Format: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Developer: Telltale Inc
I really do enjoy a good game of Texas Hold Em. Well in the virtual world I do. You see at Christmas time we play Texas Hold Em and I am possibly the worst poker player in the world. But I have always been pretty good when it comes to poker video game. I was really surprised when I noticed that this was brought to us by the guys at Telltale so I knew right away that this was not going to be your everyday straight forward game of poker.
As this is from Telltale anyone who know of Telltale will expect this game to have immaculate presentation and I will be the first to tell you that it certainly does. It really is the style of this game that will keep you going. While most other poker games just have random characters at the table in Poker Night 2 you have possibly the most awesome line up of poker buddies ever. Sam from Sam & Max is here. He is joined with Ash from the Evil Dead. Now just say this out loud I am playing poker with Ash from the Evil Dead and tell me that does not just sound great. Your other two poker buddies are Claptrap from Borderlands and lastly Brock Samson from Ventura Bros. And working as the dealer is the crazy GLaDOS from Portal.
The really cool thing about this line up of players. Well apart from the WOW factor is that while you are playing the game they are engaging in random conversation. This to me is one of the highlights of the game and it really does make this game stand out from the million other poker games that are on the iOS store.
Now as far as the game play goes you have two games on offer here you have Texas Hold Em and Omaha Hold Em which truth be told I had never played until I played this game. Now as far as the poker goes this is your typical stuff. I mean at the end of the day what can you really do to make poker more exciting? But one really cool thing is the tokens in this game. Tokens can be used to buy a variety of stuff that can help you out as you play the game. You have to earn these tokens by playing the game. There are no short cuts of in app purchases here. I loved this and hope it is something more developers do.
Now if you are not really a fan of any of the characters in this game then first of all you probably will not want to download it. And secondly you may find the sometimes quite lengthy conversations they have a bit annoying. You see there is no way to skip these dialogue sections so if you are wanting to have just a quick game then you really cannot. But to me the real charm of this game is the characters so by not wanting to listen to what they have to say you really are missing the point of the game.
I was blown away by this game and I know the five bucks price tag may seem a little on the high side, but this is the best game of poker I have ever played and I will fully admit that it is because of the characters you are playing with. I think this is a game that is well worth the price and remember that this is five bucks and five bucks only. There is no trying to get a buck here or a buck there out of you. I really hope that this is a series that Telltale keeps up with as I would love to see what characters they would use for Poker Night 3.