28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unbiased review from Gameraiders.com, December 17, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Bicycle Casino Games (CD-ROM)
Microsoft has set the standard in challenging your gambling skills, while providing you with an exciting casino-style gaming experience. It's the best product of its kind! Have all the fun without spending a dime in Bicycle Casino.
Gameplay
Experience the lights, challenge, and excitement of a Vegas-style adventure. Microsoft brings the whole package right to your PC in Bicycle Casino. Enter your name, choose one of many animated characters to represent you, and set your starting bankroll as you prepare to press your luck and test your gambling skills at one of three casinos: Treasure Island At The Mirage, The Mirage, and The Bellagio.
In preparation for gameplay, be sure to personalize your experience by setting the game options to suit your needs. Whether you're a beginning gambler that's new to the casino gaming industry or an expert needing a new challenge, 17 exciting games await you as you enter the casino game floor. The featured games include Blackjack, Roulette, Slot Machines, Baccarat, and various types of poker such as 5 Card Draw, 7 Card Stud, and many others. Simply slide your mouse over the table to capture the game being offered and click to play the game of your choice. It's that simple! Game rules and playing instructions can easily be accessed for each game, so you shouldn't have any problems getting started.
Play against the dealer or inviting other players to your table. Bet conservatively or risk high stakes. Play single games or challenge your skills in tournament play.. The options seem endless throughout your casino gaming experience.
Unique to Bicycle Casino is the tournament play offering. This sets it apart from other casino-style PC games. This truly sets the standard for future casino-game developers. Tournament play can be played in Casino Challenge or Freestyle Challenge. Casino Challenge takes your gambling skills to the limit by challenging you in all of the games. You must qualify in one casino to move to the next round that's being played at the next casino. Freestyle Challenge allows you to select the games you want to compete in and lets you set your own pace while still enabling you to advance in the competition.
All three casinos offer complimentary gifts as you reach specified criteria in your gameplay. All gifts must be obtained at all three casino's to be allowed to enter the prestigious high rollers' area in The Bellagio casino, reserved for only the best of the best.
This game is a must have for all casino gaming enthusiasts. It represents a myriad of beautiful colors, challenging casino gaming realism, exciting sounds, and actual casino video footage.
Gameplay Score: 92
Graphics
With vivid, bright colors, realistic re-creations of gaming tables, and authentic casino architecture, all of the graphics are very detailed. I was, however, rather disappointed with the animated characters portrayed in the game; I thought they were too mechanical and corny.
Graphics Score: 85
Sound
The sounds make you feel like you're in an actual casino. All of the background voices, sound effects, and music add to the realism of the game.
Sound Score: 90
Technical
I didn't experience any glitches or hang-ups. Installation was also easy. Gameplay was smooth, with no lockups or crashes.
Technical Score: 95
Value
This game is a must have for casino-gaming enthusiasts. Although this is an excellent game that can be played by everyone, it would most likely appeal only to a certain class of people. It's easy to learn and understand and is a great value for anyone who enjoys a challenging, Vegas-style adventure.
Value Score: 85
Overall
Bicycle Casino is the best PC casino-gambling software yet! The game's very user friendly with easy to follow instructions. The graphics and sounds add realism to the gaming environment. While the game is fun, Bicycle Casino will most likely only appeal to a limited audience; specifically those gamers who enjoy a Vegas-style gambling challenge.
Overall Score: 88
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save your money - buy Hoyle Casino instead, November 28, 2003
This review is from: Bicycle Casino Games (CD-ROM)
This is a review of Bicycle Casino - 21 Games. As someone who plays No Limit Texas Hold 'Em in casino tournaments, I was looking for a Hold 'Em game that I could play with at home to practice with. There are a number of problems with this game.
1) First of all, your opponents will never fold before the flop - even if all they've got is a 2,4 offsuit and there have been 3 rounds of raising and re-raising. That's simply not realistic unless your playing poker with a bunch of absolute morons.
2) This lack of un-realistic opponents makes it difficult to practice poker theory and solid betting/bluffing strategies.
3) The "hints" offered by the game are often off the mark.
4) I find that my mouse blinks the entire time I'm playing the game, which is really annoying. And that's running the game on Windows 2000 with a 1 GHz processor and 256 MB of memory.
5) I don't like having to confirm the fact that I'm folding every time I fold. That slows the game down.
If you're looking for a game that will help you play against morons that simply won't fold before they've seen 4th street, this is your game. If you want to practice poker theory and strategies, buy any of the Hoyle Casino games. I've played a lot of tournament poker and I'll tell ya the characters in the Hoyle game are very close to real poker players that you'll meet in casinos and card rooms.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, but MAJOR INEXCUSABLE bugs ruin everything, April 10, 2003
This review is from: Bicycle Casino Games (CD-ROM)
This game is actually a lot of fun. I get some weird graphics bugs (flickering w/ NVIDIA RIVA TNT2) but it's bearable. But there are INEXCUSABLE bugs during game play in the poker games that make the tournaments a miserable experience. You'll be staring at a straight flush and bet the world only to realize the computer thinks you have a pair of 4's. Guess what, you lose to a guy with a pair of 5's!!! The workaround is to hover the mouse above your cards and if the computer is misreading your hand, FOLD. PERIOD. But it's extremely frustrating.
MS acknowledges such bugs but hasn't released a patch. As far as I'm concerned, that means it's not worth buying yet. It would be like buying Flight Simulator knowing that the flight engine would force your plane into a deadly spin every few seconds... ruining the whole point of the program.
Great potential for fun here, and worth it if that's all you're looking for. But wait for an MS fix before wasting your money otherwise.
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