Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Ron Burke

I believe in poker the way I believe in the American Dream.  Poker is good for you.  It enriches the soul, sharpens the intellect, heals the spirit, and - when played well, nourishes the wallet.  -Lou Krieger

There are a lot of Poker players in the world.  In fact, Poker traces back to (as a matter of debate) the Parisian game of Nas in the early 1800s.  Cowboys played it, kings play it, royalty play it, and paupers play it.  Through a variety of outlets, Poker has reached an unprecedented amount of players, moving it from the smoky VIP rooms to every living room in the world.  The popularity of the game has spiked lately, pushing it into the world of televised sports, and catching the eye of developer Left Field and publisher Activision who released World Series of Poker in 2005 for several consoles.  In 2006 the game came to Next-Gen platforms, entitles World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions, and was crowned the best selling card game in that year. Fast forward to today and we see the release of World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets.  Let’s take a second to break away from the world of Halo for a moment and see if this title is all Aces again, or if it comes up a flop.

As I mentioned, in 2006 we saw the first Next-Generation version of World Series of Poker.  The game suffered from a bit of cookie-dough-face and some lip sync issues, but overall was a good step up from the previous-generation versions.  The folks at Left Field listened to the criticism and put the pros back into the scanner to work even harder to bring them to life.  This year’s tournament puts you against the likes of Johnny Chan, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Greg Raymer, Annie Duke, Phil “Unabomber” Laak, Humberto Brenes, Marcel “They Flying Dutchman” Luske, David “Devil Fish” Ulliott, and Shannon Elizabeth, and The Brat – Phil Hellmuth.  Each is rendered with a greater detail than we’ve seen to date, with special attention paid to mannerisms and posture.  It isn’t Gears of War, but it is a marked improvement over last year’s performance and shouldn’t disappoint.

Using an improved Digimask scanning system in the backend of the game, players are now able to bring their face to the game with a bit more accuracy than last year. While the camera is still too low-poly to make it as effective as the methods EA has used with their Tiger Woods 08 title, it can bring a bit of immersion to the game as you’ll get to sit at the table instead of one of the game characters. Just as before you’ll be able to adjust some basic options, purchase and change clothing, and use various voices for your avatar.  If you could care less about whether your character looks like you or not, you can always just move straight into the poker tournament. 

One area that saw a great deal of improvement is the look of the interface.  The text is now crisp and clean, with a mixture of grey and blue text on black backgrounds to help make the Poker Tools menus far more usable at a glance. 

How do you screw up a Poker title’s sound?  Excessive ‘tell’ noises, that’s how.  Last year brought the most obnoxious and obvious auditory tells that I’ve heard in any title to date.  While I applaud the developer trying something new, it was so far outside of normal I was wondering if my rookie card player would survive whatever Avian Bird Flu strain everyone was obviously carrying.  It is my great pleasure to report that the epidemic has passed.  Gone are the sniffling, coughing, and sneezing tells, making players rely on their skill at the card game rather than any audio clue that you might receive.

If there is one area where the sound excels, it has to be the fact that all of the pros have contributed not only their likeness but also their voice to the game.  This provides an air of authenticity that would otherwise be sorely missing.  The official World Series of Poker announcers since 2003, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad have also returned to provide their likeness and voice to the game as well.  The only knock I really have against the voice work is that sometimes the ‘filler’ players sound a little bored to be there.  I know that the real thing often sounds pretty flat, but there are a few players who are so far over the top, only a pink boa would make them louder.  Sadly, those ‘flavor’ players are missing.

Rather than focus on the incredibly simple control scheme that powers this title, we’ll take a closer look at the WSOP Poker Tool set.  As you play through the game you’ll gain access to an ever-increasing variety of tools to help you fully understand the mechanics of the game that are always operating unseen and under the hood.  There is an incredible stat engine within the Poker Tool set which allows you to see not only the current hand status, but also the pot odds, hand odds, the play style of your opponents, the outs, and your opponent’s in-depth stats including how many times they raise pre-flop.  This is pretty important if you want to really get a handle on how the big dogs play.  You can access this at any time which is a double-edged sword.  While the stats do give you a very large window into the styles of the other players, it can also give you a bit too much of an advantage.  Silently watching other folks play this title during a recent party, I found that most players accessed the odds on almost every card drop.  When we later broke out the chips and did it for real, the same players who were cleaning up in the game were now pretty lost without their stats at hand.  Heads up Poker newbies – the stats are there to learn, so don’t rely on them or you’ll just be making painful donations at your next Poker game.

