World Poker Championship: All In

Since the relatively recent explosion of poker into the mainstream, there have been many attempts to recreate the feeling of playing live games without the risk of staking any money. World Championship Poker: All In is the latest for the Wii and uses well known faces like Annie Duke and Howard Lederer to promote it.

The options during a poker game are quite simple; fold, call (check), or raise and selecting the amount to raise by. Why on earth did someone decide a good way to do this was to flick the controller? Flicking it down calls and flicking it across folds, except that you never use this. Instead, you find yourself having accidentally done something when you were reaching for a beer or picking the controller up again.

From the outset, there are a number of major issues dogging the game from beginning to end. After creating a character and selecting a voice from a rather limited list, you’re thrust into an unwieldy world map, which takes ages to navigate. One wonders why they didn't make it a single screen point and click.

The most serious flaw happened half-way through my very first tournament (and a few times since): it crashed. No pointing or clicking could persuade it to deal the next hand, and I was forced to reset the console and restart the entire tournament. As far as I am concerned, a game that can crash four times in ten plays (albeit a few of those plays being a few hours) is unacceptable. I expected better from Crave Games.

There is also the repetitive “YEAH!” and “What’s going on here?” exclamations from your opponents, who tend to make some suspicious plays. For instance: the player who went all in on the first hand with a pair of 2s on the flop. However, this loose play also helps you reach the final table as quickly as possible, where the game actually becomes challenging and fun. Using the speed settings to see the hands more quickly significantly improves the flow of the game.

At the risk of sounding all Jeremy Clarkson and praising something so faulty, there is a half decent game here struggling to get out. There are also a huge number of poker variants (around 20) to explore, ranging from the the well known "Texas Hold ’em" to "Razz" and "Crazy Pineapple". So is it worth all the faults? Maybe, if just for educational value. If you are new to poker and you can overlook the problems, it might be worth a look. If you are an experienced player, you’re probably better off going down to the local casino instead.