To make a good poker game, all you really need to do is concentrate on what fundamentally makes poker fun - the challenge of playing against different poker styles, progressing through tournaments, and playing assorted poker variations. After that, you just need to wrap those fundamentals with a system to keep the game entertaining and replayable. This game does none of that. There are only four poker variations here, albeit they're the most popular. And you'd better be ready to stare at the screen while the other players at the table play their turns. The game provides no options for gameplay speed. As a matter of fact, the only options you get are, 1: Turn on/off sound effects, and 2: Turn on/off music. The 'color commentators' have two or three catch phrases, and they use them over, and over, and over again. The gameplay itself is horrid as well. You change your bets by either pressing the arrow keys to increment your wager, or by clicking the increment arrows on the screen. You can't just type in your bet and click, or click on different chip denominations. And if you decide to go All-In, 95% of the time everyone else will fold. Seems like veryone else at the table played very tight - and on top of that, all the bets seemed scripted. Of all the hands I played, I only got my All-In called once. It takes forever to build up your income. What I was hoping for most in this game was some sort of tournament play or ladder system. The only way to actually progress in the game is to build enough cash up to move to a new set of tables that requires you having a higher amount of starting cash. All in all, this was a petty attempt at cashing in on the recent skyrocket of poker popularity, thanks to the World Poker Tour and Texas Hold-em. Don't waste your time, money, or patience on this game. Hoyle does a much better job, and even they don't quite get it right.
Other Helpful Reviews for World Poker Championship
My buddy and I went to buy this at Target, the game box looked promising, for $20. I took it home, put it on my PC and was immediately disappointed, the game is so bad it's amazing it even got released. Target won't ta... Read Full Review
If I could rate this a negative 1, I would. I bought this on impulse - thought to myself, "It has to be at least as good as Hoyle, Bicycle - two vastly better titles - it cost the same, what the heck, $20 is nothing". ... Read Full Review
