Vegas Casino Cruise

They say it's painfully easy to get addicted to trips to the casino, though I'm not sure I quite understand how.

If I ever found myself splashing out on a visit to my local gambling den I'd more than likely lose my savings within minutes, and forever associate the place with destitution.

Digital Chocolate's Vegas Casino Cruise offers a comparatively safe way to test out your own limits, albeit via an especially familiar setup.

Tasking you with restoring your name after a high-profile crash and burn in the slot house, Vegas Casino Cruise sets you the challenge of taking on a total of five different competitors across a series of gambling games - all, for reasons undivulged, as you sail the seas in a cruise ship.

Those five games – Slot Machines, Video Poker, Roulette, Blackjack, and Baccarat – are then split into several subsets, with a total of 12 different mini-games on offer in all.

Your goal is to win more money than your opponent in the rounds on offer. For example, play a game of classic slots, and – taking it in turns – you and your rival each get five pulls of the lever.

Before each round you can raise the stakes by changing your bet, while it's also possible to hold one or two of the three dials before your second spin in attempt to score a matching line of three.

Controls are simple, the games themselves well-animated, and each of your opponents manages to inject a sense of their personality into proceedings through their retorts, whether in victory or defeat.

Vegas Casino Cruise is also equipped with a trophy cabinet of sorts, tracking your progress.

Should your total winnings top $100,000 after a game of gold mine slots, for instance, then you'll be rewarded with a flash red sports car – or, at least, a small picture of one.

As slick as this all is (and Vega Casino Cruise thankfully sports Digital Chocolate's typical level of sheen), this is almost the exact same package the publisher pumped out two years ago, cruise setting aside.

Vega Casino Cruise's library of games is identical to that of Vegas Casino 12 Pack, with even the very structure of the original game's Tournament mode remaining largely intact in this unashamed rerun.

There's been no upgrade in terms of the options of offer, visuals, or delivery, making Digital Chocolate's cash-laden cruise a trip only worth taking if you happen to be particularly time-rich.