Casino Inc.

[Anrhydeddu]

I know a couple of people that work for Hothouse, the developers of Gangster and they have come out with Casino Inc. Here's a review from a friend of mine of Casino Inc., who like me, hated Casino Empire and the tycoon type nonsense.

There's a strong element of violence in this game that contrasts harshly with the zany humor. This violence is the key element that makes the game more than just a sandbox or "tycoon" game. Not only do you have to plot and plan an appropriately built casino (ie, you cant just drop anything anywhere), but you have to worry about the other guys starting fights in your casino, assassinations, and basically anything to cause the cops to come in and close you down. I had a full scale gun battle going on after I shot a bouncer in the opponent casino and let the cops in a foot pursuit back to my place. There, about four cops had made it through the doors while my hitman frantically waited for the elevator and they all opened up on him at the same time. People panicked and ran for the door, the hitman returned fire and winged a cop, and he was then turned into swiss cheeze. There's a real sense of urgency to what you are doing, not just "make a pretty place to bring in the happy people". It's very much like the real life crimeworld Vegas of the 60's and 70's.

I'm anxious to see the reviews for this game because I'm certain there will be some heavy criticism over the shock an unsuspecting reviewer will experience after laughing at the old people playing air guitar with canes on the disco floor only to turn and see a hitman execute a hooker in the casino. If you want more property, create as much havoc at a target business until you run them out. If you need some easy cash, send cheaters to a rival casino to steal from the tables. Your bouncers can accidentally kill a person they were "disciplining", people get drunk and puke on the floor in graphic technicolor, this is definitely not another cutesy building game like Sim Theme Park or Rollercoaster Tycoon. There's plenty of management and tactical economics to delve into, but if all else fails, there's the old-fashioned ass-beating to fall back on.

I wish I had more info or even a link. Maybe someone else can chime in here and provide more detailed info?

Here is a link to the Game Rankings page that includes links to a preview as well as links to other related sites. I am somewhat surprised at your interest since looking at the screen shots it doesn't really impress me as your type of game.

Casino Inc