Slots and casino card games have been coming out on the PC
since I was a wee little boy. Usually, they were crap with a
shareware feel and lousy sound. Now Interplay comes out with a
game to capture one of the popular parts of a casino, the slot
machine. The one-armed bandit. I remember going to Las Vegas
many times and seeing people as drones wasting their savings in
front of these machines that rarely ever payback any money. You
can hear them from about a mile away with their clanging and
beeps and they seem to be everywhere on the entire casino floor.
Caesar Palace's slot section is the most eloquent slots location in
Vegas, and I was hoping that Interplay would recapture this in
their new casino game release, Caesar's Palace Slots. I was sorely
disappointed.
Caesar's Palace Slots has over thirty different slots machines on
the casino floor: some realistic, most of them imaginary slot
machines you'd never see on the casino floor. You start off with
$10,000 and can choose between five different areas, depending
on how much you want to spend for a credit on a slot machine (25
cents, $1, $5, $25, $100). The game would have been a lot more
interesting if each area had a different variety of slot machines,
but unfortunately this wasn't implemented into the game.
When you get onto the floor, you just click on the slot machine
you'd like to play. The game includes some slot machines that
seemed to be reproduced exactly from the Casino floor like
Progressive Slots (the main jackpot keeps going up as you play).
Caesar's Palace Slots also had some ridiculous slot machines like
Merlin's Cast, which lets you play up to 40 credits at once then
after you pull you can select which slot space you'd like to try to
change, and it changes it randomly. Of all the slots, my favorite
had to be the Gridiron Gold Football, which mixes slots with
football. Depending on what you get on a pull is the amount of
yards you gain in order until you get a first down. If you gain
enough yards without losing the football or loss of downs, you get
a touchdown or field goal and earn a substantial amount of
money. Once you've grown tired of all the slots, you can create
your own slot machine with the built-in editor.
The biggest problem has to be that I don't feel like I'm in Caesar's
Palace playing slot machines. The slot machines themselves feel
like nicely detailed computerized slot machines. They don't feel
authentic. An example is when the slots are spinning into place,
they seem to spin too fast. If Interplay was trying for authenticity in
this game, they failed miserably.
Graphics: 11/25
Caesar's Palace Slots did put a nice touch on the slot machines,
making them colorful and attractive. Unfortunately, they don't
seem realistic. It just seems the graphics department went
overboard on creativity, which in the end is a distraction and could
turn people away from the game.
Sound: 8/15
Interplay has included all the usual sound effects in a slot machine
you'd expect, but forgot a lot of important things. Where's the
music? Where's the crowd slots sound environment? Why do the
slot machines get irritating after about an hour? Why do I feel like
I'm alone by myself playing a slot machine game? Why don't I
feel like I'm in Las Vegas? Hello, is anyone there?
Gameplay: 14/30
As mentioned, the slot machines look great, and it was very easy
to use. If you desire, you can put in a certain amount of money or
you can dump your coins in one at a time. While huge selection of
slot machines is the key point that Interplay is trying to push in this
game, I think they went overboard in the ideas department. A slot
machine shaped like a 50's jukebox? Um, yeah. Also, why doesn't
it feel like I'm really pulling the arm on a slot machine?
Fun Factor: 10/20
At first, I actually enjoyed this game. But after several hours,
Caesar's Palace Slots lost its glamour and I was bored, even with
its variety of slot machines. Interplay should have included a
variety of slots modes or tournaments. In Vegas, casinos would
hold slots tournaments depending how many times you could pull
the arm or how much money you could earn in a certain amount
of time. If these would have been included, this definitely would
have made the game a lot more interesting. One other annoying
thing was that every time you start up a game of Caesar's Palace,
it always bothers you if you want to register. Is Interplay desperate
to get people on to their mailing list?
Overall Impression: 5/10
In a nutshell: It's a lot of slot machines in the infamous Caesar's
Palace. The problem is, it doesn't seem like a Vegas slot
simulation. It just seems like a lot of computerized slot machines
all in one game. This is only recommended to fans of PC slot
machine games that must try every slot game. If you're a person
like me who desires the real thing, fly to Vegas and play slots at
Caesar, and waste the money on a slot machine and not on this
game.