PlayStation 2 » Stacked with Daniel Negreanu » Reviews
 Average User Ratingout of 2 reviews |
Write your own Review |
Stacked w/ Daniel Negreanu
Reviewed by sladeums on December 06, 2006 | report this review
Stacked is certainly the best Poker title I have yet played for the PS2 (I have not, however, played World Series of Poker 2007). Graphics are serviceable - you really can't expect much in the way of fireworks for a Poker title - character models are a little blocky and not real detailed...a bit Grand Theft Auto-ish looking maybe. Overall fairly bland looking, but that's not what you're playing a Poker game for anyway. The one real complaint I had with the graphics is when you select the command to look at your whole cards it shows them in a window in the bottom left of the screen - and it can sometimes be rather difficult to tell the difference between Spades and Clubs - this can be a real b*tch when you have an all black board...'do I have a flush draw here? I dunno, hard to tell?'. Fortunately the cards are also displayed near the top of the screen as well, and it's easier to differntiate the suits by looking here. The loading screens will pop up Pro-Player bios between matches and switching tables. Music is non-descript and unobtrusive. The players commentary can get fairly repetetive, but sometimes can be humorous while the computer is needling you to make a play, or dogging you out for losing. There are many different tournament types varying in the buy-in, bets and payouts - and they are available in either limit or no-limit versions. You can play either through the Career Mode or just quick play the game of your choice. The interface is adequate, I don't feel real strongly about it either way - it does the job good enough. The strong suit of the game is the A.I.. The computer plays a fairly decent game - at times either a little to either extreme - either very, very loose all in calls or too tight, especially when the board is showing a likely a split pot. The A.I. does seem to get a bit too lucky at times...frequently on the higher levels if you get into any hand one of the computer opponents inevetiably has a monster hand. But I've also encountered some good luck as well, making some questionable calls with the worst of it but sucking out on the end. I've seen the A.I. check-raise, trap and slow-play in some appropriate spots. Sometimes as long as you are just betting the minimum it will also call you down to the river on just a high card. IOne handy feature is speeding up play when you fold - this can be set automatically or handled manually - after you fold the hand will be played out at double-speed so you can get on to the next hand. This can make it a little harder to follow the action, though. Another nice feature is you can select your play before it's your turn, and as long as the pot has not been raised by the time it gets to you then your command will be carried out - so you can fold/raise/call/check as soon as you see your hand and not have to wait until the computer players take their turn and it gets around to you. Overall good game...I'd rate it a three really as a video game overall, but when rating it as a Poker video g
.
For personal non-commercial use only. All rights reserved.