Poker Night 2

Not that long ago I reviewed Poker Night at the Inventory, a celebrity Texas Hold ‘Em poker game that included video game related characters, such as Team Fortress 2’s The Heavy, or Penny Arcade’s Tycho. It’s simply a fancy poker game, with just the one mode, where what you live for is the next bit of funny banter between characters, or those once-in-a-lifetime moments, like The Heavy flipping over the table after a last card loss, and gunning everyone down with his minigun, or Tycho telling Max of Sam and Max fame all about his unhealthy interest in giraffes, which anyone familiar with Penny Arcade should know about.

It’d be easy to say that Poker Night 2 is the same game as the previous incarnation, since, after all, you are still literally playing the same game of Texas Hold ‘Em, only redone with a few new cards and tables, and a new cast of characters, but there are some major fundamental differences between the two games, even if, as I said, you’re still just playing poker.

With a new cast comes new lines, and, hopefully, hilarity.

The first major improvement to the franchise is the inclusion of a second style of poker, called Omaha. For those of you without poker knowledge, Texas Hold ‘Em is a special style of poker. In standard poker each player is dealt his or her own cards, but Texas utilizes a set of communal cards. At the start of a round every player is dealt two cards, called hole cards (if you’ve ever heard the phrase, ace in the hole, this gives you an idea of what it means). Bets are placed, and everyone who didn’t already have to pay a small amount called a blind, must match that to proceed. Three cards are then placed on the table, which every player will use to make a five card hand. This is called the flop. Another round of betting ensues, followed by a fourth card. This is followed by another round of betting, and then a fifth card is placed on the table. Assuming anyone is left at this point, a final round of betting is allowed, and then everyone still in the game must flip over their cards, where the best five card combination of the seven available cards (two hole cards and 5 community cards) wins.

That’s Texas Hold ‘Em. In itself, it’s a fun game. However, Omaha is a bit different. Rather than each player having 2 hole cards, each player gets four. The five community cards are still played in the same fashion as Texas, but there is one major twist that fouls up the idea of, say, having 3 of a kind in the hole, or a flush with 4 community cards. You see, in Omaha you must play 2 and only 2 hole cards, and 3 and only 3 community cards. That makes it quite frustrating when you have a King, Queen, and 10 in the hole, which would work nicely with the Ace and Jack found in the communal cards, but because of the 2/3 rule, you don’t have a high straight/royal flush, you actually have a high card (this has happened to me more than a few times).
 

While this might look like I have a great hand (a high straight), since this is Omaha, the best I have is a pair of Aces.

That’s improvement number 1, because doubling the play modes makes the game substantially better. Improvement 2 comes from an enhanced AI, or at least something like an AI that I’ll attribute an increase in difficulty to. You see, this game’s four celebrities are Brock Samson (from the Venture Brothers show), Claptrap (from the Borderlands series), Ash Williams (The Army of Darkness movie), and Sam (from the same Sam and Max series as Max in the first game), and each one has a different personality/playstyle. Brock and Sam both seem to be aggressive players that always have the cards to match. Ash is the one I’ve been most successful in baiting into betting big on bad cards, or basically calling his bluff, though he does seem to get pretty lucky on that fourth or fifth card. Claptrap bets big, but seems to fold a lot if you reraise on him.

The above personalities are further enhanced through the use of “tells” or some action that it supposed to let you know what the other character is “thinking.” Brock smashing his fist against the table and grimacing seems to proceed a fold, more often than not, but sometimes he calls. Sam may have his hat fly up into the air. Supposedly these tells give you an advantage, and they can be enhanced by purchasing a drink through a rewards system I’ll get to in a little bit, but I’m not so sure that’s how this all really works. I’ve seen Brock play a hand, which, based on the tell, I assumed was bad, only to find out he had excellent cards. Similarly, with Sam’s extremely noticeable tell, I’ve seen him fold a hand or lose poorly. This whole system may be more complex (or I’m overthinking it) than I realize, but the end result is that it was sustainably more difficult to win a tournament than in the previous game, and I found that I had to play for several hours before my first victory, which was on Omaha anyways, while I seemed to win every 2nd or 3rd tournament before.
 

I never really found drinks to be worth it, partly because of the cost, and partly because the tells never seemed to give me the kind of information I really wanted.

The third improvement concerns unlocking items. This happens in a couple of ways, but the first thing I’d like to cover is the tie ins between this game, Team Fortress 2, and Borderlands 2. The first game had several items you could unlock in Team Fortress 2 if you acquired them in Poker Night, which was ultimately the reason I bought the game, thanks to an achievement associated with unlocking The Heavy’s Iron Curtain weapon that entered you in a competition to win every game on Steam, which, given my frugal ways, was something I was more than happy to do. But back to the unlocks. In the first game there was a chance every tournament that a character would use a special item as the buy in, and whoever knocked out that character would receive the item. So if Tycho took The Heavy to the cleaners before you got a chance, tough luck. You would just have to wait until that item came up again. Now you must first complete a set of three randomly selected challenges, which unlocks the ability to acquire an item. From that point until you actually get it, a random character will put in his or her special item, giving you a chance each tournament.

