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Fun & Feature Filled But Sometimes Clumsy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: November 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Casino Inc is a sim/tycoon/micromangement game where, as you guessed, you get to make and control casinos. There are other games that have been down this road before; specifically Casino Mogul comes to mind. Casino Inc is set up in a "the Sims" type environment, with lots of attractions, gambling tables, employees etc to set up. Dance stages, bowling alleys, restaurants, cooks, floormen, cheats, troublemakers, and dance floors just to name some. A few more personalized touches, such as wallpaper, carpeting, paintings etc. would have been nice as often times the casinos you own just seem to blend into each other.
There is also a map screen that allows you to move around the city, go inside other businesses etc. A similar map is used to see what advertisements are available and buildings for sale. Your staff screen is simple enough, but you seem to spend way too much time there as someone is always clamouring to get more. Of course this depends on factors such as atmosphere, if the police are called, fires, murders etc. If you try to fire someone instead of giving them a raise, be prepared for the rest of the staff to get a bit unhappy (depending on how many staff the employee interacted with). I found these additions realistic, but others might find them irritating. I also wish it would say which staff are in which casino on which floor. It's a bit confusing finding them sometimes. This depicts a problem that seems to plague other aspects of Casino Inc - the sometimes clumsy interface. The learning curve is a bit harder than most tycoons, but that's partially due to the fact that there's so much to do. I personally prefer games where I often have something to micromanage, while I've read reviews that criticize this extremely. They wanted to be able to sit back and watch the casino make money. Well if you manage it well enough, eventually you do have some breaks. I normally speeded up the game then to get something else to do ;)
There are 3 scenarios - very very long ones. While it is true there is no sandbox mode in the game, if you go to their website and DOWNLOAD THE PATCH it adds, amongst other things, a sandbox mode once you've completed all the scenarios.
The graphics are cheerful enough, although a little more differentiation might have been nice. At least the visitors come in a wide variety of shapes, types, sizes, colors, and sexes. Whenever a convention happens, you get to see some funny costumes as well ;) (Sci fi, fetish)
The sound ... well don't have much to say about it. The voices got irritating early on so I turned it way down. The music is ok enough, but not good enough that I didn't start winamp after awhile of playing.
Overall Casino Inc has been criticized for having a clumsy interface and for demanding much more micromanagement than the available menus and submenus can make manageable. I say it depends on what you like. I personally found this game very enjoyable, as I like games like Restaurant Empire, The Sims, Ghost Master, and Rock Manager. I praise micromanagement and beg for more. If you're the same, you will probably dig this game as well.

GRAPHICS: 8 - nothing fancy, but cute enough
SOUND: 5 - nothing special
GAMEPLAY: 7 - not for your casual tycoon player. Takes a bit of time to learn. But if you like a lot of micromanagement it can be quite fun. There should have been a bit more of finesse in the menu system though.
PLAY VALUE: 7 - the scenarios are very long, and if you install the patch you will get a sandbox mode at the end. But the little flaws might get repetitive and irritating after awhile.
FUN: 8 - lot's of cute features, and I felt pretty good playing it
OVERALL: 7 - 3.5 star on Amazon scale, but Im gonna give this game a tilt and push it up to 4 stars, since I find it worthy of that.

Fun and Almost Addictive -- but Buggy!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: June 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just purchased this game because my family had been playing the demo for a while and really liked it. On the demo, the sound would come and go but we figured that problem would go away once we bought the full version. I actually ordered the full version right here off of Amazon. What I got was the full software that still has sound problems. In addition to that, the game will only save for one person. One saved game per household? That's just not working out.

The objective of the game is to build a successful casino, meeting game goals along the way. You can purchase and set up gambling tables, slot machines, bars, dance floors, movie theatres and more. You also manage personnel and give them raises and bonuses as need. Another factor of the game is watching the clientele to ensure no one is causing trouble. When trouble is spotted, you send a bouncer or guard over to fix the problem.

This game has a lot of promise, but the bugs make it difficult to enjoy. Add to that the fact that the user guide is TERRIBLE -- it doesn't even show the system icons. I keep getting a bullhorn blinking over top of things. I have no idea what it means, but there is no icon chart in the documentation to help me figure it out.

Awesome Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: July 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I wish i could give this game 10 stars. Its an awesome game thats not getting nearly as much attention it needs. YOu start out with an empty floor of a casino. Then you start to build up on money by building dance floors, movie theatres, stage shows, and gambling attractions. Then you gradually start to get hitmen, cheats, troublemakers. You can send them to other peoples casino to wreak havoc. If you like The Sims, Tycoons, or other games. Its an awesome game and you should all buy it.

Endless fun.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: October 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I picked this one up on a whim, and I sure am glad I did. If you like sim/Sim games and management games like Theme Park, then this one will keep you up playing for weeks on end.

The game tracks hundreds or thousands of characters as they move through an explorable city, wanting various things and finding ways to fulfill those wants. Your job, as an owner of multiple food, entertainment, lodging, and gaming venues, is to meet those needs -- to make sure their cash comes to *you* and no one else.

You begin with some cash and an empty building. Place a modest few gaming tables around the floor -- blackjack, poker, slots. Add some food service items, entertainment items, and amenities/decorations, and hire some people you like to staff the kiosks, deal the cards, watch for cheats, sweep the floors, "escort" your clients, etc. If you can, pick up some advertising; choose your locations carefully. When you have some more cash, you can expand to new floors and buildings and set up limo service and shuttle routes to make sure people come to you *first*.

