Reviewed: October 4, 2005
Reviewed by: John Bowlin
Publisher
Activision Value
Developer
Activision Value
Released: August 31, 2005
Genre: Cards
Players: 1-9
ESRB: Everyone
6
5
7
8
6.4
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Poker is one of the classic games that all other gaming is derived from, like Chess, Checkers, or Go. Unlike those games, however, Poker adds a random element to the game, so that luck is as important as skill in determining ones ultimate success in the game. Poker is, well, poker, so how does one judge the worthiness of a console implementation of such a game? I thought about this, and the only thing I could come up with is, does the game make you want to play more poker on the game, or would you rather be playing poker with real cards and real people?
World Series of Poker: The Official Game is an attempt to capture the excitement of the actual poker tournament of poker tournaments. It promises the thrill of sitting beside great poker players like Chris "Jesus" Furguson, who adorns the back cover of the game and has a prominent role in the in-game video footage. It promises the following features as well:
- Playstation 2 Eye Toy enabled to read your opponents while playing online.
- Free multi-player support to be able to play with other players online.
- Tells and Bluffs, like real poker, it's not just what cards you have but how you play them.
- Table Talk - opponents will try to throw you off with their banter.
- Audience reaction to the game play.
- Flexible character creator, based on the Tony Hawk's Underground character creator.
- Looks and clothes upgrades throughout the game.
- Collector chips rewarded for meeting specific game goals.
WSOP offers several modes of play to the aspiring poker tournament master. Quick Play mode just lets you play a quick game of poker in single player mode, unconnected to the career mode. Career mode is the meat of the single player, where you take a customized character through the tournaments and events of the World Series of Poker. You have ten years to try and see how many WSOP bracelets you can win and whether or not you can get inducted into the WSOP All Stars.
You can also play several different modes of poker: Texas Hold 'Em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Low, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low, and Razz. I pretty much stuck with Texas Hold 'Em because that was the only game I really know. The game really doesn't do a very good job of introducing you to the various game variations, so a beginner poker player might want to look elsewhere for a tutorial.
The computer AI when playing in quick play or career mode is not terribly brilliant. I couldn't tell why they made the moves they had made, it's like they were betting with very little rhyme or reason. There really wasn't a way to "read" the computer opponents, because they didn't act consistently. Also the professional licensed poker player likenesses really didn't act with any sense of personality or realism. I just don't see a pro player jumping up with glee over winning a few hundred dollars with a pair of eights.
The "table talk" feature is over-sold, there's very little of it and most of it gets monotonous and boring. Hey, at least you can use the skip feature to not have to wait for the computer opponents to do their moves out in real time -- that's a handy time saving feature.
The character generator is actually pretty good. Taken from the Tony Hawk's Underground games, it has a lot of flexibility to make a distinct and unique character for your poker persona. You can pick from among a bunch of different outfits, facial styles, hair styles, etc. You can also choose what your character's voice sounds like but you only get 19 different choices there. Maybe it's even good enough to make your own face? Well, maybe not quite that good.
World Series of Poker has quite a bit of cinematic video footage that I guess is designed to try and make you feel like you're actually in a real tournament. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work, and the videos just end up feeling like a time waster.
The computer generated characters during the gameplay do not look like real people. The licensed pros do not look like real pro poker players. They all, in fact, look like something out of The Sims 2, with cartoonish features that look more scary than realistic. Scary, as in those old Duracell people commercials from the 90's. That kind of scary. I know that real life video footage is "out", but I can't help but think having real video footage would have been preferable to scary Duracell people. Maybe it would have been too expensive because they would have to actually film the real pros rather than make fake looking "likenesses" that barely look human much less like a specific human.
Other than the characters themselves, there's not much else to talk about graphically. The environments are just casino halls and backroom bars, and of course, the green felt with the familiar cards on it. It's all got a rather mundane feel to it, serviceable but unexciting. If this is what the real World Series of Poker is all about, I can't see how it could be as popular as it is.
Since I don't actually watch poker on TV, I couldn't really tell if the voices of the pro players where accurate or not, but they did sound good. In fact, the voice work was one of the best parts of the game. The TV announcer guys during the tournaments sound realistic, and do add quite a bit to the fun. The non pro player voices are also pretty good. You get to hear the shuffling of the cards and an occasional outburst from the audience. But there is precious little music to distract you from the cards. Maybe that was intentional.
Besides the single player Career mode that can take a lot of patience and time to be successful at, there is also of course, the online multiplayer, which is really the highlight of this game. If you have the PS2 Eye Toy device, which I do not, you can view the actual people you are playing cards with over the net.
The online play is without a doubt the best part of this game, since you can get your butt handed to you by people from all around the country. Or if you're really good, you can waste your time beating people using fake money.
However, if you think you're going to hop online and chat it up with the real Chris Furguson, you might have another think coming. Still, as far as online poker playing goes, since this one offers a lot of variation in the types of games to play, and a lot of cool options like the headset and the EyeToy, so it is a pretty good value.
If you're looking for a good online poker game with a lot of options, you really should look no further than WSOP, which is where this game excels. However, if you're wanting to recapture a thrilling tournament in a single player environment, while there may not be anything else out there to come any closer, this game doesn't really fit the bill either.
Is it as fun as playing in person? Maybe not, you don't get that tactile feel of the cards and the chips in your hand, or that smooth green velvet table cover. But then again, you don't get the smoke filled air or the booze either. Wait, no booze? Well okay so maybe WSOP for the PS2 isn't quite the same experience as playing in a real poker tournament, but it certainly can qualify as a decent online poker game if that's what you're in the market for.