With all of the extras you can hook up to your PS2, on the surface, World Poker Tour looks like it should be a real butt-kicker. It allows you to plug in your headset so you can talk to the competition, you can use your eyetoy to actually see who you are playing. Truly something that the PC poker games have not yet utilized. Yet, even though the game allows for these nifty features, the end result isn't what I had hoped it to be, please read on.

Since poker is as hot as it is right now, you can pretty much expect to see all sort of poker games coming out on all of the different systems. The PC has been inundated with quality titles, as well as it's share of stinkers. And now the poker titles are starting to show up on the consoles more regularly. Now, World Poker Tour as some of you may know is a fairly popular poker show on TV, hosted by Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten and this title features their charismatic banter, however not all is right with the audio.

 
 "Can you spot my tell?"

You see, Mike and Vince have an extensive knowledge of the poker realm, and they also speak with fluent poker tongue; problem is, the phrases that they say, don't necessarily fit the situation. I just won a small $200 pot with a simple pair of 10's. Nothing flashy at all, no big money, nothing, but then Mike Sexton comes on as enthusiastic as all get out and says "Now we're playing some poker!" as if I just won a $30,000 pot with a straight flush. Now of course there are many different phrases being spoken and they do come out at the right time, but more often then not, the comments being made don't quite measure up.

Graphically speaking the game is pretty decent, from the load-out menu you can choose all sorts of options including making a virtual player, tweaking facial characteristics and hair as well as body type and/or facial mood. I haven't seen anything quite like this in a poker game yet, so I must give them some chops for coming up with a very detailed character maker. The poker locations themselves are also fairly well done, from luxury cruise ships to big time Vegas-style casinos. They all appear pretty detailed with people walking around and playing at other tables giving you that lovely chaotic feeling that some of us may get when you walk into a real casino. The heads-up play that is displayed onscreen when you are actually playing poker reminded me of the TV show as well, and that's a good thing. I wished there was a way to tweak the NPC players when I would fold instead of me being forced to watch their play, and if there is, I haven't found it yet. But it's the little things that can make you happy, and one of those little things was when someone went all-in, the game would put the % of success next to the cards just like the show, it was cool.

 
"Just remember if you don't win... you lose."

Now so far I have assumed that you know something about poker and therefore haven't really explained how to play (and won't), but you should know that there are several variations of poker available on this title. They are as follows: Texas Hold 'Em (and a couple of derivatives), Five Card Draw, Seven-Card Stud, Omaha, Shanghai and Billabong. Any of these games features the usual betting and bluffing that is found in poker games but with new rules, or extra draw cards or additional playable cards. I played through these during my initial reviewing and found a variation of Texas Hold 'Em called Super Hold 'Em (where you get an additional hole card) to be the most enjoyable next to the regular Texas Hold 'Em. But you should know that the whole point of the game is to create a character, enter into the various satellite games and earn enough money to eventually buy your way into the big end game tournament. Of course, along the way you will earn special chips that can be used to buy items and clothing in order to customize your player even more.

Now I said up top that you can go online and play against others as long as you have the high-speed Internet connection. The games are out there and you can easily find one with people in it. I personally found that the game's A.I. seemed to be a bit more of a challenge than the people I played against. I'm sure as time goes by, the online competition will improve. As it is right now, I had no problem winning quite often. I find the computer single-player game to be far more challenging at this point.

Gameplay: 7.4
Pretty competitive A.I., sometimes it comes across as a little bit uneven but it always seems to provide a decent challenge.

Graphics: 7.9
The game looks pretty good with the various locations and multitudes of customizable options for you character. You can try and make a digital doppelganger of yourself or you can make some freaky-looking character straight out of the Dick Tracy comics.

Sound: 6.7
Yeah it sounds good, but the timing of the phrases can be somewhat odd. Puts a damper on the whole audio experience.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 6.6
A poker game on the PlayStation? What a concept. There is very few things that this title offers that hasn't already been done.

Multiplayer: 7.5
A noble effort, and as time goes on, hopefully the competition will improve, but it wasn't so bad logging on and finding a game.

Overall: 7.1
I found myself comparing it to several of the better PC poker games, but realized that kind of comparison doesn't really come into play. It is a pretty good attempt at compelling poker play for the PS2, but ultimately misses the mark.