[Mini-Review] World Poker Tour
Still not quite like the real thing.
Published: November 2, 2005
The Good
While poker games as a whole have existed for decades now, the whole poker craze hitting TV these days seems to have made for more than a few dollar signs in some poker pros' eyes. And more power to them, if you can not only parlay your skill at gambling into repeat tournament performances, but land yourself a lucrative deal to have your license in a video game - or better have the game named after you, you're off to a good start.
In this respect, World Poker Tour doesn't really play favorites. Most of the players you can see at the final table during the TV broadcasts of WPT are here, and represented more or less faithfully from a visual standpoint, though the AI is so comparatively interesting next to the normal career players that I wonder if they just seem that much more realistic. Either way, you'll be glad to see a familiar face after staring down so many zombie-eyed look-alikes with the creepiest smiles in gaming.
WPT centers on Texas Hold-'Em and its variations for the most part, but there are a couple of interesting diversions for those that consult the manual. The bulk of your time with Hold-'Em will probably come from alternate doses of online and career mode play. The latter is the only way to really get some swank threads with which to show off online, and the former's really the only way to get some realistic poker out of the game unless you invest a whole hell of a lot of time in the career mode to advance.
When the game is on, it really does feel like you're playing against people, and Hold-'Em's real allure, the psychological as well as physical game, does come through, even if you're just staring at a person's avatar. It's easier to bluff for the most part (and even the AI can be caught and catch you, which is nice), but it's plenty fun.
The Bad
Unfortunately, unless you dive right into online play, you're going to have to tough through some of the slowest, most monotonous games you'll ever play - digital or otherwise. The computer insistence on checking nearly all the time, and the three or four different voice types just make it all feel like the same game's blending together.
This is exacerbated by the fact that the game's supposedly robust create-a-player mode still makes players that look the same - male or female, despite being able to tweak the hell out of everything. You can use the EyeToy to map your own face in, but there's still something... off. It's either the eyes, the smile or both, but everyone looks the same, and all were apparently plucked from some graveyard somewhere nearby and reanimated to play Poker Tournaments of the Damned.
The WPT license isn't just there in name; TV announcing team of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten donate a couple dozen lines, but you'll quickly hear almost all they have to offer, again contributing to the feeling of playing the same game over and over again until you move through the career mode enough. All of the 16 venues that the tour takes place in have been replicated too, right down the carpet, the developers are all too happy to point out. You won't see this much, but it's nice to know they tried.
The Verdict
We're starting to see the first signs of a decent poker game, but they're still a ways off. With the most basic of options for the career mode, clunky navigation online and graphics that are absolutely hideous, there's still quite a bit to go in the presentation department. Luckily, the underlying game is certainly decent enough to keep you going for a while, and the variety in games is a nice bonus when you get tired of the same thing.
In the end, though, it's not really enough to compete with just playing online on a PC for free with something, though the $20 price of entry is certainly compelling enough to make it a toss-up between weekend rental and impulse buy. For now, though, we'll lean towards the former.
While poker games as a whole have existed for decades now, the whole poker craze hitting TV these days seems to have made for more than a few dollar signs in some poker pros' eyes. And more power to them, if you can not only parlay your skill at gambling into repeat tournament performances, but land yourself a lucrative deal to have your license in a video game - or better have the game named after you, you're off to a good start.
In this respect, World Poker Tour doesn't really play favorites. Most of the players you can see at the final table during the TV broadcasts of WPT are here, and represented more or less faithfully from a visual standpoint, though the AI is so comparatively interesting next to the normal career players that I wonder if they just seem that much more realistic. Either way, you'll be glad to see a familiar face after staring down so many zombie-eyed look-alikes with the creepiest smiles in gaming.
WPT centers on Texas Hold-'Em and its variations for the most part, but there are a couple of interesting diversions for those that consult the manual. The bulk of your time with Hold-'Em will probably come from alternate doses of online and career mode play. The latter is the only way to really get some swank threads with which to show off online, and the former's really the only way to get some realistic poker out of the game unless you invest a whole hell of a lot of time in the career mode to advance.
When the game is on, it really does feel like you're playing against people, and Hold-'Em's real allure, the psychological as well as physical game, does come through, even if you're just staring at a person's avatar. It's easier to bluff for the most part (and even the AI can be caught and catch you, which is nice), but it's plenty fun.
The Bad
Unfortunately, unless you dive right into online play, you're going to have to tough through some of the slowest, most monotonous games you'll ever play - digital or otherwise. The computer insistence on checking nearly all the time, and the three or four different voice types just make it all feel like the same game's blending together.
This is exacerbated by the fact that the game's supposedly robust create-a-player mode still makes players that look the same - male or female, despite being able to tweak the hell out of everything. You can use the EyeToy to map your own face in, but there's still something... off. It's either the eyes, the smile or both, but everyone looks the same, and all were apparently plucked from some graveyard somewhere nearby and reanimated to play Poker Tournaments of the Damned.
The WPT license isn't just there in name; TV announcing team of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten donate a couple dozen lines, but you'll quickly hear almost all they have to offer, again contributing to the feeling of playing the same game over and over again until you move through the career mode enough. All of the 16 venues that the tour takes place in have been replicated too, right down the carpet, the developers are all too happy to point out. You won't see this much, but it's nice to know they tried.
The Verdict
We're starting to see the first signs of a decent poker game, but they're still a ways off. With the most basic of options for the career mode, clunky navigation online and graphics that are absolutely hideous, there's still quite a bit to go in the presentation department. Luckily, the underlying game is certainly decent enough to keep you going for a while, and the variety in games is a nice bonus when you get tired of the same thing.
In the end, though, it's not really enough to compete with just playing online on a PC for free with something, though the $20 price of entry is certainly compelling enough to make it a toss-up between weekend rental and impulse buy. For now, though, we'll lean towards the former.
