antjenkins's Full Review: Caesar's Palace 2000 for PlayStation 1
I picked up this game at Target in a double package with the original Caesar's Palace. I've been looking for a Casino game for the past few weeks, and I figured that at 9.99 for the pair, I couldn't go wrong. I lost that bet.
What You Get
This games provided with Caesar's Palace 2000 are fine, which that was my only complaint with the included original release of CP (it only had craps, roulette, blackjack, 3 slots and video poker). In addition to all of those, CP 2000 includes several other games. The full list of games included in CP 2000 is as follows:
Blackjack
Video Keno
Roulette
Mini-Baccarat
Craps
Red Dog
Video Poker
War
Poker
Challenge
Spanish 21
Pai-Gow Poker
The Good
The one great thing I noticed about the game is the fact that it can be run completely from the CD, without installing all the files to your hard drive (which would take up over 250 MB). This is an option that should be included in many more games these days. Unfortunately, that's the ONLY great thing about the game, and even this has its downfall (when choosing to run the game in this mode, it is impossible to save your games, but for no good reason, and without an explanation).
Beyond that item, the graphics used on this game are pretty good. The designers utilize the DirectX 3D engine to generate the games. The overall effect is nice, but nothing spectacular.
The Bad
From the beginning, I could see that the interface was going to be troublesome. The designers neglected to include a mouse interface, so everything is done using the keyboard. To make matters worse, they only use the arrow keys, the enter key and the escape key. Since one of the first things you have to do to begin the game is enter your player's name, this means you have to scroll through an unbelievably cumbersome and slow wheel of letters to spell anything out, and then scroll back to the beginning of the wheel to continue. It also means that making bets within the game is a pretty frustrating experience (unless you're making the same bet as your last round, in which case there is a "Speed Bet" option). I suppose they did this in case they wanted to release the game on other platforms that might not include a keyboard, but regardless of the reason, it's a huge negative in my book.
Once you've actually gotten everything ready, you've got a number of games to choose from. I haven't played with all of them, and I'm not likely to do so considering my experiences with the games I have played (craps, blackjack, mini-baccarat, slots and roulette).
All of the games are based on a skill rating system. You begin as a novice (for each game), which limits your bets. If you're lucky enough to win enough money, the game automatically advances you to the next level, which raises your limits, but only for THAT game (so if you advance in blackjack, you're still a novice at baccarat). I don't know about you, but I don't really care for a gambling game that tells me how I have to play.
Speaking of telling me how to play, the default options for many of the games include the rules of each game flashing at you (for each hand), as well as an automatic "coach" which gives you information on making a "good bet". Both of these items become nothing less than completely annoying by the time you've finished your first hand of Baccarat. Both of these items can be turned off, but you have to do it by hand, otherwise they will continue for each hand until you change the option or quit the game.
In addition to these things, you're still plagued by an incredibly bad user interface (again, based almost solely on the arrow keys and enter key). Playing roulette is nearly impossible, unless you like to stick the same amount of money on the same numbers every time (for which you can utilize the "Speed Bet" button).
Finally, you'll notice a lack of sound through most of the games. For example, the slots machines tick when the reels stop spinning, but there aren't any real sound effects that give you that feeling of "being there", and the roulette wheel makes a sound when it starts and when the ball is settling into a slot, but all is pretty much silence between the two.
The Ugly
After all that, the game designers somehow managed to neglect the easy insertion of a "Save Game" option. They hid the only place to save the game in "The Lobby" (the area where you choose whether you want to play a card game, a table game, etc...). Worse than that, the function doesn't even work when you're running the game from the CD. At least, I have to assume that's why it won't let me save, since all it says is "see the manual for more info". Of course, the manual (actually the PDF documentation) doesn't have any info on the subject.
The Final Decision
The really sad part about this game is that the original version (released in 1997), which was included in the package was much better. It's only real shortcoming was the number of included games (again, only 5). There was nothing spectacular about it, but it got the job done. It gave me a pretty good scratch for that fake gambling itch. Now I guess I know why they felt the need to include that version with the new one (although, for some strange reason, the disc marked CP2000 was actually the original, and the disc marked as the original was actually CP2000!).
Overall, if I had to pick between the two, I would definitely recommend the 1997 version. Standing on its own, I would have to say that Caesar's Palace 2000 really doesn't stand a chance. I'm really surprised that the people at Interplay would put out such a substandard product.
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