Graphics

The best word to describe the graphics in Bicycle Casino is BA to the double downed D. I can deal with the blocky and stiff character models and the unimpressive animations. I can also get over the fact that every menu in the game is simplistic, and they show little creativity in terms of art direction. But I can't understand how the card graphics were made so small and have such a low resolution that it's hard to tell a spade from a club and a heart from a diamond. There are times when I thought I was suited, but wasn't, and there were times when I was, and threw away a potential flush - there is no excuse for this. The Xbox is the cock of the walk when it comes to graphics, and easily discerning one playing card from another is integral to the success in poker. I would have liked large, high-res cards to fill the screen after they are dealt, or at least a graphic similar to the card cam in the World Series matches. It's hard enough to stomach poker on a console, but it becomes nearly unbearable when you have to squint at a 27" WEGA to play it.

Audio

There's no music in Bicycle Poker at all, and without a custom soundtrack option, the only thing you'll be listening to is some background casino noise and the shoddy voice acting coming from bot players. It sounds as if only two people recorded all of the dialogue for all of the character types, and changed their tone or accent for each one. The dialogue is a bit cheesy, but then again, so are casinos for the most part. I've heard all of the sayings in Bicycle Casino at the table before, so at least they're no a stretch. The Dolby Digital encoding creates an interesting ambiance, but the effects are so dull that it really doesn't matter which speaker spews what. The best part of the audio is that the Communicator can be used for online matches. The majority of the matches I played were filled garbled-voiced gamers, but it was still more interesting to listen to than any other part of the audio track.

http://reviews.teamxbox.com

<<Back