gbstation's Full Review: Las Vegas Cool Hand for Game Boy Color
First Impressions - I love card games, especially on an electronic system so I don't have to go through the monotonous shuffling of the deck after each game (most notably those times when the game lasts about thirty seconds before you realize you already haven't got a chance at winning). I also love to learn new card games, which is usually not too easy to learn from anything other than another human being. However Las Vegas Cool Hand promised a tutorial on the cartridge for each one of its games, so I decided to give it a shot.
Game Structure - Las Vegas Cool Hand includes three games: blackjack, solitaire, and cribbage. Each game has multiple modes. For blackjack you can choose from Atlantic City, London, Downtown Las Vegas, and Las Vegas Strip rules. In solitaire you can play Klondike (your basic, everyday, run-of-the-mill solitaire), Elevens, Monte Carlo, and Calculation. In cribbage you play against a computer competitor in one of three modes: beginner, competent or expert.
In blackjack the rule set you choose dictates how many decks are used at the table. Atlantic City and London use a minimum of four decks while both Las Vegas rule sets use a minimum of one deck. The number of decks does make a difference because the game does play accordingly. When you are playing with one deck, when you get to card fifty-two, the dealer stops to shuffle the deck. When you first start playing the minimum bet is two units (be it dollars or pounds), but as you progress you move on to tables with higher minimums.
The layout of this version of Klondike is a little hard to figure out, all the rows are pushed together and you turn over one card at a time rather than three. But once you figure out where everything is, it's your basic solitaire game that just about everyone knows. Elevens is not. This version of solitaire consists of dealing cards out one by one in a three by three square, leaving 45 cards still in the deck. You can then remove cards two at a time if their sum is eleven (aces=1, face cards have no value), or you can remove three face cards at a time if they are in line horizontally, vertically or diagonally. You then fill in the empty spaces you have with cards from the deck and repeat this process until no moves are left. Not a hard concept, but very hard to win. Honestly I haven't won one game yet. Monte Carlo is a game I have played on other systems before and is a solitaire I truly enjoy. You start off with twenty cards dealt face up in four rows of five cards each. When two cards with the same number (or king to king, queen to queen, etc.) are touching, you discard both cards and move all the cards that follow up, adding new cards only at the bottom (not filling in holes like in Elevens). The object of course is to get rid of all the cards. This can be a very fun game, but can also be very frustrating when after discarding your first two cards you find there are no more moves possible (which has happened many times). Calculation starts you off with four cards dealt face up, an ace, a two, a three and a four. You also have four discard piles and the remainder of the deck. The object of this game is to build on the four cards in sequence (which is different for each stack). On the ace, you build up by one (ace-one-two-etc.) on the two you build up by twos (two-four-six-etc.), on the three you build up by threes and on the four you build up by fours. Your discard piles are for the cards that cannot be played right away but be careful how you arrange them, because you will eventually need those cards. This is a complicated game that takes some real strategy or luck to win.
Cribbage is a two player game and your competitor is Bill, a nice, but personality-lacking computer competitor. I have to admit, when I got this game and was asked to review it, I didn't know the first thing about cribbage. However Las Vegas Cool Hand has a wonderful tutorial built in. In beginner mode, the computer marks the best moves for you to make (but doesn't force you to make them) and takes you through scoring step-by-step so that you understand why you just played what you did. The competent mode is basically the same as beginner, but shows you some of the finer points of the game, such as how you choose who gets the crib the first hand. Expert mode puts you on your own, baby.
Visual Appeal - I played this game both on a Game Boy Color and on a Game Boy Pocket. While the graphics were obviously much clearer and much easier to see on the GBC, it is still very much playable on older Game Boys. Although cards are not the most difficult items to draw, there are many other graphics (such as Bill, your cribbage opponent) and the different backdrops in which to play blackjack that are very impressive on such a small screen. Not to mention the lovely LOSER screen when you run out of money or card moves. At least they try to balance it with a nice WINNER screen when you are successful.
Soundtrack - Each game has its own particular music that, while repetitive, did not get on my nerves. However, if you so choose, at the main menu you can opt to turn off the lively background music. Other sound effects, such as shuffling and when no moves are left, are no better or worse than in other card games.
Important Features -
Single Player
Three different games, each with different modes
Five skill levels in Cribbage
Excellent game control
Nice instructions included on-cartridge
Gameplay Value - If you are a card freak like myself, this is a game you can easily become addicted to. However, even those who don't play solitaire every free minute they get can enjoy this game if just to waste a few minutes here or there. You never "finish" the game because even when you win, the cards are going to be dealt different next time.
Final Impressions - There were a couple of things that I did not like in this game. It provides no undo feature, which I feel is an important feature for games like this. Only being able to turn one card at a time in Klondike and not three as in traditional play is a negative point as well. However, any game that can take me from not knowing the first thing about cribbage one day to beating the easy skill level computer opponent nine times out of ten the next day has to be pretty neat. I have enjoyed playing all the games on the cartridge from my old favorites, Monte Carlo and blackjack, to my new favorites, cribbage and Elevens.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.