Casino Crime

Casino Crime brings the whole SimCity concept to your mobster run casino. The game starts off with you being given a little bit of cash and the job of operating a casino, and, in return, you'll be shipping a portion of your profits back home. I guess it's kind of like running a franchise for a major corporation. You start off in a small room with a lucky table and the game assigns you tasks to help you get started. In fact, the built in help (which can be disabled) is excellent and made for a smooth experience when playing for a first time. Your first task... buy a plant. Now, I'm sure that matches up with reality, but I guess you've got to start somewhere. What better way to make your customers feel welcome that with a big fern in the middle of the room? So you do that and it's time to buy another plant and then a second lucky table and all throughout it's actually trying to teach you about the number in the upper right of the screen which is kind of a customer satisfaction level.

The graphics are decent in the game, but the squares on the isometric display are a little on the small side making the placement of objects error prone. The game does a good job of always having you confirm or cancel any action to eliminate the error factor, but it can still be a nuisance having to try three times to get it just right. Audio is fine with a little music playing in the background during game play and appropriate 'ching' noises when you do things. The controls are 100% touch screen based with choosing menu items or targeting the screen for various actions.

As you progress the game teaches you how to pick pocket customers to boost profits (that's just a part of the crime in Casino Crime) and you'll soon be setting up various casino games before you know it. You'll then be able to adjust payouts to make your casino looser to attract business in the early stages or tighter when your focus is on the big bucks.

SimCity for a mobster run casino is pretty much a perfect description of this game if I do say so myself. Personally, I think these games also satisfy the "what if I was a criminal?" question we have as we try to lead upright lives. It's actually a bit of a rush to, for example, pick pocket that first customer even though it's just a game. Does building a casino sound fun? Do you enjoy sim games? If so then this is a must get and that's not hard to do when there's a free, ad driven version available. 4.5/5 stars.