Review: Astraware Casino — A Winner You Can Bet On.

Posted by: dgoldring on Dec 11 2007 - 2,247 views

I have always loved playing Casino and gambling games.  Whether it was in a friend’s basement huddling around a portable roulette wheel (which I still have), dropping coin on my PC, or more recently losing big on my mobile device, I have always loved these games of chance.  Of course, much to the pleasure of my wife, I rarely play for real money, so my $1 million gambling debt will not result in Big Vinnie and the Kneebreakers paying me a visit.

I have tried several Casino-style games on the Pocket PC, but have never really found one that lived up to my expectations.  Sure, there are some great individual games, such as a variety of Pocker and BlackJack games, but nothing that puts it all together in one Casino package.  I reviewed All Mobile Casino last year and found it to be a bit lacking.  Real Dice offers a few Casino games, but really only the basics, and this is one small part of their vast gameroom.  Then, along game Astraware (as usual) with their latest offering, Astraware Casino.

Installation and Registration:  Installation holds no surprises for anyone familiar with Astraware games.  Just download the file and load it onto your device using ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center.  Once loaded, you will have thirty minutes to check out all of the gambling action.  After that, you will be tossed from the Casino, penniless and looking for cab fare home.  But don’t worry, you can pay off that pit boss and he’ll let you back in for unlimited access once you register the game.

Menus: The main menu system in Casino follows the design which Astraware originally introduced to us in Solitaire, just a few months ago.  Already, this design has become practically synonymous with Astraware game packs, having appeared in Solitaire, Board Games, and now Casino.

The main attraction of this menu is (what I call) the game selection wheel.  This appears in the lower left hand corner, allowing you to scroll through the various games.  At any time, you will be able to see the current selection, as well as two ahead and two behind.  Use the arrows to advance through the selections.  In addition to the eight games, there are also links to the Bank and the Souvenir Suitcase.  More on those later.  Since this is a casino, and no casino is complete without a big wheel, it would be fun if this menu had a random button, which would spin the game selection wheel and load whichever game was selected.

The rest of the main menu screen consists of a stunning graphic, capturing the essence of the game.  In this case, it is a roulette wheel.  Overlaid on the top is a welcome message, as well as the name (and tagline) of the game you are currently selecting, and the amount of money currently in your wallet.

Every option in the game can also be selected by opening the menu button from any screen in the game.

Games:  Well, let’s take a look at the games which you can play in this Casino.  There are eight, and they range between pure chance and more skill based games, including:

• Baccarat
• BlackJack
• Craps
• Roulette
• Slots
• Texas Hold ‘Em Poker
• Video Keno (pictures above)
• Video Poker

I thought Astraware did a fantastic job with their game selection.  Of course, some of these games could also have offered endless, mind-boggling variations.  In this case, I thought they made a smart decision by selecting the most common variations rather than giving players too much control over the game rules.  It would simply be too difficult to have 25 different variations of Baccarat.  That being said, I was slightly (and only slightly) disappointed to find that the Texas Hold ‘Em game was a limit rather than no-limit poker game.  Both variations are extremely common.  In the limit game, betting and raising is done in predetermined multiples, while the no-limit game offers wide open betting.  I prefer the no-limit game (particularly where there is not real money at stake) and wish that had been offered as an alternative.  Nonetheless, I did spend most of my time with this Casino playing poker, so Astraware must have hit a mark somewhere with it.

I was also disappointed not to find a tournament mode in the casino.  Tournament mode requires you to compete in all of the games to be the ultimate winner of the casino.  It is a lot of fun, and forces you to play some games which you might otherwise not have attempted.  I think including this as a gameplay option in the main menu would have enhanced the overall package presented by this game. 

Nonetheless, the absence of a tournament mode should not be taken as an indictment against any of the individual games.  The eight games included here are all fantastic and extremely well produced.

Instructions:  Most of you are probably familiar with a few of the games included in this package.  The games are so diverse, and cover such a wide array of gambling activities, however, that there is a good chance you have not heard of or played all of them.  For this, Astraware has done a fantastic job of including the basic rules and gameplay for each.  This brief tutorial will open the first time you run each game.  After that, just select "Instructions" from the menu anytime you need a refresher.

Difficulty: There are no difficulty settings in the traditional sense.  In other words, the artificial intelligence does not change throughout the game.  You can, however, unlock higher stakes tables as you proceed through the casino.  At the beginning of the game, only the lowest stakes Tourist Tables will be available to you.  Play well, however, and before you know it you will be playing with the high rolling pros.  Although gameplay does not change at these tables, the increased minimum and maximum bets will significantly change the way you play the game.  It is much easier to stick with bad cards for $20 than $20,000.

