Review
World Championship Poker: All In (Wii)
Poker has been around for ages. Dating back to the early 1800's, people have been playing and enjoying poker both as a form of entertainment and as a social event. With the advent of the Internet and the explosion in popularity of Texas Hold 'Em, Poker video games have also found a sound resurgence in popularity. From cell-phones, to online forums, video poker has literally exploded with the advent of newer technology, and World Championship Poker: All In by Crave Entertainment is yet another title in this genre trying to cash in on the popular card game.
But as the song goes, you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. Crave, unfortunately, did not take Kenny Rogers' advice, deciding to go all in with a very poor Poker offering.
When starting the title, you can choose between playing a quick game of Poker where the style of poker and limits can be chosen, or to begin the single player career mode. No, the multiplayer aspect did not get forgotten in the review, such a mode simply does not exist in the title. Before jumping into career mode, you must first create your customizable character. When creating your character for the first time, you will begin to notice certain downfalls in the game. First off, the create a player mode is very shallow, only being able to choose from a limited selection of looks and styles for your created player. Finally, you can give them a personality, but all that really means is you get to choose which highly annoying voice overs your character gets to emit repeatedly every few seconds.
Once the game finally gets going however, the title does shine with some great opponent AI. Playing Poker titles with poor AI can hamper an experience, but World Championship Poker comes through in this area. The game gives a great feeling of players learning different maneuvers and being able to discern what a gamer is doing, and will not simply give their money away. The title really gives a sense of earning the hands you do win. You will not see many "All In" bluffs, as computer controlled players will play much like real players, learning from past hands and not making many repeated mistakes. The title also offers a slew of different Poker styles. While most gamers today can get their way through a game of Texas Hold 'Em, not many people know immediately how to play Omaho Hi-Lo, and playing through the career mode can give gamers a chance to learn all sorts of different Poker styles with great instructions for all types of players.
Other than these aspects however, the title completely falls flat on it's face. The graphics in the title are average, but that's only if you were to compare it to classic Nintendo 64 and PlayStation One style graphics; characters are blocky and textureless, animations are repetitive and marionette like, and the backgrounds are plain, unattractive and boring. The title also suffers from poor sound work. The background music is decent at best, a piece of work slightly better than elevator music, so perhaps the developers thought it a treat to only play the five minute track once and never repeat it again during two hour games of Poker. Dead air fills the void during this time along with whiny, awful, and repetitive voice overs for the on screen characters. The faceless commentator will also chime in with puerile comments such as "The player CHECKED!!!!!!!" when a user simply checks on a simple blind bet.
Another problem is with the loading screen, yes, the loading screen. World Championship Poker features Pro Tips during each load screen, which is full of great information... as long as you are quick enough to read it. The screens themselves feature roughly four or five lines of tips, but they will only stay active for one or two seconds, giving the gamer absolutely no time to read said pro tip. Though quick loading time is a great feature to have with a game, and useful info in a loading screen is a great way to pass time, it's an unfortunate mixture when these two combinations come together. A simple "Press A to continue" could have remedied this, but either the developers thought the target audience wouldn't require Pro Tips, or they can read a heck of a lot faster than I can.
The title is a Wii title and therefore, gesture control is always a question, but unfortunately for Poker fans, that question is one that the developers must have thought of on titles way out the door. Though you can't navigate the menus with the Wiimote, you are automatically expected to maneuvers the main map in career with it, though, even after hours with the title, I'm still not sure how to do it accurately. The only other gesture control available with the titles is directly during play: a gamer can move the Wiimote up and down for a "yes", or left to right for a "no". Unfortunately, if you say yes, it will automatically bet to call rather than giving you the option to raise, and more often than not, you can accidentally fold on hands where you have a great advantage accidentally without even realizing it. Though I'm sure developers are anxious to create a great gesture control, some amount of real world testing needs to be applied to titles before they go out the door.