The game offers three levels of play, structured as cities of increasing complexity. As the game progresses, play becomes a little nastier -- you can hire some of the cheats your floormen find by having bouncers take them downstairs and beat the tar out of them. You'll need your cheats, as well as troublemakers and even hitmen, to sabotage your opponents and drive them toward bankruptcy, thus sending their customers your way and increasing your market share. (Beware, though, as they'll be doing the same to you.) If you can sink them, you can bid on their land and possibly rebuild.

As you meet your goals, the game offers you new attractions -- fuller dining facilities, new tables, sports betting, stages, bowling alleys, movie theaters, even a wedding chapel. (You can micromanage all these attractions however you choose to turn the best profit, but they come with defaults just in case you don't care.) You can build general-interest casinos, to attract all comers, or you can tweak your layout and configurations for any of the game's many categories of visitors -- socialites, vacationers, teens, seniors, trailer trash, fetishists, high rollers of various kinds, Elvis impersonators, etc. Give them what they want, and they'll keep gambling; the more they gamble, the more you win.

The game also crunches your numbers in multiple ways -- by visitor type, by market share in several categories, by profit and occupancy per attraction per day, and on and on -- so, if you want to, you can figure out exactly how to maximize your profits. If not, you can just make a pretty casino and watch all the people move around, drink, complain, fall in love, and (hopefully) gamble. If you're feeling criminal, you can "ride" your troublemakers and hitmen, telling them where to make trouble and deciding whether they spike drinks, deck some old guy on the disco floor, gang up to shoot the grinning hostess, or whatever. (If you can fire off a few shots in an opponent's place, the police will close him down for a while and probably fine him. Great way to cripple his bankroll!)

The graphics are cartoonish in a good way, and the little people say and do funny things, like bored Sims. I'd like to see the game expand its possibilities a little (more colors and textures, more decorative options, more casino themes) and streamline a few of its features (the popup windows, object placement, crowd flow, some kinds of character movement). It also seems unsure sometimes of whether it's British or American. But its flaws are *very* minor and don't impede game play at all. It also has a built-in cheat system that allows for a sandbox mode -- much, much fun.

Some will play this a bit, tire of it, and move on to something else. (You know who you are.) But those of us who love the details, and finding just the right way to make a thing work, will find this endlessly amusing and happily sacrifice our responsibilities to it. All told, twenty bucks very well spent.

Keep an eye out for the expansion pack (*The Management*?) that's due in late '03!

MGM-Mirage, Steve Wynn, Eat Your Heart Out

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Casino Inc. is one of the best sims around. Yes, it's even better than that other game. Set in the 1970s, your job is to build up a casino and take over the town. However, ruthless opponents will stop at nothing to put you out of business. They'll send troublemakers to make your guests uneasy. Cheats will come down and steal your money. And if they need to, a couple of hitmen will be sent to blast your guests and staff.

Guests of all walks of life, from high rollers to trailer trash, are ripe for the picking. Manage your casino properly, or face fines from the police, mass walkouts by your staff, and a poorly run casino. You can run a casino, or purchase floors and turn it into a multi-level entertainment complex for all walks of life.

This game is rated Mature due to some of the adult themes, but it is rather harmless. Don't miss out on this gaming gem. If you pick this one up, be sure to download the patch as it adds some additional features to the game.

great concept bad gaming

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: December 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The game is very well set up with features of a casino sim game never seen before. They give you competition which makes the game realistic. You can purchase other business' and then merge properties in order to make a huge casino. You can send hitmen to other properties and reduce traffic by killing all visitors. This then allows you to buy that property cheaper. The negatives of the game is too much micro management. Your bouncers tell you a fight is going on, but you physically have to ask the bouncer to make them stop by click with you mouse button. If you don't your bouncer only watches. So you could be working on your 3rd casino and are constantly being pulled away from it. 2nd bad thing, the casino games do not earn you much money as they do with prior casino sim games. Very hard to make a buck. I remeber being in Vegas and speaking to a Pit Boss and he told me that the Nickle slots make so much in profit that it covers all casino expenses and the rest is profit. this clearly isn't the case with the game. The game also has many tendancies to freeze (new computer). Great graphics too much micro management. Themes of casinos are also boring. Wish it had an editor so that we could upload a casino like the Bellagio, MGM etc. If you get the game keep in mind you will get pulled away often due to fights, cheating and other petty issues with the game.

Be Careful.Making an addiction.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: February 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I played this game in Ýstanbul-Turkey and I loved it. You are establishing a casino,running it (which is difficult)and hiring hitmans and mafiosos....Ýt is not repeating itself and after you play it you will look for this kind, but frankly the bad part is the sleepless nights.

It got boring within 3 hours.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: March 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game has a good idea, but theres nothing to it and after a little while its extremly boring. I wish I didn't buy this game.

A dissapointing sucess

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

While this game certainly was entertaining, it was so ridden with small petty problems and mechanic issues that it diluted the entertainment to the point it felt like a lousy job and not a fun game. The main problem with this game is the incredibly huge focus on cheat/troublemaker and HITMEN! For some reason, the casino industry can only be a success for you if you send a hitman to your competitor, shoot the place up, then laugh as the fixed costs drain them into bankruptcy as the police keep the asino closed for investigation... wow fun right? Wrong, it was a terrible frustration to sit and watch an entire floor just sit there turned off over and over as you try and bleed out a competitor. My advice for anyone who wants to play a great casino game is to get Vegas Tycoon (aka Vegas Make it Big) as it is by far the best game in the genre. Following that (if you already have it) is probably Hoyle's Casino Empire, its all disgustingly downhill from there.

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