This is Vegas Hands-on Preview

Gamble. Drive. Party. Fight. These four words flash on screen as Surreal Software’s recently delayed open world game This Is Vegas prepares itself for hands on play. More than mere marketing slogans, they reflect and describe everything you’ll be able to do in this virtual parody of the real Sin City. At Midway’s Gamer’s Day in April we brought you our impressions of the partying and fighting. Now, three months later at E3 2008, we have the chance to get our hands dirty with Surreal’s virtual gambling.

First though a recap for the uninitiated. Like we said, This is Vegas is an open world game, but unlike any you’ve ever played. Taking itself far less seriously than Rockstar’s GTA 4, and with far less emphasis on action than THQ’s Saints Row 2, Midway’s This is Vegas focuses on the outlandish and over the top social moments you imagine the rich and famous get up to on a daily basis in Nevada’s most famous city. The game’s plot – you’re charged with stopping a Donald Trump-esque villain from transforming the city from the tacky, vice-fuelled party town it is today into the latest sanitised Disneyland style resort – reflects its tone perfectly. So don’t expect gritty realism, dark colours or rocket launchers. Expect bright neon lights, clubbing and betting big.

Which brings us nicely on to what we’re here at Midway’s private meeting room to see – the gambling. The game will have a number of games, including slots, 21 and Texas Hold ‘Em poker, which all play exactly as they do in real life – well, not quite (more on that in a bit). Accessible from the game’s many casinos, all you have to do is walk up to a table and flash the cash – it’s as simple as that. We’re in the Olympus Casino, which reminds us of the many we passed through during our trip to Vegas for Midway’s Gamers Day – plenty of tables, lots of ridiculously attractive women in full make up and revealing dresses (you can interact with them all by the way, taking drinks from their trays), and lots of gold. We see a car propped up on a platform in the background – Trevor Elkington, PHD, senior associate producer, tells us you can actually win the car by landing the jackpot on the slot machines.

We sit down at a table and start playing Black Jack against the suited dealer. Remember how we said the gambling doesn’t play out exactly as it does in real life? That’s because Surreal has built in a cheat mechanic to make winning easier. Apparently you’ve sent in people into the casino in advance to mark the cards with invisible ink, which you can see via the special shades you’re wearing. There are three marks, each showing the range the card falls into rather than what it is exactly. To combat this though there’s a house suspicion indicator, which you have to be weary of for fear of being chucked out. So while cheating isn’t fool proof, the odds are definitely stacked in your favour. Eat your heart out Kevin Spacey.

We play a game of 21 and of course cheat as much as we can, being the morally corrupt ruffians we are (hey, this is Vegas!). Not only can we see what range the card coming next falls in but the range of the dealer’s cards too. We stick or twist accordingly, skipping everything that concerns us with the X button. We win almost every game – a cool $5,000 a pop. What’s the point? What do you want money for? Trendy threads, flashy accessories and everything you can think of to make you look cooler. Is it fun? Well it is what it is. The more important question is, will the game force you to gamble more than you’d like to in order to swell you’re bank account. At this stage we simply don’t know.

Having rinsed the casino and with dollar signs in our eyes we spill out into the parking lot. Here we get our clearest idea yet of the This is Vegas’ in your face look. Huge signs burn neon light into our retinas. The black night sky is lit up by billboards, buildings and car lights. We see aeroplanes and helicopters fly over head. On the ground people walk about – some dressed to impress, others in danger of committing fashion murder. While we have concerns about how shiny the game looks (character faces look particularly waxy), in this open space the game looks brilliant, and unique. This is Vegas may be an open world game, and there may be plenty of open world games out there, but none look like this.

Immediately we’re confronted by two goons who have it in for us – we wrecked their car previously in the game, Trevor tells us. We oblige their vengeful desires and start fighting. The melee mechanics in This is Vegas are incredibly simple. On the Xbox 360 pad (the version we’re playing) X attacks and Y grabs or shoves. To do a more powerful attack all you have to do is hold down the X button. And once you’ve maxed out your Buzz meter – your cool factor – you can Buzz Bomb the unfortunate saps into oblivion – slow motion punch that sends your rag doll opponent flying 20 meters into the distance.

We quickly and easily dispatch the disgruntled pair, randomly mixing powerful punches with grab attacks. There isn’t much depth to it, but it’s accessible enough to be played mindlessly and fluid enough to be fun. But the fisticuffs don’t stop there. In fact the fisticuffs take a turn for the mental. Two men run out of the casino, one dressed as a knight in shining armour riding a green dragon, the other in a big head king outfit like that creepy guy from the Burger King adverts. They start punching us so we fight back, and we have absolutely no idea why. It’s barmy, and utterly in keeping with what this game is all about. And, dare we admit it, something we wouldn’t be surprised to see in the real Vegas.

We’ve seen and heard a lot of cynicism surrounding This is Vegas, especially online. What’s the point, we hear? Do I really want to be living the fantasy Vegas lifestyle in a video game? And, isn’t everything too shiny? While we’re willing to give the game a chance, mainly because it’s a fresh take on the overpopulated open world genre, we understand and even share some of these concerns. Unfortunately Surreal didn’t show us much new at E3, so there’s little ammunition with which we can break down the sceptics’ defensive walls. But now that the game has been delayed from Q4 2008 to spring 2009, the developer has the time and opportunity to change that situation in the crucial coming months. And we reckon that’s a good thing. We’ll have our gambling shades polished, our shirts ironed and our suits pressed for when the time comes.

This is Vegas is due out for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2009.