But as the song goes, you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. Crave, unfortunately, did not take Kenny Rogers' advice, deciding to go all in with a very poor Poker offering.
When starting the title, you can choose between playing a quick game of Poker where the style of poker and limits can be chosen, or to begin the single player career mode. No, the multiplayer aspect did not get forgotten in the review, such a mode simply does not exist in the title. Before jumping into career mode, you must first create your customizable character. When creating your character for the first time, you will begin to notice certain downfalls in the game. First off, the create a player mode is very shallow, only being able to choose from a limited selection of looks and styles for your created player. Finally, you can give them a personality, but all that really means is you get to choose which highly annoying voice overs your character gets to emit repeatedly every few seconds.
Once the game finally gets going however, the title does shine with some great opponent AI. Playing Poker titles with poor AI can hamper an experience, but World Championship Poker comes through in this area. The game gives a great feeling of players learning different maneuvers and being able to discern what a gamer is doing, and will not simply give their money away. The title really gives a sense of earning the hands you do win. You will not see many "All In" bluffs, as computer controlled players will play much like real players, learning from past hands and not making many repeated mistakes. The title also offers a slew of different Poker styles. While most gamers today can get their way through a game of Texas Hold 'Em, not many people know immediately how to play Omaho Hi-Lo, and playing through the career mode can give gamers a chance to learn all sorts of different Poker styles with great instructions for all types of players.
Other than these aspects however, the title completely falls flat on it's face. The graphics in the title are average, but that's only if you were to compare it to classic Nintendo 64 and PlayStation One style graphics; characters are blocky and textureless, animations are repetitive and marionette like, and the backgrounds are plain, unattractive and boring. The title also suffers from poor sound work. The background music is decent at best, a piece of work slightly better than elevator music, so perhaps the developers thought it a treat to only play the five minute track once and never repeat it again during two hour games of Poker. Dead air fills the void during this time along with whiny, awful, and repetitive voice overs for the on screen characters. The faceless commentator will also chime in with puerile comments such as "The player CHECKED!!!!!!!" when a user simply checks on a simple blind bet.
Another problem is with the loading screen, yes, the loading screen. World Championship Poker features Pro Tips during each load screen, which is full of great information... as long as you are quick enough to read it. The screens themselves feature roughly four or five lines of tips, but they will only stay active for one or two seconds, giving the gamer absolutely no time to read said pro tip. Though quick loading time is a great feature to have with a game, and useful info in a loading screen is a great way to pass time, it's an unfortunate mixture when these two combinations come together. A simple "Press A to continue" could have remedied this, but either the developers thought the target audience wouldn't require Pro Tips, or they can read a heck of a lot faster than I can.
The title is a Wii title and therefore, gesture control is always a question, but unfortunately for Poker fans, that question is one that the developers must have thought of on titles way out the door. Though you can't navigate the menus with the Wiimote, you are automatically expected to maneuvers the main map in career with it, though, even after hours with the title, I'm still not sure how to do it accurately. The only other gesture control available with the titles is directly during play: a gamer can move the Wiimote up and down for a "yes", or left to right for a "no". Unfortunately, if you say yes, it will automatically bet to call rather than giving you the option to raise, and more often than not, you can accidentally fold on hands where you have a great advantage accidentally without even realizing it. Though I'm sure developers are anxious to create a great gesture control, some amount of real world testing needs to be applied to titles before they go out the door.
Closing Comments
Gotta know when to fold 'em.
World Champtionship Poker: All In had a great opportunity to cash in on the popularity of Poker at its prime. The title comes out strong with great AI, and many types of Poker to learn and to play. Unfortunately, the games looks dated even by last generation standard's, the voice work and sound effects are repetitive and awful, and the Wiimote gesture is tacked on and actually takes away from the title. Add this to a laundry list of complaints including absolutely no multiplayer aspects, the inability to save your progress temporarily during a running game of Poker, and the shallow create a player mode give little reason to bet on this underdog.
