The act of “cashing out” in regards to casino games typically means to take the chips, tokens or credits and trading them back in for money. The game of Cash Out by Big Toe Software has very little to do with that concept, but can be entertaining even without giving you real world money (although things would be better with money pay outs.)Cash Out is a fairly straightforward puzzle game that reminds me of other puzzle titles such as Chuzzle from Pop Cap games. The general premise is to match up the symbols on the grid and “break” them out by doing so. While the game offers various modes of gameplay the mechanics of gameplay are all the same.
You start with a six by six grid of casino inspired symbols and then from there you can “grab” a line and drag it one way or another to match at least three symbols in many different combinations, with the exception of a diagonal match. The game starts adding things to change this concept as you progress through the stages.
As you play you will start to see different symbols attached to some of the icons. The two “helpful” symbols are the Spin and the Bomb. These will cause various effects to happen when you match them up and break out the group. The Spin will cause the row that the symbol was in to spin and stop randomly and the Bomb will cause the area around the symbol to “explode” and destroy the surrounding symbols regardless of matches.
The game also starts adding in things that hinder your ability to move the rows and columns as you progress. The first thing you see is a larger version of some of the icons. These larger symbols will take up two rows and limit those rows movements to keeping the shape on the screen (rather than allowing it to scroll off the screen either direction.) These large shapes will still match up with the others in much the same manner and have the added bonus of having more “surface area” to match up with more shapes. In addition you will see a lock symbol appear on some icons randomly. This lock keeps both the row and column that the shape is in from moving. This severely limits what the player can move and increases the difficulty of a stage drastically.
Cash Out gives you a few game varieties to choose from that all use the same mechanics just for different objectives. The main game is the Classic mode that gives you a bar to fill up by causing these break outs and once you fill the bar you get scored based on your performance (not asking for hints, time it takes to complete the stage, etc.) and it goes into a mini game of sorts where you spin a slot machine to match up symbols that add to your overall score. Once you get your points it goes into the next stage where the difficulty is increased slightly. A note on the scoring screen is that it gives you no option to skip the totaling of points. It seems like a minor thing but as sometimes the stages are quick and easy you will see the scoring screen more often and having to wait for it to total up can get a bit annoying.
The Challenge mode goes through the same concepts but adds a timed element to it. This mode has a set of stars at the bottom that fill up constantly and only decrease as you break out groups of symbols. Once it fills up the game randomly selects a symbol and adds the lock modifier to it. This repeats as the gauge fills up again and again. This mode adds a sense of urgency to matching up the symbols which gives this slower paced game a much needed feeling of speed as it lacks this in the Classic and Relaxed modes.
The relaxed mode is just that … no sense of urgency or need to fill up any gauges. Just match and increase your score. This mode is fun for the mindless puzzling that occupies time while waiting for other things.
Visually the game is decent but nothing special. I have first hand experience with graphics on casino machines and while these are very similar they could have spent a bit more time making them interesting. The overall feel of the game is a classic slot machine feel which is the underlying theme of the game.
The sounds are a bit disappointing overall. They only used a few sounds that are found throughout the game and while these are casino like, they are a bit repetitive and become annoying quickly. Luckily they give you the option of turning down the FX in the options menu.
I was pleased to see them give a few options in regards to resolution at which the game plays. They also offer a full screen mode for those who prefer that. Other nifty features are that the game pauses when you click off the window allowing you to switch tasks without the game timing out on you and the game automatically saves the game when you exit, allowing you to pickup on the stage that you left on.
Overall, I would recommend this game if it wasn’t for the price. It gives decent amounts of replay value through the different modes and the various “awards” to collect for accomplishments, but lacks the polished feel that other similar games have for the same or less money.
I’m and artist and a gamer…admittedly I’m new at the artist part but definitely not the gamer part. I’ve been playing games most of my life and not sure what I would do without them. I tend to fill my free time with gaming when I’m not doing school work (classes are online for Game Art and Design), or spending time with my 6 month old son (he’s adorable…ask anyone).
If I had to pick a type of gamer I am it would be a RPG/action adventure gamer. I find myself drawn to the stories of games and loving games where that is a major player. The mechanics of a game are a close second in regards to what I like. I mean come one everyone loves a pretty game.
