12DOVE Verdict
Pros
- +
Wacky cartoon menus
- +
maybe
- +
Variety of poker styles
- +
Turning this thing off
Cons
- -
Flawed gameplay
- -
Super-dark environments
- -
Music and voices
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Poker is everywhere these days - in Vegas, on your TV and of course your game console. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that... unless the game in your console of choice is World Championship Poker Featuring Howard Lederer: All-In. Then you've got problems.
Let's go right for the jugular, shall we? WCPFHL:AI (whew!) has a major flaw: the game repeats hands a lot. We personally beat one character's queens and twos with queens and sixes - twice in one hour! This wasn't just a one time fluke, either; it happened several times over a four hour period. That just says shoddy.
Actually, it'd be better if they didn't say anything at all. The AI's banter is repetitive at best and completely backwards at worst. Many times an AI character would say, "I'm all in!" and then proceed to muck his cards. Plus, you'll have the AI's whole shtick memorized within 15 minutes... yes, it's that boring. In fact, it's so boring, you'll yawn more than the rest of the players, who yawn A LOT.
Cheap-looking graphics, pros represented by poorly-drawn caricatures, jerky animations, dark and murky game rooms... visually, this game's a mess. You've seen better maps in any 8-bit RPG. And while you're able to play this game online, why would you? There are other poker games that do everything better than All-In, so don't bother with this one.
More info
| Genre | Strategy |
| Description | With repetitive hands and backwards AI, this is one poker pot you'd be wise to walk away from. |
| Franchise name | World Championship Poker |
| UK franchise name | World Championship Poker |
| Platform | PS2, PSP, Xbox 360 |
| US censor rating | Teen |
| Release date | 29 August 2006 (US), 29 August 2006 (UK) |
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