World Series of Poker 2008
01-04-09
This game was a very different game than those I am used to playing, so reviewing it can be a bit of a task. The World Series of Poker 2005 had many ups and downs, but overall wasn’t very enjoyable. This game’s plot was pathetic; there were tournaments that you could attend every year if you wanted to, and if you messed up, you clicked the advance to next season button and started over. This was in my mind an annoying way of letting you do very few new things. There were four different types of poker to be played, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, and Razz Poker, (lowest hand wins). The gameplay was also relatively simple. For each choice you had to make, you moved your cursor in one of four directions to make your choice: (up-all-in, right-raise, left-call/check, and down-fold).
The graphics of this game ruined the moment. In fact they ruined every moment. Sure, you could create your own character, and choose from a big three different casinos to play in, but watching people move in the same ways over and over and over just got boring. Especially for an xbox game, these graphics were pitiful.
The sound of this game, (not counting the graphics), was the one thing that really destroyed the game for me. The ambient noise was relatively calm at first, and after the first cards were laid down the audience was still calm, and when after ten minutes of slow build up to the final turn, I flip a pair of pocket aces, the audience kind of murmurs for a couple of seconds, and then continues their boring monotone sound. Really made me feel in the moment, you know?
This games replay value is huge… for the first few hands. It eventually become a habit to speed through and fold every hand that was dealt to me until I had a pair of queens, kings, or aces, go all-in, and win every time. UGH!
This game really should receive a 1 out of 10, only escaping a 0 out of 10 merely because I enjoyed the opening cutscene. But it receives a 4 out of 10 entirely and only because of its xbox live capabilities. Playing against other people over the internet, while still slightly annoying that people with bad poker faces got away with it, was an extremely fulfilling activity.
Pass: armentium