Venice Deluxe

The term “casual game” doesn’t have a lot of intrinsic meaning.  It’s really a marketing term onto which a lot of contradictory expectations are heaped.  Casual games are games that you can download quickly.  They appeal to career women.  They’re simple.  They are addictive.  They can be bought online.  They play in browsers.  They have very few art assets.  They’re pretty and shiny.

Depending on what game you’re talking about, several of those above statements won’t apply.  One could argue that Oasis, for example, is “simple,” yet I found it to be challenging and engaging.  I’m no longer convinced the phrase “casual game” means much.   “Casual game publisher”, however, does still mean something, and to many people it means “PopCap Games.”

One thing PopCap has been doing consistently is pushing the boundaries of production values.  It’s no secret that Bookworm Adventures was one of my favorite games last year, and so I approach each PopCap game with some trepidation, afraid it is going to suck me into the same sort of debilitating addiction as their earlier titles.

Venice Deluxe is a game where you shoot vases, hearts, stars, and other shapes into predefined spaces on a game board.  In some ways, it’s like a much easier variant of Snood.  Bonuses are earned for bank and trick shots, and a number of “powerups” appear that change the gameplay slightly.

The production value, as expected from PopCap, is top notch, but the game itself feels a bit dilute.  It’s an awesome game for kids — I left a group of 8 year olds at the laptop for 2 hours, and they wanted to keep playing when I returned — but felt a bit light to me.  Definitely try the demo, but in this case, the word “casual” is appropriate.