World Series Of Poker: TOC

One of the main uses for your Xbox 360 if you are anything like me, will be killing zombies or trying to score a goal against the opposition in your favourite football game, now this is all good fun but it can get you worked up a bit, so for everyone out there who wants to enjoy a nice relaxing game I recommend poker, you see there is nothing quite like a lazy evening playing cards and with Activisons latest release in stores now you may need to book some time at the poker table with your friends on Xbox Live.

If you have been playing Texas Hold Em All on Xbox Live and enjoying it then you will be pleasantly surprised by World Series of Poker, it takes a different approach in that it shows you all of your opponents sitting around the table, chatting away to themselves about their next move, there are some nice looking computer generated graphics along the way also which are pleasing to the eye, however if you get impatient and don't want to wait for them then you have the option to skip these.

The character themselves are well detailed and use the actual voices of the professional players that they represent, in fact the only flaw really is when they are raising or calling they put down the wrong number of chips everytime, which is a pity really because the way it's executed looks good.

During the game your character is tutored by Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, winner of five World Series of Poker bracelets, supposedly he teaches you tips, tricks, and strategies that have helped him get where he is, however the game tends not to focus on this much and you will find yourself using the help folders more, where you can find helpful information on different aspects of the game, from the controls to the percentage of winning on a specific hand, there is also a scroll bar at the bottom of the screen to give you some helpful tips.

The AI of the computer based opponents is where this game shines, they really do seem to play to the strength of their cards and if you decide you are going to go all in due to the fact that you have a pair of aces, the chances are that there will be a lot of folding going on around the table as your opponents decide to save their money.

Another addition to the game is the Digimask system, this enables you to add your face to the game by utilising the Xbox Live camera, basically it takes a mugshot of you from the front and side, you then need to decide on your hairstyle and whether or not you wish to wear glasses before the face is generated, however you must make sure that the room is well lit as otherwise it will probably fail. Once your face is generated you can then dress yourself and use it in games, although seeing yourself is quite bizarre and while it isn't perfect (your head doesn't always stay on your shoulders) it certainly is a step in the right direction to getting you in the game.

Of course the game just wouldn't be fun if you couldn't play on Xbox Live with your friends, so thankfully you can and as an added bonus World Series of Poker is the first retail game to support the Xbox Live Camera which means that you can see their poker faces, it is quite easy to find people online and pretty much lag free, it is also safe to say that you may well spend a lot of time playing the game in this way.

While World Series of Poker is not perfect, it is most certainly the best poker game on the Xbox 360, graphically it looks great and the control system is very easy to use even for a beginner, Activision seem to have captured the feel of poker and there is plenty of options and life in this game to keep you playing it for the foreseeable future, if you like poker then this game is really the only one worth considering.