The Coin Game Review (Xbox Series X|S)

If you could remain in an endless summer without ever needing to return to the nine-to-five grind, would you? Likewise, if you could consume as many slices of pizza as you could ever possibly stomach, spend as much as you could ever dream of, and indulge in a lavish island lifestyle without ever having to lift a finger, would you? It’s a no brainer, truly. It might be a pipe dream to the ordinary citizen, but to those in The Coin Game, it’s a mantra that everyone follows. To one, in particular, it’s the only way to live—to be able to spend each and every waking hour splurging cash on arcade machines, devouring pizza at the local food court, “borrowing” cash from a rich uncle to invest in flashy sports cars and an infinite supply of tokens for the faraway amusement park. It’s a dream, but also a reality for one lucky, lucky soul who doesn’t know where summer begins and the benefits end.

In case you haven’t guessed it yet, The Coin Game is all about dreaming big and living a little larger than the average morning commuter. It’s about taking the easy route—the path that leads you around the hustle and bustle of big-city living and to the serene island lifestyle where jobs are scarce and entertainment is abundantly accessible to those with the tokens to live lavishly. Depending on which mode you choose to mount—Survival or Birthday—you have the opportunity to soak up one of two pathways: one that allows you to earn your dream through various odd jobs like delivering newspapers, pawning items, or dumpster diving, and one that allows you to live freely on your Uncle Phil’s bank account, the latter of which involves an infinite amount of cash and tokens and an open-ended sandbox with dozens of activities to explore. Well, technically both pathways involve a ton of activities. It just so happens that one of them requires you to keep tabs on your cash and energy and other, well, human needs.

At the heart of The Coin Game is a time capsule for the arcade and carnival games of old—a portal to a calm yet somewhat barren island where mini-games and sideshow attractions, big top prize tents and guilty pleasures are the common theme and strenuous grafting is heavily frowned upon. In this tale, you fill the boots of an easygoing protagonist with all the time in the world to lean into childhood memories. While you do have a couple of needs to cater to—Energy, for example—the island is yours for the taking. There are dozens of modern arcade games to play, laser tag arenas to participate in, go karting events to enter, and even a full-fledged shopping mall and food court to explore. To add, you have vehicles to unlock, RC car tournaments to compete in, mini golf events to beat, and, to add a slither of frosting to an already jam-packed cake, an entire water park to scoot around in.

Going by all of the activities mentioned above, The Coin Game sounds like a real treat. And to some extent, it is. Granted, the world in which you spend your time and energy doesn’t always capture that all-important postcard aesthetic, given that most of the open-world segments are largely barren and without any major details. However, if you take a closer look inside its staple locations—the arcade, shopping mall, and water park, for example—you actually have a lot of options to consider and avenues to explore. To call it a classically good-looking game might be a stretch. That said, where The Coin Game fails to showcase a picture-perfect image, it does find various ways to keep you engaged, if not with another ticket-eating arcade machine, then with a plethora of perks and obtainable rewards.

To give credit where credit is due, The Coin Game does offer a huge variety of things for you to do. Aside from its generously packed island of nostalgic charm and rustic wonders, it also features a handful of different routes to venture down, one of which invites you to lean into the traditional survival tropes and earn your way, and another that offers you the chance to explore, play, and bathe in buttery arcade goodness at your own leisure. The only thing missing, really, is the extra layer of polish to help iron out its technical flaws, of which, regrettably, there are a few.

While you certainly won’t find a shortage of things to do in The Coin Game, you might just find your fair share of issues with the general presentation. It pains me to admit it, too, because The Coin Game has a firm backbone with a tremendous amount of activities to get lost in. That being said, there are still several core components that could do with a bit of extra time in the oven. For instance, the UI has an awful habit of popping up when you least expect it, and various arcade machines rarely allow you to play them or earn tokens. It isn’t a broken game by any means, but to call The Coin Game an airtight experience with perfect mechanics and a sparkling exterior just wouldn’t be an accurate description for the game. Still, nothing a handful of hot fixes can’t fix. Right?

Verdict

The Coin Game leans into that ever-alluring island lifestyle with a jam-packed, albeit slightly unpolished world of modern mini-games and big top prizes, ticket eaters and carb-loaded fast food eateries. Although still with its fair share of technical faults and irritating UI issues, the game itself packs a huge deal into its world, with enough old-school activities and avenues of adventure to keep you mindlessly scooting around the aisles and punching in tickets for hours.

With all of the theme-appropriate ingredients to make an irresistibly meaty open-world sandbox, The Coin Game more or less has the potential to become the Belle of the ball in the arcade sphere. It might not be ready just yet, but it clearly has its foot in the right direction, at least. Here’s hoping that, with enough hot fixes and some well-needed technical polish, it’ll amount to a lot more than your bog-standard trip down memory lane. Till then, you might want to keep your stockpile of tickets and tokens in your pocket.