Payout Poker

All around pretty decent game. Needs regular poker! (Although I haven't found any PSP game yet with regular poker games). The ability to make large incrememnts in betting or a combination button to make the maximum bet would be REALLy worthwhile, since my finger gets sore going from $25,000 to a 1,000,000 dollar bet...

2007-05-06

Can't give product much of a review, since it does not work.

A weak attempt at best, Payout Poker and Casino has all of the elements of a well-rounded casino game. As this is the first complete casino simulation for the PSP, I had to own it, but as I proceeded to engage further in this program, I found a multitude of flaws.

Pros:

Four different locations help keep the game interesting.

A good variety of games is available.

Table limits are realistic.

The graphics are pleasing.

Poker AI is actually challenging in a "good" way.

Cons:

The different casinos have different betting limits that also limit your player from being able to bet in certain betting units. For example: The first casino will allow bets in $5 units, whereas later casinos will only allow you to bet in units of $50. This absurdity makes using this game in any realistic fashion impossible. Suppose you want to bet at a higher limit (Say a $5000 table), but want to bet $5067? You can't do it.

More locked content. Will any game developer ever get the message that producing a gambling game that relies on making stupid plays in order to unlock content is well...stupid?

No Pai Gow Poker! I will never get game developer's insistent lust for Red Dog, when almost no casinos offer such a game, yet Pai Gow Poker, one of the most interesting casino games of all time (popular enough to exist in almost every casino) is almost never included in casino simulation games.

The "people maker" is just plain bad.

Final verdict: Buy it because, let's face it, if you are reading this, you are wanting a casino game for your PSP and this is all you are going to find at this time. My only wish is that some of these game developers use their higher-than-average salaries to actually take a vacation to Las Vegas and produce a game that accurately resembles what it is like to spend some time gambling in an actual casino.

I like this game because I get to play many different kinds of Casino games. Not like some others where you only get to play Texas Holdem.