
Vegas Jackpot, ZX Spectrum, Mastertronic - IS0002
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2/10
Summary
What should have been an enjoyable virtual slot machine, the ZX Spectrum version of Vegas Jackpot is a slow, plodding affair. With flawed mechanics and drawn out gameplay, boredom quickly sets in and you struggle to get through a single game, let alone find the desire to return to it a second time.
User Review
( votes)After Mastertronic’s original release of Shaun Southern’s Vegas Jackpot for the Vic 20 and Commodore 64 in April 1984, it ended up being ported to almost every 8-bit system that the company catered for. So it was no surprise that this version of the virtual slot machine arrived almost a year later at the beginning of 1985. But how well did it stack up against the original?
All Change
If you’ve read our reviews of the other formats, you’ll be familiar with the format of the game. Starting off with £100, you spent £1 at a time on the virtual slot machine and keep playing until you run out of money or manage to achieve a total balance of £250 resulting in you winning the game. Played across four reels, and all the time offering all of the traditional features you would expecting including the ability to hold, nudge and gamble your winnings. The Vic 20 and Dragon versions differed, but most versions followed that format.
But not the Spectrum version. In this release of Vegas Jackpot the game has dropped down to just three reels and the starting amount of cash is now a measly £5 – even lower than the £10 on the Vic 20 and Dragon 32 releases. Now, I know games like these were aimed at a younger market and didn’t want to encourage real-life gambling, instead simulating the type of slot machines kids were legally allowed to play in arcades but this drop made no sense especially when the virtual prize money could go as high as £2.
Something Missing?
That’s not the only thing that’s been altered for this version. The gameplay has undergone some tweaks, and not all of them are beneficial to the player. The first and most noticeable is the nudge system. In most of the other versions, there are numbers next to some of the symbols on the reels. When these land on the winning line, these add up and when these reach a certain amount it triggered the nudge function.
Here, it happens at random intervals which unlike some, I do actually prefer. To determine how many nudges you get a bar is displayed at the top of the screen with the numbers 1-10 displayed, flashing randomly. Pressing G will stop the flashing light and whatever number it lands on is how many nudges you get. You can then control all three reels individually, up or down, to try to get a winning match.
The other significant change is when you win any prizes. When it comes to gambling to try for a higher cash amount, usually you two amounts flash and it’s all about reactions to see if you can select the higher amount and work up to the top prize displayed. In this version, you risk losing your prize completely instead of being awarded something lower.
Vegas Jackpot – Not Without Its Problems
Some of the tweaks to the gameplay have brought along some notable issues with them which impact on the game considerably. When it comes to the nudge system, I found one issue cropping up repeatedly. It’s human nature to work from left to right trying to match reels up to secure a winning line. However, as soon as you get two matching symbols, all your remaining nudges are discarded and a prize is awarded even if you have enough nudges to lock a third reel into place to win something bigger. The only way around this is to position the first and third reels before the middle one, but as a player you shouldn’t have to do this.
More frustratingly is the hold function. We’re all familiar with the random hold feature to lock reels before spinning. However, in this release if you accidentally hold the wrong reel, there is no way to cancel it. In every other slot game on every other system, it’s simply a case of pressing the corresponding hold button a second time, but not in Vegas Jackpot. Once you’ve pressed hold on a reel you’re stuck with that choice and it can become incredibly frustrating, even more if you’re a touch typist like myself and simply press the wrong key by accident.
Graphics And Sound
Generally speaking, the Commodore 64, Commodore 16 and Atari versions all looked rather similar to each other apart from variations in the colour palette used. Now I wasn’t expecting the same from the Spectrum version, but what we did get was well below what the Spectrum was capable of. While the Spectrum is generally praised for having bold, bright visuals this is one game where this is an obvious disadvantage. While the game’s background colour is blue, all of the reels are white and although most of the symbols are easy enough to see, there are several that are yellow and not easily distinguishable from one another. But that’s the least of its worries… but I’ll come onto that shortly.
Sound doesn’t fare particularly well, but this was to be expected as it was developed to run on the original Spectrum so there are just a few blips and bleeps to accompany the game. This was long before the days of the AY chip so the relative lack of sound can be forgiven here.
Playability
The most important question is how does the Spectrum version of Vegas Jackpot play? Unfortunately, not very well. While I found the nudge mode refreshingly different, there were too many frustrations that spoiled the game. The hold feature meant that you needed to concentrate far more than a game like this really demanded, but that was the least of its problems.
The big drawback was its speed – or the lack of it. Vegas Jackpot runs at a painfully slow speed and it feels as if you are waiting for an eternity for each of the reels to drop into place. Yes, I know I’m being flippant on that, but it really does take a while for all three reels to stop spinning. And that’s the real problem… there doesn’t appear to be a goal in terms of prize money as there was with some of the other versions of the game, but I do wonder how many people have the patience to play it for long enough that their money actually runs out? With the speed of the Spectrum’s processor, I really don’t understand why this is the slowest of all the versions I’ve played.
Overall
Everything I have said may be coming across as if I’m overly harsh. I would guess that this version – just like the Dragon 32 – was created independently of Mr Chip Software and the developer, CME, simply created their own slot machine on commission from Mastertronic to add another version to the Vegas Jackpot line. Perhaps in this instance, it may have been better to release it as a new slot title exclusive to the Spectrum rather than market it as the same game? But either way, this is one that should have been left on the shelf rather than make it to retail.
After playing so many other versions of this game, I expected at least a competent game for the ZX Spectrum, but for some unknown reason the Spectrum really struggled with what was really a basic game. Coupled with some fundamental design problems, it made this the worst version of the ones I’d encountered. Not one of Mastertronic’s finest moments.
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Yep , I agree with your review of this game and if I paid money in the day I would feel like I was Cheated . Even the Humble Commodore C16 wiped its feet on the Speccy version , matching in looks and feel of the Atari 800xl and C64 versions . The Vic 20 gave it a good run for its money, The BBC / Electron version was also poor but ok , even thou the Electron struggled .
Here’s one thing I often wondered , why wasn’t Vegas Jackpot not released on the Amstrad CPC464 it seemed to released on every system but the CPC464. ???
It was quite a surprise with the Spectrum version if I’m honest. I grew up originally with the Vic 20 version and absolutely loved that as a kid and considering that was running in under 5k it was pretty impressive. With that in mind, even if this version was developed for the 16k Spectrum it should have been capable of being much better on every level.
As for the Amstrad (and even MSX), those make no sense. The Dragon, Spectrum and C16 versions all came out in 1985, about 9 months after the original and the BBC and Atari ones were released in 1986 so there’s no reason why an Amstrad port couldn’t have been included as well amongst the final batch.
The last version of it (BBC) was released in September 1986, but their first Amstrad game was released a year earlier so there was plenty of time to either commision a conversion or bring in an existing slots game and rebrand it. The only reason I can think of for them not doing it is the fact that there was already a slots game bundled with the machine at the time.