Review: World Series of Poker 2008 (360)

by Dan Hynes on October 4, 2007 at 8:08 am

So, do you have the stones to go all-in? Or are you going to kick back and slow roll it all the way to the river? The beauty of poker is that either way you play is just fine.

The latest edition of the World Series of Poker 2008 from Activision is the best poker videogame I have played in a while. There are 43 events to choose from based on real WSOP calendar. There are six weeks for regular events, with the Main Event on the seventh week.

There is also a heads-up game, where you can battle up through players. You can end up playing against either Johnny Chan (my personal favorite poker player) or Phil Hellmuth AKA, “The Poker Bratt.”

If you are new to poker or a seasoned pro, this game will work for you. For the fresh fish out there, there are a few training modes that can get you started, which will throw some tips your way so you can learn how to play poker from the ground up. If you want to skip all of that stuff, you can jump right into quick play, or start a new career.

I went the career route, so let’s check out player customization. There are basic things such as choosing your hairstyle, body type, and hair color (although I did not see an option to make the color of your facial hair match the hair on your head).

There is also a pretty cool feature called Digimask, where you can put your actual face on your player. This will require the Xbox Live Vision camera, which unfortunately I did not have, but it looks to be pretty similar to the GameFace that I made for my Tiger Woods PGA tour. I wish I could give you the ins and outs of this feature, and if I end up getting the Vision camera, I will update this review to give you the final word.

After I made my player I gave him a voice. You have a few voices to choose from, but unfortunately they don’t say too much when you preview them. When I chose mine and started playing, I ended up with a Mexican accent. Don’t worry too much, because you can go back and change it later.

Since I didn’t play the last version of this game, I can’t do a true comparison, but I will comment on what I like and didn’t like. First, they have the feel of the WSOP events down. It really feels like you are Vegas, with everything but the smoky stench of booze and cigarettes.

I started off with a Texas Hold’Em tourney. The first thing you see is Norman Chad and Lon McEachern talking to you. The voiceover work was pretty good, but the video of them looked like people in rubber masks. I hope next time they can make these kind of things look better.

I pulled up my chair and got down to business. When I play new games, I don’t read anything. I start cold because I want to see how intuitive things are. It’s not too bad here– you control all betting with the right analog stick: left to check/call, up to go all in, right to raise, and down to fold.

The cool thing is that you have to press the A button after you move the stick, so you don’t do anything by accident. I found this to be a relief. Another thing I liked was that you can “peek” at your cards by using the B button. This gives the game a feeling of realism.

You can sit back and watch everyone bet (if you have that kind of time to waste), or you can skip though everyone’s betting to get right to your decision. I did watch some of the dealing and betting sequences, and they were well done.

One of the things I noticed was that you can skip through everything, but if you fold, call or raise, sometimes it takes your player a while to respond. If you are skipping everything, I would think this part should go faster as well.

Having played in some casinos, World Series of Poker does a pretty good job at recreating that feeling. You also have Norm and Lon chatting it up as you play, which I liked.

I got right into it and just started betting. Well, I lost a few hands right away. Hell, its free money. But I decided to slow down and play some real hands.

I was dealt a couple pretty good starting hands. I had a pair of 5s (I love small pairs) and sure enough the flop came up 5, Queen, Ace. So I’m sitting back with three of a kind. Pretty nice, so I go ahead and check like I was taught on TV. The turn comes up, and smack, it was junk.

I decided to check again, and the beautiful Jennifer Tilley, (yup, she’s in there) bets into me. I just call her bet. The river comes up another Queen. I am now sitting pretty with a full house. I decided to check, Tilley checks, and I won about $600 on that hand.

The very next hand, I was dealt the mother lode– pocket rockets (a pair of aces to you non-poker regulars). So I said, what the hell, I’m going all in. I get a caller, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow.

The screen changed and showed both of us side-by-side. The cards show up in the bottom of the screen (I like the way they are not perfectly straight when they are dealt, kind of like a real person dealt them).

To make a long story short, I lost on the river. Mike ended up with three queens. I yelled at the TV so loud, I thought the neighbors were going to call the cops. In short, the game was just like my typical poker experience.

So, I ended up in 51st place, with no money, and my pride is hurt. Until, that is, I get to my home screen and receive a call from Scott Fischman inviting me to a cash side game. I declined, but the offer is always there for me to go and play to pick up some extra cash. Hopefully you’ll have better luck than I did.

Being an avid real-life poker player, I found this game very enjoyable, and I will continue playing this game because I think it will be very good practice. I recommend World Series of Poker 2008 to those looking for a solid poker game on the Xbox 360.