Poker Night at the Inventory

Poker Night at the Inventory is the perfect game for when you've got a few minutes of free time before you head off to work, class, bed, or just when you're looking for something to kill 15-20 minutes of your time so you don't have to write a review of a much more complex video game. Okay, that last example might be a little too specific for most people.

Poker Night is simply a no limit Texas Hold 'Em game with a "celebrity" twist. Texas Hold 'Em is that version of poker where each player is dealt two "hole" cards, which he or she can use in conjunction with five community cards to make the best five card combination possible. After each player is dealt their hole cards, a round of betting ensues. This is followed by the "flop," when the first three community cards are placed on the table. Another round of betting follows, then the fourth card comes out. Ditto for the fifth card, which then opens the way for a final round of betting. It's an interesting game because you always know at least three of your various opponents' cards, so you can somewhat figure out what they have and then use that to your advantage. Or just freak out about the different hands they might have that could beat the pair you are trying to bluff your way to victory with.

This is how bluffing usually ended for me. It is also worth noting that this was the first hand of a tournament.

What makes this game stand out from your average Texas Hold 'Em game is the addition of the four "celebrities." Those would be the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, Tycho from Penny Arcade, Max from the Sam & Max series, and Strong Bad from Homestar Runner. Each character has a unique personality and plenty of back and forth banter with the other characters that make the game enjoyable. For example, Tycho might slide into a bit about how he, uh, fancies giraffes, which is a running gag from the web comic he comes from, much to Max's horror. Strong Bad will invite the Heavy to live with him so long has he kicks out the old lump currently occupying the room. If you play long enough you'll even be privy to some real gems, such as one I stumbled upon when the Heavy went into a show down with Tycho, and was winning with three 10s, a jack, and some other card, to Tycho's two 10s, two jacks, and some other card, when it turned out the last card was also a jack, giving each player a full house, but putting Tycho's jacks with 10s ahead of the Heavy's 10s with jacks. At this point the Heavy said, "What?!?! I WILL NOT LOSE TO LUCKY COWARD! I KILL YOU!" and then proceeded to flip the table over, pull out his minigun, and spool it up while screaming. When the table was set back up, the Heavy looks straight into the camera and says, "Deal new hand now."

There are a couple of bonuses if you play long enough, in addition to finding those rarer lines. Each character has a unique item that they will occasionally use for a buy in, in place of the normal $10,000. Whoever eliminates that player gets the item, which means you need to be the one to knock them out of the tournament. This will then get you the item, which is just a cross promotional item for Team Fortress 2. As for unlocks that are actually relevant to the game you're playing, you can unlock new decks or tables as you win enough tournaments. This mostly changes the visual of the games so you aren't looking at the same old thing for hours on end, but if you do use certain tables you'll unlock an additional special effect. A Penny Arcade table turns everything black and white. A Team Fortress 2 table gives the Heavy a poker dealer's hat. Strong Bad's table switches his skin to an 8bit pixilated style, while Max's makes him a skeleton. One of the last unlocks you get is a table that will turn on all these effects at once.

Things do get tricky if you combine the TF2 cards with the black and white Penny Arcade table. There were far too many times I thought I had a flush because clubs and spades kind of look alike.

The game isn't a bad way to kill short bursts of time. You're really just playing poker, so you must be at least partially interested in that to even consider getting this game. The dialogue is great, and you can change it's frequency, but at the same time I was plenty sick of some of the basic lines by the time I finished, even with the chit chat set to medium, because I got to the point where I wanted to punch Max every time he talked about writing a bad check to Flint Paper. I played for an incredible 21 hours before I unlocked everything, which only takes 21 wins. This is largely due to my inability to fold cards when I was unable to bluff someone out of a pot. Even given all that time there were a few lines I only heard once, like the Heavy flipping the table, so there are reasons to keep playing.

Poker Night at the Inventory isn't a bad game to pick up, even at the usual price of $5, though I've seen it at half that on sale. It's just that there really isn't too much to the game, since its just poker and all. Sure, I would like to fantasize about the $450,000 I've won in the game, after going $40,000 in the hole initially, but I'm smart enough to realize that success in this game is in no way indicative of what I'd do in real life. In the end I think I'll just stick with this game, or perhaps try out Poker Night 2. As for this game itself, it is a respectable above average - 6 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown.

Score: 6/10

Suggested Price: $2.50

*****

For more Poker Night at the Inventory, check out this collection of screenshots otherwise unused in this review. Click any one for a full sized image.