Score
Gameplay:	7
Graphics:	6
Sound:	5
FunFactor:	5
PlasmaFactor:	6
Overall:	5.8

V.I.P. Casino Blackjack Review
May 19, 2008 by Peter Skerritt

Casino games are usually pretty easy for players of all ages to pick up and play. They generally appeal to older players and therefore widen the potential demographic for the platform that the game is on. The most popular of the casino games right now is poker—most notably Texas Hold ‘Em—but blackjack isn’t too far behind. There are online blackjack sites and there are even syndicated blackjack shows on television. The betting is a bit more simplified, but blackjack has a strategy all its own that fans of the game will defend to the teeth. 

Let’s Get Those Cards In The Air! 

V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack marks the first WiiWare title for High Voltage Software and is exactly what it says it is: blackjack. The game takes place in a casino room at a table where up to four players can battle it out against the dealer in order to build up their virtual bankrolls. The way to get there is to bet a certain amount of money per hand that you will beat the dealer in getting as close to 21 without going over. The maximum bet per hand is $1,000. During the course of a hand, it’s possible to increase the bet by either doubling down or by splitting your hand. Doubling down means that a player has to stand after taking one more card; this is a risky move, but can pay big dividends if used at the right time. Splitting doubles your bet by creating two hands to play provided that the initial two cards of the hard are identical. It’s as easy to go broke quickly with a stretch of bad luck as it is to get on a winning streak and rack up the winnings; however, there’s no real penalty for going broke and buying back in, so there’s not a big incentive to be safe with betting at any time as there would be in actual casino situation. 

While V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack has all the basics in order to be a good card game, it has a giant omission: a lack of online functionality. There isn’t any online play, nor are there any online leaderboards to track stats like bankroll amounts and winning percentages. If it’s considered that other WiiWare releases-- such as Pop! and My Life as a King-- have at least some online functionality, then it’s hard to justify that a relatively simple card game has none at all.  

An in-game achievement system takes a little bit of the sting out of the lack of online functionality to extend V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack’s replay value. There are a total of 22 achievements to be unlocked during the course of play. Some are awarded by playing the game for a certain block of time. Others are unlocked by reaching certain bankroll benchmarks. Still others are achieved by maintaining a streak of non-losing hands. The toughest achievements are the ones that require players to total 21 in a certain number of cards in a hand. Getting 21 with 7 cards is quite a feat.  

As for the game controls in V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack, they are handled exclusively with the Wiimote. It’s very easy to bet, hit, stand, double down, check face-up cards, and more. There are different camera angles that can also be accessed with the press of a button, in case players don’t care for the default camera. Unfortunately, other controllers, such as Gamecube controllers, are not recognized by the game; this means that each player will need his or her own Wiimote in order to play in a multiplayer game.  

Visuals: What’s The Deal With That? 

The blackjack room in V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack contains some dim lighting, a table, a dealer, and up to four players. There’s no player customization, but the stock players do animate smoothly enough—even if some of their in-game mannerisms repeat quite often. There is a certain number of times that most players will likely stand seeing their on-screen avatars clapping like seals after winning a hand before it gets stale. It’s hard to nitpick a $7 game in terms of visuals, especially a card game, but the graphics really are average at best. Of course, for a card game, visuals aren’t usually the most important aspect of its potential success to begin with.  

Sounds Like The Dealer’s Ready! 

V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack takes a minimalist approach when it comes to sound and music, highlighted by some voice work by the dealer and some ambient casino sounds. Aside from the front end, there really isn’t any music to speak of. The dealer’s quips and sound bites recycle quickly, and the delivery of the clichéd lines is pretty stale. It might have been helpful to some players to have a voice call out hand values as the on-screen font when showing numbers isn’t exactly large. Perhaps High Voltage will work in more sound for their next V.I.P. Casino installment.  

Doubling Down For The PlasmaFactor 

There’s really no way to get around the disappointment of not having any online element at all in V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack. The in-game achievement system softens the blow just a little bit, but there’s really nothing to be had but satisfaction for pulling off all of the achievements. Additional replay value may come out of competitive multiplayer sessions, but, aside from that, this is bare-bones blackjack… take it or leave it. For $7, individual players will need to decide if that’s a fair value for such a game, but at least some will agree that $5 would have been a better price point for what this game delivers. 

Hit or Stand? 

It comes as a bit of a surprise that Poker wasn’t the first installment of the V.I.P. Casino series, but Blackjack plays a credible version of the casino classic. It’s not the best blackjack game out there, but card games aren’t exactly a dime a dozen on the Wii platform, so it’s a start. The game is fun to play in short spurts for players looking to brush up on their blackjack skills, but without online play and with a relatively concise achievement system, it’s likely that V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack will wind up being archived when newer WiiWare releases come along if you spend the money. It’s a decent initial effort, and there’s hope that later installments will add not only new casino games… but more depth and replay value to their overall packages.