Hard Rock Casino

Between a Rock and a Card place...

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As was fleshed out in the excellent BBC drama, Blackpool, the casino business is still something of a hot potato on this here island. Although we now have legislation in place to allow this industry to set up shop in our cities and sea side towns, the general public aren't quite ready for, or comfortable with, the prospect of Las Vegas on their doorstep. Casino living remains the pursuit of novelty office parties and the stag nights rather than something for the everyday man on the street. That said, with the PSP audience in mind, there are plenty of younger folk who are more than attracted to the sex, pizzazz and bright lights of the casinos so eulogised in films like Ocean's Eleven. It is most likely, with that in mind, that Crave Entertainment is releasing their new green baize black tie game Hard Rock Casino.

This release forms one half of a nice little gambling double act from Crave Entertainment, along with the previously reviewed World Championship Poker 2 (WCP2). It too enters the hot-bed of products clammering for success in the recently cool computer gambling space. To stand out amongst this crowd requires style and innovation. However this is hard to achieve when you are responding to an existing cultural trend, rather than cutting new ground with an original concept.

You begin proceedings by creating a character to represent you throughout the game. We managed to get through this process without too much head scratching, although the initial feel of the interface was pretty busy and left us hoping things would settling down somewhat when we hit the game proper. Once you have your character and a nice wedge of cash in hand you can enter the casino; you quickly discover there are over 15 casino favourites at which to try your skill (or luck).

The main aspect of the game is the story mode, in which you need to perform well at the simpler games tables to work your way up to the more involved and entertaining tables. This progression is narrated by a set of cartoon styled graphical sequences that challenge you to prove your worth as a gambler in the next casino game. This all builds towards a final game, where you have to lay down a large stake at a game of your choice; succeeding here enables you to move onto the next stage of the story. It can be frustrating that some of the stages just come down to getting lucky at the right time, although that can obviously also be true in real life casinos. To get full enjoyment here, you have to rise to the challenge of playing against the odds, and the house, in the hope of coming away the winner. This is something that should appeal to video gamers who are used to being outnumbered, outgunned and outflanked in various titles. However, in this setting you face these factors with your luck rather than your wits, something that can take a bit of getting used to.

Graphically, the game could do more to help the player understand what is happening on screen. Whilst the interface is often a little cluttered at times, the games themselves also feel a little under-cooked. This extends beyond visuals to the general feel of the play. Ironically, a lot of the games lack the finesse that disguise the base nature of many real world gambling tables. Additionally, as the games become more complex the interface seems unable to respond and leaves the gamer with a functional but drab user interface.

Getting to grips with each different game is also a painful experience for those of us not versed with the intricacies of Casino play. This is worse when in the career mode as you are forced to quit back to the menu before you can access the game instructions. We even resorted to writing down some simple notes on paper to help us remember the finer details. With all the technology in the PSP you think the developers could at least get some decent user assistance right. It is a real shame because once you have the basics down for the different games; some of them are a lot of fun.

Overall, Hard Rock Casino is nowhere near as polished as Crave's other recent gambling release WCP2. Where they have upped the stakes with the poker game, Hard Rock Casino seems to have been pushed out the door before it was ready. The basic concept of the game is not a bad one, but it needed a lot more care and attention applied to it before being let loose on the waiting public. It could well be that Crave are aware that these gambling fads only last a certain amount of time, and they needed to get it out whilst casino's are at the front of the public consciousness. Maybe they'll be better placed the next time the gambling bug hits the mass populace.

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By Paul Govan