CS Poker Slots Review

A stripped-down feature set and an acute pacing problem make it even harder to recommend this game, whose concept is only marginal to begin with.

With the preponderance of mobile poker games, and really, of mobile casino games in general, every such game needs some kind of hook to help it stand out from the crowd. For Centerscore's CS Poker Slots, that hook is to marry the familiar interface of a slot machine with the basic rules of five-card draw poker. It's mildly entertaining for a short while, but a stripped-down feature set and an acute pacing problem make it even harder to recommend this game, whose concept is only marginal to begin with.

For the last time, no, this is not a Counter-Strike-themed video poker game.
For the last time, no, this is not a Counter-Strike-themed video poker game.

CS Poker Slots basically looks like your average slot machine, though with a few key differences. Instead of just three reels, there are five, and there are playing card values displayed on the reels rather than the usual slot-machine symbols. Each reel has three rows on it, giving you the opportunity to make three different five-card hands. Starting off with $200 to gamble with, you set your bet to one of the seemingly arbitrary increments of $3, $33, $66, or $99. Once you've placed your bet, the reels spin and display your first five "cards." At this point you can adjust any of the reel positions by two places, which, in theory, makes for a more strategic game. But in practice, it ends up killing the pacing of the game, since you'll inevitably spend most of your time fiddling with reel positions.

From here, any reels you want to keep in their current positions can be locked, and any unlocked reels are subject to a second spin, which finally determines what your final hands are. Since you're just playing against the machine, the payout is based on the quality of your hands, with everything from a pair of jacks or higher to a royal flush paying out to some degree.

The game gives you an initial challenge of seeing the minimum number of hands you can play before turning your $200 stack into $1,000, but there are no additional goals beyond that. There's also no multiplayer component, leaving you to play this fairly monotonous game all by your lonesome. The game's presentation isn't particularly glitzy on the LG VX7000, but it's functional, though the sound design could have benefited from more than just the one celebratory jingle that plays whenever you get a winning hand.

The concept of risk versus reward is at the core of any good gambling experience, but CS Poker Slots gives you too much control. With three different hands to play and the ability to pick and choose which cards will go into what hands, there's minimal risk of losing. And that's just not very rewarding.

The Good

  • N/A

The Bad

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