The good news, though, is that online, all predictability goes flying out the window. The online game is just like the offline one, letting you play in sit-and-go tournaments or just open-table games against up to five other opponents. You can also create your own tables and choose the game type, number of players, and so on. Your created character shows up online too, as well as everybody else's, and unlike the PS2 version of the game, the Xbox version features leaderboards. For the most part, the online support in the game is very good. We didn't run into any lag, and there always seemed to be a healthy number of people playing. However, the online component does have a couple of quirks. For one, the interface itself is pretty bad. Setting up a game is easy enough, but the menu system that shows you games you can join is not only ugly, but it can also be inaccurate. It generally gets the buy-in amounts right, but it often gives you incorrect information about what tables are actually available to play at. Many times sit-and-go tables that start the game before all the seats are filled remain on the board, even though you can't sit down there. Other times games that ended who knows how long ago inexplicably remain on the list. Sometimes the information is there and correct, but a lot of times it isn't. Still, interface problems aside, the online play is mostly quite fun, and should be enjoyable to most any poker fan.
In terms of presentation, it would be unfair to expect a whole lot out of a budget poker game, but it wouldn't be unfair to ask for more than this game provides. As previously mentioned, the character models aren't very easy on the eyes, apart from the fact that they can be highly customized. There are a number of different environments to play in, like a penthouse suite, a saloon, a riverboat, and a basement card room, but the locales are all entirely incidental in the scheme of the game. Not even the cards, dealer, or card tables look good, which is kind of distressing, since you'd think they'd be the parts of the game that would look the best. The audio in the game is beyond annoying, consisting of some badly mixed music, an insipid announcer, and dealers who sound like badly programmed robots when they're reading off the winning hands.
In my club, I will splash the pot whenever the @$#@ I want!
World Championship Poker is ultimately a decent effort, but only because of its online play. The offline component of the game is simply too pointless and spotty to hold anyone's attention, which basically limits the game's appeal strictly to those who have an Xbox Live subscription. Ultimately, this game is only for the serious poker enthusiast, as casual fans can easily find comparable games just about anywhere on the Internet.
- See more CNET content tagged:
- tournament,
- Microsoft Xbox,
- play,
- career,
- games
World Championship Poker (Xbox):
%20Xbox%20Game%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/xbox-games/world-championship-poker-xbox/4505-9582_7-30960348-2.html){kind=small}