There isn’t a great deal you can do with Poker.  It’s pretty much Poker no matter how you slice it, and what matters most will be how the AI handles things.  Obviously the computer has access to everything going on in the background, so suspending disbelief that the player isn’t being cheated while still offering a challenge is…well…a challenge.  To that end, the World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions did a decent job, but just didn’t quite pull it off.  This year the AI is updated and back with a vengeance.  It doesn’t brutalize you but does put up quite a fight.  Players are now split into specific styles, some being more defensive and others being far more aggressive.  Each play style has strengths and weaknesses and you’ll have to learn and capitalize on them to make it to the big tables. 

Not all of the road to victory is paved with the glitz and glamour of the televised events we see on ESPN.  As you play through (and likely lose your ass in, at least for a while) the World Series of Poker you’ll eventually get invites from some of the pros to closed-door events where you can pick up a bit more cash as well as testing your hand against some of the better players.  You’ll also pick up a few points toward the coveted Player of the Year award.  Given that the pros only manage to pick up one or two bracelets in their lifetime, you’ll have a good challenge ahead of you to put one of those on your wrist, no matter how many times you take home the cash prize in the World Series event. 

In addition to bracelets, you’ll also get a chance to pick up collector coins. They are more of a visual marker of your progress than your bankroll as they keep track of when you managed to win pre-flop, win with a pair, win with only a high card, or managed to knock a pro out of the game.  It keeps track of every stat you could shake a stick at, including the nigh-impossible coin – One of Every Hand.  This coin will require that you manage to draw a Royal Flush which is a 0.00003232% chance even with 7 cards.  The odds are certainly against you, so don’t count on picking that coin up quickly. 

One of the achievements, and primary challenges to the game, is the “Beat the Brat” mode.  In this mode you’ll take on Phil Hellmuth in a head-to-head mode that really shows whether you’ve got the guts, skills, and patience to take home the big money – the latter being more important than the two former.  Taking your time to really pull your opponents into positions where they are vulnerable isn’t something you’ll do by pushing all-in over and over.  Take your time, learn the game, and learn to bet and you’ll go far.  If you get impatient and over bet the pot, or try to buy it with an empty hand and you’ll find yourself pushing back from the felt a bit earlier than you’d like.

This year the gameplay feels more properly paced.  The AI is aggressive, but not foolish, and the betting system seems to be a little more like what you might see on ESPN.  All in all, World Series of Poker 2008 is a good improvement to an already solid product.

The World Series of Poker, in general, is not for the faint of heart.  Most people simply can’t handle the rapid swings and transitions as literally thousands of dollars moves from one side of the table to the other.  Amateur players might find a more steep learning curve if they try to immediately jump into the No-Limit games.  While there are tutorial videos from The Brat, seeing isn’t doing.  Serious Poker players will enjoy the challenge, but new players to the series beware.

There are 50 Achievements totaling 1000 points in this title.  Unlike last year, which asked you to get one of every hand (see above for the odds of hitting a Royal Flush), there is far more emphasis placed on winning events and taking out the pros than picking up arbitrary card draws. 

There is one area that I’ve not gotten a chance to really push to the limit, and that is online multiplayer.  The game does indeed support online play for 9 players and 12 observers (although I don’t know how they arrived by 9 being the number) as well as 9 players / 12 observers in system link. (again, two 360s linked is 8 people – who is the mystery player?)  You’ll always get more of a challenge from your friends and foes online thank you ever will against an AI, so obviously this is where much of the true power of this title lies.  You can create and host your own games using a wide variety of options including the blind amounts, timers, starting cash, and your location.  I was only able to hook up with one other press member to get a few games in, but the play session was responsive and lag free for the pair of us.  Your mileage may vary when you get out on the Internet tubes. 

It really is hard to screw up Poker.  If you already have a winning combination of AI and good Poker mechanics, you can only refine from there.   The 2005 and 2006 titles had their fair share of little hiccups, but this title irons out nearly all of them.  From top to bottom, World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets is a solid Poker title – bring your chips – they’ll look good in my stack.

If, after the first twenty minutes, you don't know who the sucker at the table is, it's you.  ~Author Unknown

Gaming Trend Score

85

1. Graphics: 80
2. Audio: 85
3. Controls: 90
4. Gameplay: 85
5. Value/Replay: 85
6. OVERALL:85