Full House PokerHailed as the spiritual successor to the short-lived (but much loved)
1 vs 100,
Full House Poker was a game on many people's wish lists - particularly fans of the original "Prime Time" game. Released at the very end of Microsoft's "House Party" promotion, the game was strung tantalisingly out of reach, forcing players to wait with anticipation. How would the newest Prime Time game fare?
PresentationOn first impressions, FHP comes across beautifully. Players use their avatar in-game, and as anyone who's seen the screenshots will know - the general style of the game fits the cartooney avatar style well. The repetitive music may not be to everyone's tastes, but it does an amicable job of providing a relatively unintrusive background to the scenery. The various venues look and feel bang on, and there are numerous customisation options for deck styles, table styles, chair styles, and more, keeping the feeling as fresh as possible whilst not losing any playability. Speaking of which, the controls, menus, and useability of the game are as simple as possible, and never feel cumbersome. Compared with any other card game on the 360, the presentation and slick design of FHP would win every time.
But games cannot be judged on looks alone, as demonstrated by the likes of
Far Cry 2 and
Final Fantasy XII. Once you actually begin to play the game, it's flaws soon become apparent...
GameplayGameplay wise, you have two options - playing online, or playing against the AI in one-on-one games, beating each one until reaching a grand finale consisting of them all. There is a third option, the Texas Heat events, but I'll cover that seperately.
Playing online is certainly the better option, and although having nothing at stake in games will always impact badly on a game with its foundations in gambling, FHP does a great job here. For the most part, players tend to play properly, and if you set up a table between friends, this would be even better. The game makes attempts at a ranking system, but since you can only go up (never down) in rank through playing, it's essentially meaningless.
The offline play is, in a word, poor. The game's AI design is terrible, even more so considering that all the computer essentially needs to do is to bet on the percentages. The AI's actions are completely unreadable - they'll regularly bet thousands on hands consisting of anything from pocket aces to off suit sevens and twos. Trying to bluff them, therefore, is impossible. They'll meet whatever you raise them to, and then it's usually pure luck who wins the hand. Not that beating the AI is difficult. Simply waiting for a great hand, and then goading them into going all in after the final card is deal, will always net you an easy victory. Easy? Yes. Fun? No.
The game utilises an XP system for levelling up. Every hand you play will net you a certain amount of XP, for folding a losing hand, to simply staying in for the next deal. It's a neat little system, and transfers across all game modes, online or offline (much like Halo Reach's credit system). Using this system to levelling up and unlockables is one thing, but using it as the basis for gameplay is another thing entirely... Which brings us on to the bombshell that is... Texas Heat.
Texas HeatThe entire reason many people bought Full House Poker was due to the notion of more Prime Time gaming, wherein players would join games occurring at certain times of the week, and compete against each other.
1 vs 100 demonstrated how this could work to great effect.
Full House Poker does the exact opposite.
Each game consists of three tables, ten players at each table, who can move between the tables as they gain chips or bust out. Unfortunately, the game rarely connects thirty real players to a single game, and the spaces are filled by AI players. Most of the time, you'll find yourself at a table consisting entirely of AI players. Prime Time gaming this is not.
The aim of the gametype is to reel in as much XP as possible in the 25 minutes each game lasts. In theory, a great idea, since winning hands requires a little but of luck, then rewarding playstyle instead would be a great leveller. But in practice, it doesn't work. Faster play equals more XP, and since human players tend to be slower than the AI, it's actually better to play against the computer here. To add to the frustration, if you happen to be in a game with other humans, the game has a terrible tendency to hang, with nothing happening whislt the clock ticks down.
And it's not just the necessity for speed which lets Heat down, it's the XP system itself. Winning a hand will net you
no XP - only winning consecutive hands does - and it's the same with bluffing. This leads a dire situation whereby "smart folds", and remaining in for each new hand are the only reliable scoring opportunities. Actually playing poker, and trying to win some chips, is secondary to folding early and trying to stay in as long as possible.
Furthermore, there seems to be no actual reason to even play Texas Heat. After each game players are rewarded with XP and chips based on their performances and their best hand. But these amounts are negligable - for example a 25 minute game can net you around 3000 chips. A two minute game against the AI can net you 100,000...! After unlocking the achievements for it, you'll likely not play it again.
ConclusionsAnd that's this game in a nutshell. In theory it could be a great game, but it's let down by so many little oversights. The XP system, the AI programming, and the numerous connection issues when playing online let this game down badly. Achievements-wise, the base game is pretty decent, but the inclusion of timed achievements for each Texas Heat season, none of which are fun, and some of which are already unobtainable, will put many players off.
In conclusion,
Full House Poker triumphs in its presentation, but falls apart pretty much everywhere else. That said, if you want a charming poker game to play online, I'd still recommend it somewhat, but be prepared for frustration if you venture beyond the online matches mode...
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