World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions

"Much better than the other poker title on the 360"

I'm not sure which poker game came first but this was the second one I played on the 360. I really didn't like the other one. Maybe it's because I had and still have no true understanding of how poker works but either way, this game is much smoother all around.

Graphic wise the game looks nice. Not amazing but the character models look good, nice details and look close to real. The settings themselves look good. Again, not amazing but they get the job done.

The sound in the game is annoying. Everyone has a voice actor. Seemed alright but I always cut them off anyway. I'm not sure if there are any sound effects, I don't remember there being any. The music has a country bluegrass feel to it. Not sure why but it does. Are they aiming for a redneck audience?

Control in the game is simple. It's all on the right stick I believe. Words are easy to see, even on a normal TV and you just hit that direction and confirm with A. Simple.

If you've played poker than you know the idea behind the game. It does offer quick play for those who want a quick match. I only noticed Texas hold em and custom modes in this option but I didn't mess with them.

There is also a career mode. This is what I messed around with. It was easy to make a character. It was also easy to start the first poker game. The AI seemed smart enough at a starting level but not so smart that it makes you feel dumb. Hell, I actually did good this entire time and won which is amazing since I wasn't really sure on how to play. My only annoyance was that I lost a round when I had two queens and the other guy had two queens. Not sure how that works but whatever.

I really shouldn't compare these two games but everything in this poker game is much smoother. From the way the game is player (you can skip all of the other guy's bets and stuff so it's your turn again but they have acted, makes the game quicker). But also the way everything is set up is much nicer.

I'm not sure if I tried to play the other poker game online but I did hop on-line with this one. I was surprised to see that at 2pm on a week day that there was a number of people online playing. This is a game that you should really have the mic for so that you can chat it up because I'm sure it could get dull after a while. On-line play was fine, no real complaints.

I'm not a fan of poker obviously but this was actually a decent game. Besides the odd quirks here and there and the AI that can be iffy on higher settings, this is a pretty fine game. The music could be different but oh well. Hopefully if more poker games come out they stick to the way this one works.

Story - N/A
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 6/10
Control - 9/10
Game Play - 8/10
Replay Value - 6/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/07