World Series Of Poker 2008: Battle For The Bracelets (Nintendo DS)

...you into the big wide world of live poker against opponents who are hoping to take your money.

==The game==

The game is a very accurate reflection of a real game of poker. You have the choice of either a quick, single game right up to a full career mode where the objective is to progress through lower ranked tournaments and built up enough cash to enter the World Series itself and walk away with the coveted Golden Bracelet, ...
.../> ==Verdict==

World Series Poker 2008 is a very entertaining and, at times educational product. I have played many poker titles in the past and this doesn’t really disappoint. If you are thinking of breaking into the poker scene and have a DS then I would recommend this to you. I would also recommend signing up to a PC based poker site and playing some pretend money games just to confirm that you do like the game before spending ... more

Introduction

Card games have been around for many years with varying degrees of popularity. Over the past decade with the growth of the internet, these games and, in particular, poker have grown massively.

Such is its popularity, you can now play poker on any of the leading games consoles as well as the PC. Word Series Poker 2008 on the DS allows you to play for fun against fictitious opponents rather than throwing you into the big wide world of live poker against opponents who are hoping to take your money.

The game

The game is a very accurate reflection of a real game of poker. You have the choice of either a quick, single game right up to a full career mode where the objective is to progress through lower ranked tournaments and built up enough cash to enter the World Series itself and walk away with the coveted Golden Bracelet, the ultimate prize in the poker world.

Gameplay is ok, the poker table pans across 2 of the lower screens which means that all players cannot be seen at the same time. This is a little offputting as you need to keep scrolling backwards and forwards to see who is still in the hand. The computer controlled players have a reasonable AI level, some players are ultra tight whilst others are very loose. As in real poker, you will need to work out these characteristics in order to be successful in the game.

The difficulty level can be adjusted, making this an ideal game for someone who wishes to try poker but is too afraid to just an actual poker site, right up to the experienced player who just wants a bit of entertainment whilst sitting on the train for example.

Play is controlled via the DS stylus, dragging over the corner of your cards will lift them slightly, allowing you to see your pocket hand. All the choices available to you are then shown in the form of buttons which you click to make your selection. If you choose to bet/raise then you drag the stylus up or down a scale to indicate the amount you wish to bet. This control system works very well. To be honest, there isn’t a great deal to it.

One of my major gripes with the game is that you don’t seem to be able to speed up hands as soon as you have folded. This means that, if you are at a full 9 handed table, you will have to wait for all computer controlled players to finish off playing the hand before continuing. This can get very boring if you consistently get dealt weak hands which are not worth playing.

Winning tournaments in this game on the harder difficulty levels really do give you a great sense of achievement. This certainly is a game which you will need to allow at least half an hour per sitting to play. Five minutes here or there will not allow you to progress the game properly. Your position can only be saved at the end of each tournament which is a pity really as tournaments can take a while to play. I would have preferred it if you could save at the end of each hand.

Verdict

World Series Poker 2008 is a very entertaining and, at times educational product. I have played many poker titles in the past and this doesn’t really disappoint. If you are thinking of breaking into the poker scene and have a DS then I would recommend this to you. I would also recommend signing up to a PC based poker site and playing some pretend money games just to confirm that you do like the game before spending your hard earned cash.
 

...less