PS2 Poker Games Triple Header: World Poker Tour, WSOP '05 and '08

Before I start this review I thought it'd be good to talk about what makes a good poker game, since of course the core gameplay is based around your own decision making and the results of it. The most important aspects of this kind of game is really about how well the AI plays, how nice things looks graphically, and how well it simulates actual poker. Of course there's no soundtrack or music in the main game, but sound effects can be just as important and will break the mood if done badly. So with this in mind, here's the games;

Game: World Poker Tour
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: 2K Sports
Release Date: 18th October 2005

World Poker Tour is the only game in this review to focus on the WPT rather than the more largely recognised World Series of Poker. Career mode in the game allows the player to play through satellites to go through to final tournaments, or if they have enough money to go ahead and buy their entry into the final tournament straight away. There's 100 people in each final tournament, and the computer eliminates 6.25% of the competition (or thereabouts) each hand, leading to a somewhat easy way to make it into the money in tournaments.

The player models aren't great visually with most of the faces looking strange, and the function to change the mood your player is showing a good idea, but not ultimately useful. AI players who aren't licensed pros are given pun based names (for example Mary Adalitlam and Liv Toregrethis) which cheapen the feel of the game somewhat, in addition to the "casinos" which look more like someone's living room, with more tables and chairs. The player voice clips make the players sound like bad losers when they fold and add virtually nothing to the realism.

The game's poker engine is pretty solid, the AI players are sometimes easy to read but on the whole play decently. The blinds in tournaments rise surprisingly quickly, probably to go alongside the fact that a fairly large percentage of players is eliminated each hand. As a result, the play doesn't feel true to actual tournaments, and is more of an arcade poker experience. A 100 person tournament might take up to 30 minutes to complete, but more due to the fact that the AI takes a while to decide what it'll do than anything.

Overall tournaments become a waiting game, trying to get 2 or 3 good hands to double up with to reach the final table than playing good poker. Its lacking visuals and voice acting make for frustratingly bland play, and as all tournaments in the season are the same size and variant of poker, there's virtually no variety. The game feels fairly unenjoyable both for those who play a lot of poker and those who don't.

Rating: 53/100
Grade: D

Game: World Series Of Poker
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Activision
Release Date: 31st August 2005

2005's Official World Series of Poker game features 26 events over its career seasons, with 6 variants of poker, and tournaments ranging in size from 49 players to 6660. Obviously this is a much richer calendar than World Poker Tour, and although many more variants of poker are available on WPT, they are not in the main career mode. There's also no satellite events to get into the series events which saves not only time but effort and luck, for the main events themselves.

The control system on this game is also superior to that of WPT, with a directional approach to decisions and then a confirmation press of the X button, as opposed to the scrolling control system which left much room for error. the player is also able to skip through hands, at their own pace if they wish to, whereas WPT had players selecting either to fold and view the entire remainder of the hand, or fold and skip to the end.

Graphically the players look better in this game than WPT, and the style of the WSOP broadcast show fits the game well, even if commentary can get a little repetitive. As with the other game, the majority of voice acting is poor, but AI player names are randomised from actual names and so the game can be taken more seriously. Off-table elimination in this game is handled more accurately in this game also, rather than a set percentage of people going out per hand, the number decreases with your hand play and almost halves when new players move across to your table in bulk. 

With 9 players per table, and a nicer casino backdrop (although it is just the one), WSOP 05 provides a nicer control system and all round AI in a good presentational style. The mathematics behind the elimination process ensure you can play tournament poker more accurately and the varied number of players at each event as well as the multiple forms of poker available in career mode give it the edge over WPT. There's a nicer player editor and achievement chip system in place too, in this game. 

Rating: 65/100

Grade: C

Game: World Series Of Poker 2008: Battle For The Bracelets
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Activision
Release Date: 25th September 2007

This installment of the WSOP series takes the realism to a new level, with interiors of many Vegas casinos, gameplay closer to that of real tournaments and actually having to press a button to look at your cards. The directional decision making system is kept in the game but the visual layout receives a change, as the main screen shows both the table as a whole and the player who the action is on.

Career mode features a choice of difficulty levels, which decide how many tournaments are open to the player to enter, at the beginning of the season. Assuming you choose Pro difficulty, there are 43 events on the season calendar, with even more variants of poker than the 2005 version, including HORSE and 6 handed tournament poker. Playerwise, the tournaments vary between 54 and 9720 players, bringing realism to the fore.

One of the main problems with gameplay is that due to the realism, tournaments progress very slowly and while this is true of real poker tournaments for the most part, sometimes the pace can feel too slow. Graphically however, the game is sharp and pro likenesses look good for the most part, the voice acting is better, and the AI plays pretty sharply with quite a lot of play types and clever moves up its sleeve.

Also included in the career mode are cash games and a "Beat the Brat" mode, on which players can challenge pros heads up. Overall this game is a lot closer to real poker than either of the others, it moves at a slower more realistic pace and maybe that's not a good thing. After all if you wanted to play poker for real, surely you'd go out and do so; most of the time I want more of a fast paced experience than this in a poker video game, but with so many other features this is certainly worth playing if you're looking for a realistic poker experience.

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C