Betting: Betting is pretty basic.  In the video games (Slots, Keno, Video Poker) you just indicate whether each game will be worth $1, $5, or $25.  In the rest of the games (except Poker), you will have a stack of chips which you can drag and drop onto the table to bet.  Every game also has a chip which allows you to simply play the maximum bet.  One thing I felt was missing, however, was a repeat last bet button.  Particularly in games like craps or roulette, where you can have multiple bets on a variety of spaces across the table, this would be a handy option to use.  The exception, of course, is Poker.  Because Astraware offers a limit game, betting is fairly controlled.  As such, you can only open by betting with a particular amount and raise in fixed, predetermined increments.  As such, all you have to do is click the bet, call or raise button (the appropriate dollar amount is displayed).  This makes for a much quicker and enjoyable game.

Wallet and Bank: Once you start winning all of that money, you will need to keep it somewhere.  The bank roll with which you play is kept in your wallet.  You can keep as much as you like here, but there does come a point where carrying around too much money in a room full gambling losers.  For that, there is the bank.  Head over to the bank to deposit your money for safe keeping.  When you need some, you can always come back and withdraw more.

The best part, however, is the overdraft allowance.  This ensures that you always have some money in your wallet.  If you run out of money, just head over to the bank and you can withdraw up to $50,000 beyond your available balance.  This is a great feature, which ensures that your game will not come to an end due to one bad bet or bad hand.  On the other hand, I am now almost $3 million in the hole thanks to the overdraft allowance.                                         

Souvenir Suitcase:  One of my favorite features of this new wave of Astraware games has been the trophy rooms, which allow you to collect items based upon your progress through the game.  These are a lot of fun, and have the advantage of creating in-game tasks which are tangential to actually winning the game in order to acquire trophies.

As Howard and Mike discussed in their blog entry on the Astraware Team Blog, they originally considered leaving out any kind of a trophy room because, "I thought that just the "total money" aspect would suit that purpose. Plus, awards didn’t seem to fit as well for Astraware Boardgames as they had for Astraware Solitaire, and I’d felt that Astraware Casino was a bit more like Boardgames in that respect." 

Thankfully, they moved past this to recognize that casinos are as much about the trashy, kitschy souvenirs as they are about winning cash.  Heck, most of us go home from the casino with a lot more kitsch than cash.  Still, a trophy room would not make much sense.  I mean, these are not trophies, they are simple remembrances: shotglasses, cocktail napkins, a lucky card.  These are more suitable for a suitcase in which to lug them home.  EXACTLY!  And thus, Astraware offers the souvenir suitcase.  Even if you bomb out at the tables, you will always have these remembrances of your trip to the Astraware Casino.

Graphics: The graphics in this game were excellent.  Each game offered a new playing surface in order to best replicate the actual casino experience.  Additionally, as you can see from the screen shots throughout this review, each game’s table is fully customizable with four different colors.  Nonetheless, I did have a few concerns with the small size of the screen.  In card games, such as Poker, Baccarat, and Blackjack, I often had trouble reading some of the cards.  This was particularly true if one card was partially covering another, such as the pocket cards in Poker.  It would have been nice if you could tap on a card to see a blown up or zoomed in image of it. 

Likewise, in Roulette, there is a graphical overlay of the spinning wheel.  This is fantastic as it really helps make you a part of the action, cheering the ball toward the numbers you selected.  Unfortunately, I found this wheel did not get out of the way fast enough, often making it difficult to locate the selected number on the board.  There should have been a marker placed on the wining number on the board.

Despite these minor concerns, the graphics significantly facilitated gameplay.  I found it easy to interact with the cards, dice, chips, and other gambling accoutrements.  This ease of interaction, more than anything else, is a true sign of a well designed game.

Conclusion: I thoroughly enjoyed all eight of the games included in this Casino package…even the video games (Slots, Keno, and Video Poker) which I do not normally play, provided a nice diversion from the higher stakes games.  I thought the graphics and animation were almost perfect, though they could use some tweaking.  Most notably in being able to read the cards on such a small screen.  So, go ahead.  Give Astraware Casino a try.  If you like this casino genre, then you will love Astraware Casino.  You can BET on it.

Vital Stats:

Name: Astraware Casino

Developer: Astraware

Tested on: Windows Mobile 6

Also Available: Windows Mobile 2003 and up, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Palm OS.

Price: $19.95

Where to Buy: Astraware

                     JAMM Store

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