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IGN Review of World Series of Poker 2008
It's amazing the extent to which poker fever has gripped the country. It's hard to flip through the channels at night without being barraged by poker games, let alone walk down an aisle at Gamestop. Publisher Activision has enlisted developer Farmind to translate the competitive card game and its charismatic superstars to the Nintendo DS. But the game the game has a hard time capturing the personality that makes the actual shows and competitions worth watching.
World Series of Poker 2008 for the Nintendo DS recreates WSOP games leading up to the main event, and features many of poker's top players including Johnny Chan, Mike Matusow, Joe Hachem, and Phil Hellmuth, who also contributes tutorials to the game. The name of the game is Texas Hold 'Em and players attempt to climb the ranks and amass a bankroll competing against both generic AI characters and real-life poker professionals.
In Career Mode, the player climbs their way up through minor events and can save their progress between games. The three career mode events include WSOP Events, which lead up to the main game, Cash Games, where the player is invited to Vegas casino games by the pros, and Heads-Up: Beat the Brat, where the player competes in one-on-one games against six professionals, ultimately facing Phil Hellmuth. The Cash Games mode is locked initially but becomes available after playing through the other modes.
Outside of Career Mode, Quickplay allows the player to hop into a casual game or tournament without affecting their save game. The player can adjust cash, limit, blinds, players, casino location, and a few other variables. It's up to the player whether they'd like to face off against only pros, a few pros or only amateurs, presumably affecting the difficulty of the table.
Although there is a nice selection of modes and venues available, casual gamers may quickly tire of this collection as the only game type available is Texas Hold 'Em. This will make sense to fans of the WSOP or shows like Poker After Dark, but everyone else may find the options a little lean. The game sells itself on the involvement of the poker pros and it's not likely to appeal to anyone that isn't already following the careers of these characters. There are better and more diverse card game collections on the DS for general audiences.
Unfortunately, the game also fails to accurately recreate what's so engaging about these famous games. The appeal of TV shows like Poker After Dark isn't just the cards on the table, it's the personalities of the people playing the cards. The banter between players and tactics to bluff and distract one another are as important to the game as the hands everyone is dealt. In this game, opponents are represented by a tiny photo of each pro that occasionally changes to a more pensive shot, but never really reflects the mood, hand or strategy of the player. Without any noticeable difference in the playing styles of these licensed pros, the table game becomes a pretty generic game of poker.
In between games, things get a little more stylish. FMV sequences set up each casino and event, and the player will be called by various poker professionals with invites to attend particular events. Menus are stylish and reflect the look of the poker TV programs. But at the table, everything's far too cluttered, busy and riddled with miniscule text to play comfortably.
The game offers four training modes. Phil's Poker School is a five-minute lesson taking the player though a hand with plenty of FMV of poker star Phil Hellmuth explaining what he would do at each step and how to gauge the other players at the table. It's an interesting feature but is really just specific to the hand dealt in the example, and doesn't offer too many broad tips and tricks.
In Same Hand Jam, the player selects two cards and plays a series of hands with them. There doesn't seem to be much of a point to this mode (pick two aces and you'll usually win), but I suppose it gives the player an opportunity to play out different situations, such as how to raise slowly with a good hand or bluff opponents with a bad one. Poker Hand Rankings is a list of the different winning hands one can get, and what terminology goes with each. Lastly, Texas Hold 'Em Guide steps the player through the rules of the game in general, limit hold 'em, no limit hold 'em, and pot limit hold 'em. These last two modes are pretty plain and non-interactive, but I suppose they offer a few nuggets of information for people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of Texas hold 'em.
The game offers four save slots for the career mode and three difficulty settings. Local multiplayer allows up to nine players to enjoy a few hands, although each player needs a DS and a copy of the game to participate.
Music is a mix of country rock in the menus and softer tunes at the table that match the franchise well. Sound effects are minimal, although poker doesn't really need much of a soundtrack. It's disappointing that there aren't frequent voice clips from the pros during the game, because without the comments and asides between the players, it doesn't really feel like you're playing with the pros as much as playing with a photo album.
