Casino Empire Review

The business management genre already boasts a wide range of hugely entertaining and successful games with impeccable longevity, but unfortunately Casino Empire, in this reviewers opinion, is a merely mediocre addition to an already inundated market.

I remember receiving Theme Park for the Sega Mega Drive as a present many years ago - I played all through the night on the day I got it, and it thieved a sizeable chunk of my spare time for the weeks and months shortly afterwards. Casino Empire, although having many similarities to the amusement park management classic, failed to capture my desire to game to anywhere near as strong a degree. You begin the game running a small casino for your cousin, and to progress to the next level (the management of the next casino along the 'strip'), your casino needs to meet up to certain criteria within a time limit.

The game contains all the features you expect from looking at the box, and not a great deal more. Your casino is made up of three basic elements: games (slot machines, poker tables etc.), decorations (which vary on which casino you are in management of) and rooms (such as cashiers, restaurants and bingo halls). The fundamental concept of the game is punters simply come into your casino, spend money, and leave.

Fortunately, there is more to Casino Empire than this. You do have the power to set your marketing budget, which can be anything from nothing (word of mouth) to prime time television commercials. You also get the opportunity to splash some cash on adding attractive features to the exterior of your casino, in the hope they will attract some extra custom. Or to earn some more funds, you can build hotel rooms (which disappointingly you don't get the satisfaction of actually seeing on screen). Plus, there are occasional sub-missions where you need to achieve something for a special bonus - such as having four toilets in your casino within a month for the honour of holding a Star Trek convention.

While this game has bold and bright graphics, and the (albeit short-lived) fun of clicking on guests to hear what they have to say in their wacky American accents, the gameplay is very repetitive, and is very easy to master. In conclusion, this game contains nothing particularly innovative, but can entertain for about three to four hours. Maybe.

Graphics: 7/10.
Gameplay: 4/10.
Longevity: 2/10.
Overall: 4/10.

This review was added on 11th March 2003 by Rupe Parnell.