Poker Night 2: An Unusual Poker Title That's Outrageously Funny - Article
by Craig S , posted on 01 October 2014 / 3,542 Views
The following is a guest editorial.
If you love playing poker but hate the humorless air that surrounds the card sharks who play it, look no further than Poker Night 2. Poker Night 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC and iOS platforms has got to be the craziest, most ambitious game to have ever mashed poker and comedy together. And, surprisingly (perhaps unsurprisingly for fans of the first title in the series), the game works extremely well.
Poker Night 2 makes clever use of some of the gaming universe’s most popular characters, pitting them against each other in a game of Texas Hold ‘Em. Players get to battle it out at the poker table with Brock from the Venture Bros. cartoon, Sam from the Sam and Max media franchise, Ash from the award-winning Evil Dead movies, and Claptrap from Borderlands, and the dealer is none other than Portal's GLaDOS.
That’s the main hook of Poker Night 2; players don’t battle professional poker players. Instead, they face professional assassins (and murderous robots) in a “friendly” game of cards. Most poker games feature the basics: a green table and a bunch of cards that are dealt to the centre of the table. However, in Poker Night Telltale Games made a good call in providing their players with more than just the nitty-gritty of poker play.
Apart from featuring a basic card game of Texas Hold ‘Em, players are treated with graphics that do the game's platforms justice. The character designs, as well as the poker table’s customizable backdrop, are all extremely detailed. As for the poker playing experience itself, Poker Night 2’s AI provides a good challenge for even the most cultured poker players. At its most difficult, it’s as if players are faced with an actual pro who can adjust their gaming style whenever necessary.
But it’s neither the gameplay nor the graphics that Poker Night 2 owes its success to. Rather, it’s the game’s comical factor. Poker Night 2 is exceptionally funny, with lines and witty retorts from each character that will have players cracking up throughout the game. It’s a great feature that keeps players entertained, especially when playing the game’s tournaments for long periods of time.
The trend of introducing poker games to almost any gaming genre is explicable, what with poker being the most popular card game in the world. During the poker bug that happened in 2003 thanks to the Moneymaker effect, the number of online players around the world multiplied intensely. Casino gaming developer Cryptoplogic, a company that used to own one of the biggest poker networks in the world (as well as being the operator of InterCasino), reports that its player base used to consist of more than 2 million gamers. Today, there are more than 35 million poker players around the world, with a lot of them actively participating in tournaments.
Overall, Poker Night 2 is a very good game. It’s definitely worth trying, especially if you’re looking for a card game with a unique twist that's brimming with personality. The characters are very funny, the graphics are good, and its replayability value is great as well. Poker lover or not, you're at least going to be hooked by the four characters' banter.