The FMV sequences and extras in this game should be particularly enjoyable for fans of these pro poker icons. But the table game itself is lacking in personality, and more cluttered than some of the better DS poker games available. Diehard World Series of Poker followers might find the game enhanced by avatars and AI opponents representing poker's best, but will be disappointed to realize how little of their personality actually translates to the virtual table.
©2007-12-05, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
World Series of Poker 2008 for the Nintendo DS recreates WSOP games leading up to the main event, and features many of poker's top players including Johnny Chan, Mike Matusow, Joe Hachem, and Phil Hellmuth, who also contributes tutorials to the game. The name of the game is Texas Hold 'Em and players attempt to climb the ranks and amass a bankroll competing against both generic AI characters and real-life poker professionals.
In Career Mode, the player climbs their way up through minor events and can save their progress between games. The three career mode events include WSOP Events, which lead up to the main game, Cash Games, where the player is invited to Vegas casino games by the pros, and Heads-Up: Beat the Brat, where the player competes in one-on-one games against six professionals, ultimately facing Phil Hellmuth. The Cash Games mode is locked initially but becomes available after playing through the other modes.
Outside of Career Mode, Quickplay allows the player to hop into a casual game or tournament without affecting their save game. The player can adjust cash, limit, blinds, players, casino location, and a few other variables. It's up to the player whether they'd like to face off against only pros, a few pros or only amateurs, presumably affecting the difficulty of the table.
Although there is a nice selection of modes and venues available, casual gamers may quickly tire of this collection as the only game type available is Texas Hold 'Em. This will make sense to fans of the WSOP or shows like Poker After Dark, but everyone else may find the options a little lean. The game sells itself on the involvement of the poker pros and it's not likely to appeal to anyone that isn't already following the careers of these characters. There are better and more diverse card game collections on the DS for general audiences.
Unfortunately, the game also fails to accurately recreate what's so engaging about these famous games. The appeal of TV shows like Poker After Dark isn't just the cards on the table, it's the personalities of the people playing the cards. The banter between players and tactics to bluff and distract one another are as important to the game as the hands everyone is dealt. In this game, opponents are represented by a tiny photo of each pro that occasionally changes to a more pensive shot, but never really reflects the mood, hand or strategy of the player. Without any noticeable difference in the playing styles of these licensed pros, the table game becomes a pretty generic game of poker.
In between games, things get a little more stylish. FMV sequences set up each casino and event, and the player will be called by various poker professionals with invites to attend particular events. Menus are stylish and reflect the look of the poker TV programs. But at the table, everything's far too cluttered, busy and riddled with miniscule text to play comfortably.
The game offers four training modes. Phil's Poker School is a five-minute lesson taking the player though a hand with plenty of FMV of poker star Phil Hellmuth explaining what he would do at each step and how to gauge the other players at the table. It's an interesting feature but is really just specific to the hand dealt in the example, and doesn't offer too many broad tips and tricks.
In Same Hand Jam, the player selects two cards and plays a series of hands with them. There doesn't seem to be much of a point to this mode (pick two aces and you'll usually win), but I suppose it gives the player an opportunity to play out different situations, such as how to raise slowly with a good hand or bluff opponents with a bad one. Poker Hand Rankings is a list of the different winning hands one can get, and what terminology goes with each. Lastly, Texas Hold 'Em Guide steps the player through the rules of the game in general, limit hold 'em, no limit hold 'em, and pot limit hold 'em. These last two modes are pretty plain and non-interactive, but I suppose they offer a few nuggets of information for people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of Texas hold 'em.
The game offers four save slots for the career mode and three difficulty settings. Local multiplayer allows up to nine players to enjoy a few hands, although each player needs a DS and a copy of the game to participate.
Music is a mix of country rock in the menus and softer tunes at the table that match the franchise well. Sound effects are minimal, although poker doesn't really need much of a soundtrack. It's disappointing that there aren't frequent voice clips from the pros during the game, because without the comments and asides between the players, it doesn't really feel like you're playing with the pros as much as playing with a photo album.
The FMV sequences and extras in this game should be particularly enjoyable for fans of these pro poker icons. But the table game itself is lacking in personality, and more cluttered than some of the better DS poker games available. Diehard World Series of Poker followers might find the game enhanced by avatars and AI opponents representing poker's best, but will be disappointed to realize how little of their personality actually translates to the virtual table.
©2007-12-05, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved