[table]
[td]Brought to you by [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/candytray]Superfabs Candy Tray[/url], through our curation, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32749084/]here[/url].
For more hidden gems, check out Abyssal Ascent Reviews [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32607787-Abyssal-Ascent/]curator[/url], and consider [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/AbyssalAscent/]joining[/url] our group too.
If you like my reviews, it helps a lot! Thank you!
[/td][/table]
[b]Strip Black Jack - Manga Edition[/b] is a game centered around classic twenty-one blackjack. As a side note to the title, luckily you do not strip Jack Black. Now, there is an opening few bits of story to get you familiar with what the premise is, which is nice. It’s not a pure visual novel, but rather, more like a gambling game to gain money to purchase things that change how the game is presented, as well as moving the story and achievements along.
The plot begins with you winning against the girl in the game’s father, and he offers to play for pieces of his daughter’s clothing when he realizes you have taken a liking to her already. He wants to get his money back at any cost, I suppose, or maybe she’s just that type already. Does not get specific there. She’s sort of apprehensive at first, but then realizes it could be quite fun, so she goes along with the idea.
The idea is nice, and the animation is a pleasure to look at. I wish there was a little bit more variety besides the one gal, but the story kind of revolves around that basis. It’s pretty fun and fairly simplistic. My idea is either betting half and doubling on good hands, or betting all and just taking a chance, regardless. You’ll lose a lot, but there’s a wheel you will get quite familiar with. When it gives you a high “starting” amount, that’s when you want to go big on the betting. It took me three or four times to get the 100k total achievement, so it is a bit tedious, but gathering the money to get the other bits isn’t too bad overall. There are eight total achievements dealing with the “stages” for the girl your character is infatuated with. The ninth is broken. [b]EDIT:[/b] Achievement is now fixed through an update. [strike] Either it needs to be added, or they should remove it from Steam in case people who are completionists wish to fulfill said role and get all of them to 100%.[/strike]
[h1]Pros[/h1]
It’s cute, presented well, and the card play is fun, though a bit unfair!
I like the art done on the girl you can mess with. There are four poses per level of clothing removed.
You get spins from a wheel, so you can never truly lose; if you are persistent, you can get all the achievements.
Everything works fairly well in the game. I like the plot, subject matter, and the overall idea here. It’s a nice building block for hopefully something more grand down the road with it.
It could use more content all around. More items to buy and tinker with, more women, or maybe more modes and styles of play, or changes in appearances and whatnot. Just a bit more customization overall.
You can click the girl who is on the right, and change her poses as you please while you play the game, though I already touched on that to an extent.
[h1]Cons[/h1]
[strike]One achievement is impossible to get. This is a game-breaker for me until it is fixed. Waiting for an update of either removing the impossible one, or adding content to fix it.[/strike]
It’s a bit unfair as far as how many times the guy you play against gets better hands than you do. I don’t know if it’s just me, or if he does just have better chances to beat you, overall.
The language needs a few small fixes. I sent some suggestions to the developer though, so I hope they will update it soon. [b]EDIT:[/b]Not fixed in recent update. Here's hoping!
Game froze on me after viewing videos for some reason. Doesn’t seem to want to work right. [b]EDIT[/b]Seems fixed for me after watching newest video in update, but it cycles on "locked", where you have to pay to get it again, but your money returns, so it's in a sort of loop for now.
If I click the menu while playing, the song will duplicate, and continue making more copies that will overlap if I continue to do so, which is rather frustrating and annoying to me.
For the 100k achievement, you must have it all at once, so this was a bit rough for me to obtain. I didn’t enjoy the grind needed for this when I had everything else up to this point finished.
There aren’t any real good definitive rules for how to play if you don’t know the game at all really. I would like to see a tutorial, or some kind of tooltip if you hover over stuff you may not know about unless you are familiar with the game.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
If you like blackjack and nudity, this is a good one to have. It’s pretty low in price too, though it’s fairly simplistic in its current state and build. I'm updating this to positive now since the final achievement is obtainable in the game.
I felt like a non-obtainable achievement was game-breaking, personally, but I am changing this to positive, since it's fixed achievement-wise, though as mentioned, a bit rough around the edges. If you just like nice views, this one’s pretty alright though. I think you’d enjoy it for that alone. Most of it is nicely done up to this point. Hoping for more content, and a steady improvement if they roll out more games in the future!
