PixlBit

Casino games have been around since the inception of the home video game console. I remember countless hours spent in front of the Colecovision with my parents playing a game that only featured Black Jack and Poker. The game was so simple and to the point though, that it's still playable today. As someone who enjoys some gambling with family or friends every once in a while, I was interested to see what Vegas Party had to offer.

I suppose it was loathing at first sight when I switched on the game; I have never before in my life seen such a hideous Wii title. Now, I completely understand that this game is meant to appeal to a certain crowd, one where graphics pretty much mean nothing. However, graphics on par with a PS1 game is simply unacceptable no matter the target audience.

Vegas Party is broken down into three different sections: Quick Play, The Strip, or Competition.

Quick play is a section where players can select one of ten games, which include Slots, Black Jack, Baccarat, and Texas Hold ‘Em, in addition to strange "casino" selections such as Darts and Greyhounds (a game I would expect to see at a carnival). With such a straightforward list of games that most people are familiar with, players are undoubtedly going to expect them to play in a fashion similar to how they would play in real life. However, the game completely fails at doing that. Almost every single one of the games listed is twisted into a convoluted mess that completely changes the format of the actual game.

Bingo is a perfect example. Everyone knows the game and it’s as simple as it gets. In Vegas Party, this very straightforward game is morphed into some sort of abomination of its original self. Rather than putting chips on a card when numbers are called, players need to click floating balls on the screen to fill up their card all while competing with computer players. The kicker – if another player clicks on a ball that you have previously clicked on, the chip is removed from your board. As you might expect, this completely ruins the game.

The next section of Vegas Party, known as The Strip, is a Mario Party-esque subsection where players will roll a dice and traverse a path on a board game. Depending on which square a player lands on multiple things can happen, such as being forced into buying an item that will give them an upgrade (extra dice, for example). Many times one of the players, whether human or computer, will land in front of a casino, and everyone will compete in one of the games to earn money.

Now my "favorite" part of this section was rolling the dice, mainly because it did not work. Players can shake the Wii remote as fiercely as they want, and the dice will barely move. Nothing is more frustrating than when every single player rolls a zero over and over, forcing everyone to sit around doing absolutely nothing but listen to the drab background music that is comprised of a looping three second clip. I honestly couldn't even bring myself to finish the round to learn what the point of it was.

The final section of the game, Competition, merely takes players through all of the games in order to see who can get the best score.

There are so many other issues with the game that I could talk nonstop about them. To list a couple: Vegas Party does not allow you to play alone and players are always forced to compete against three other individuals. Waggle is simple atrocious; Games that require players to use waggle might as well have a big "closed" sign on them, since players could sprain their joints trying to get them to work, and it just won't happen.

A title based around this concept should be something that the casual crowd would go nuts for: a simple game without any complications, comprised of a bunch of great digital casino titles. Instead, Vegas Party destroys all of its potential by taking simple concepts and convoluting them with unnecessary frills and additions. The only saving grace of this title is Black Jack, however the virtual console offers much better, and cheaper games that provide a better experience.