At a glance...

Previewer	Platform	Publisher	Developer	Players	Release Date	Screenshots
Matt Bailey	PC	Oxygen Interactive	Point of View	1-6 (Online)	22nd September 2006	Here

World Championship Poker 2 preview

Poker has seen a dramatic rise in recent years. It's gone from smoky back-rooms of questionable bars to tremendous popularity online, a more glitzy image, and even dedicated digital channels. Of course, video gaming has been increasingly getting in on the action - last week saw the release of Texas Hold 'em on the Xbox Live Arcade for example, while Activision's poker title World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions has been gaining interest due to its use of the Xbox Live Vision camera to put you in the game. Oxygen are another company to put virtual betting at your fingertips in the form of World Championship Poker 2, the follow up to, well, you can probably guess.

Like both Xbox 360 titles, World Championship Poker 2 features camera support, with options for the EyeToy on the PS2, and USB webcams on the PC. Unfortunately, a lack of other players online with the preview code meant that I wasn't able to actually try it out. Thus with online multiplayer out of the question, the focus in this preview is entirely on the game's single player offerings.

You can immediately engage in the game's Quick Play mode, allowing you to take part in one of the fourteen types of poker, each with a range of options. However, the main thrust of the action for single player is the career mode. Before starting either mode you create a character using the relatively limited options available, and also give them a personality. This person begins their poker career in their basement, looking to make it big. Your first game is played in front of poker's equivalent of a talent scout, with a good performance leading to offers to take your game to the professional level. This gives you more chances to earn money, purchase new 'pads', and build up a sizeable art collection. Because what's a major poker player without his art?

The games themselves seem enjoyable and, as far as I can tell, the opponents are quite intelligent, but also show human-like flaws. However, my experience with poker is fairly limited, only fully learning the rules in the Live Arcade game last week, so I'm probably not the best judge. Talking of learning, the game does offer a tutorial, hidden away in the Extras screen. While better than the simple text instructions in Texas Hold'em, WCP2 only shows you what to do before you try yourself. It doesn't really guide you through, which could be disappointing to newcomers, but the main key to progress is practice, and this is where the Quick Play mode comes in useful.

Graphically the game isn't doing anything special, though the animated opponents do show character. There's no noticeable graphical glitches in the code, which is reassuring. However, considering the game was released last summer in the US, it's not surprising to see such a stable preview version, with changes likely to be very minimal between this and the final edition when it's released this month.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License, except where otherwise noted.

Some screen captures on the site were made with HyperSnap-DX by Hyperionics.

Smileys taken from Crack's Smilies.