too long, but my girlfriend loved it and couldn't stop playing.

GRAPHICS 		: ***
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC	: **
PLAYABILITY		: ***
ORIGINALITY 		: **
ENJOYMENT 		: **
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OVERALL 		: **