Game Reviews

Las Vegas!

Star onStar onStar onStar halfStar off
|
iOS
| Las Vegas!
Get
Las Vegas!
|
iOS
| Las Vegas!

Las Vegas (the place), with all its gaudy baubles and tacky glamour, holds about as much appeal to me as a wet weekend in a Butlins holiday camp.

That is: none at all.

Yet a number of friends and acquaintances have told me that their own apprehension of the place mostly dissipated once they set foot on its glitzy, sun-scorched turf.

Having played Las Vegas! (the game), I completely understand the feeling.

Fear and loathing

Initial impressions of Las Vegas! aren't good. Its mixture of generically cheesy Vegas-aping presentation, virtually non-existent gameplay, initially confusing rules, and lack of single-player facilities sees to that.

But throw yourself into the experience - which means hopping into a number of online multiplayer games simultaneously - and your appreciation for the game will grow considerably.

It's still not a classic, by any means, but you'll find yourself investing in the outcome of each round. Not literally, fortunately.

Dicing with debt

This is a pure and simple dice game, which means it's all about luck, odds, and strategy.

You're presented with six casinos, each granted a random prize figure ranging from $10,000 to $90,000. Some are given multiple smaller prize figures.

You take it in turns to roll eight dice. Each number corresponds to one of the six casinos, and you can choose one number to stack the dice on with each roll. You keep rolling until you've set all of your dice to casinos.

The person with the most dice on each casino gets the payout at the end of the round, whilst any secondary amounts go to the runners-up.

Not much of a gamble

It sounds almost moronically simple, but there's a considerable degree of strategy involved. For example, it might sound like a bit of windfall when you get four dice all on the same number, but conversely this will limit your ability to compete on the other casinos.

Similarly, you need to consider the values of each casino. Do you go for two dice on $70,000, or one on $90,000?

Spicing all this up further is the ability to bet the game's currency on your victory at the end of each round, with the rewards growing the earlier you place the bet.

There are notable flaws, many of which we covered under the first sub-heading. You can add to those the inability to flick between multiple games without going back to the main menu and re-entering each time, and the lack of alternative gameplay modes (there's only one inconsequential tweak possible involving additional ghost dice).

But despite these flaws and the stinginess of the package overall, it remains surprisingly hard to leave Las Vegas!

Las Vegas!

Don't let the initial impressions of cheapness and shallowness put you off - Las Vegas! manages to reel you in with its blend of luck, strategy, and multiplayer competitiveness
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.