Video Game Review – Poker Night 2

On a recent visit to Andrew’s place, loyal reader, my best man introduced me to a new Xbox Live Arcade game called Poker Night 2. Knowing my love of poker, you can imagine that my curiosity was piqued. While it turns out its replay value is limited, it’s still a fun little title that I’d recommend if you like your poker laid back.

A single-player affair, Poker Night 2 has you squaring off in an elimination game of Texas Hold’em (or Omaha Hold’em if you prefer) against four multimedia characters that perfectly fit the dive bar setting. You’ll play against Brock Samson from TV’s Venture Bros, the wisecracking robot Claptrap from Borderlands 2, the legendary Ash from the Evil Dead series (but more precisely the Army of Darkness version) and Max the dog from the classic Sam & Max video games. The game is run by Portal‘s GladOs, a sarcastic and deranged robot who deadpans very funny lines throughout. My favourite of those being, “Congratulations. You turned a nearly unbeatable hand into a victory. Well done.”

The poker action itself is extremely basic. You can bet, check, raise or fold until you bust out or are the last man standing. Unlike fast-paced poker titles such as Full House Poker, Poker Night 2 keeps the game’s pace and atmosphere very casual. It feels more like a game between buddies on a Saturday night. You can’t preset your actions and no one seems to be in a hurry. In fact, that’s the best thing about it.

You see, your four opponents are pretty much constantly bantering, talking about themselves, ribbing each other and shooting the breeze. Most of the dialogue is quite funny, especially GladOs’s intermittent observations. For the first few hours of playing the game, I was more than happy to just sit back and enjoy the virtual company.

And that’s unfortunately where the game’s limited replay value is apparent. Eventually the dialogue just repeats itself and by the fourth of fifth time you hear Max’s Jason Alexander impression, it starts to get annoying and you wish you could speed up the game.

On the plus side of replayability, however, Poker Night 2 does offer some cool unlockables. Playing well earns you tokens you can spend to but chips, cards and decks themed to each character’s series. In addition, completing three randomly-picked challenges (such as going all in, winning three hands in a row or buying people drinks) will give you a chance a “bounty item”, a personal object that each character in turn offers up for grabs. Sam puts up his banjo and Claptrap risks his 2010 Spike Video Game Character of the Year award, for example. Winning these items gives you exclusive props for you Xbox Live avatar, always a nice bonus. If you own Borderlands 2, those items also unlock some DLC for that game.

All in all, if you’re looking for a few hours of laid-back poker with some fun conversation and fun unlockables, you should give Poker Night 2 a try. Just don’t expect to invest any long-term gaming time into it.