In this game, winning items will give you something in both Team Fortress 2 and Borderlands 2.

At first I was a fan of this new system. The challenges were things that could be accomplished within a few full tournaments, such as beating an opponent with a higher kicker (you have the same hand, say a pair of Aces, but you have the next highest card, a King to his Queen), causing everyone to fold before seeing the first three cards, winning a tournament, or buying everyone a round of drinks. After that, it’s simply a matter of winning your next tournament to get the item (though that’s not the easiest task in the world). Then I came to a challenge I just couldn’t complete – knock another player out after he has gone all in where you win with a high card. I had done this a few times in the original game, mostly because those characters seemed to over bet or bluff quite often. Here, getting someone to go all on when they had nothing is pretty unlikely. Worse is the chance that, in a two person showdown, no one has a pair, straight, or flush. Between two people there are a total of 9 cards, and only two can be the same (one of each player’s hole cards). You can’t have more than 4 consecutive cards, otherwise someone has a straight, so if you have an Ace/King, and the other player has a King/Queen, then a 10, 9, 8, 7, and 5 would be adequate for this challenge. Note that that requires 8 specific cards out of 13. Oh, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t even possible in Omaha. The worst part was this was my final challenge for my final item. The solution ended up requiring quite a bit of cheating. You see, one of the flaws/exploits/saviors in this game is the ability to Alt+F4 before a hand ends to not have it saved, allowing you to come back and replay the whole thing. That’s great if you are really trying to get something, or you just want to win quickly. So when you get another player low enough at the end of a tournament that he is going to go all in every time, you just keep replaying the hand over and over again until you complete the challenge. In my case it took over 2 hours of playing 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time before I had high enough cards and a stupid pair didn’t show up at the last second. Note, that’s 2 hours in game time, not real world time, so there was plenty of rebooting the game going on there.

Most of the challenges are pretty straight forward, and easily enough accomplished, especially since you can complete them across multiple tournaments.

Back to improvements, and away from rants about not including something to reset challenges in case you include a case that is so improbable it’s not going to happen during the course of a normal game. Like its predecessor, you can unlock table felts and cards to change the appearance of the game. This game adds to that chips. If you unlock and equip all three items from the same set, one base set and one per celebrity, for a total of 6, you’ll change the map. The Venture Brothers gives the map a disco/70s theme. Borderlands makes the games all borderlands like. The Army of Darkness turns the place into a haunted house, basically. Sam and Max’s set gives off a great detective noir. And GlaDOS’ set, for she is the dealer in this celebrity game, turns the whole place into a test chamber from Portal. Along with these special maps come unique elimination events and tournament win celebrations. Normally when a player busts out, a joking remark is made, then he gets up and leaves. Bust out when it’s GlaDOS’ map and you’ll be sent through a portal to some other place in the room. Win, and you’ll find several Portal turrets appearing in the room, all with their red targeting laser focusing on you. The Borderlands set features elimination by Steve, another character from the game who does nothing more than say “Hey-oh.” Usually that one consists of nothing more than a rocket launcher full of confetti fired at the first loser, but it does make for a pretty interesting moment when Claptrap is the first to go, and there is this whole dramatic scene. Likewise, the remaining maps have their special eliminations and wins as well.

You may be wondering how you go about unlocking these things, since obviously the redone levels and special scenarios seem like fun little additions to the game. That’s where the improvement comes in. Previously, you had to win enough tournaments to unlock new cards and tables, with the final item taking 21 wins to unlock. Now you buy everything, including the tell enhancing drinks, with coins. You get coins by finishing better than dead last, with the amount scaling by how well you do. The winner gets 100 coins, while second gets 50, third 20, and fourth 10. Since some of the items in sets cost several hundred coins, it’s apparent that you’ll need to win plenty of tournaments to acquire items quickly, but at least with this setup, you gain something even if you don’t finish first every time, allowing you to still unlock everything.

Okay, why hasn't someone produced these as real playing cards yet?!?! I mean, look at the Queen, it's awesome! Oh, and the King involves cake!

Overall Poker Night 2 is a game that has improvements over the original. That ranges from the major improvements discussed so far, to things like having colored text that is different for each character, a la another Telltale game, The Walking Dead, and doubling the text line, which is good if you’re me and need to take screen shots of all the funny lines. It does still seems like there are way too few character lines, especially for the basic functions like checking or calling, which can happen a few dozen times per hand, which was an issue in the last game, but for the most part the back and forth was funny, and a bit distracting from the overhaul in the difficulty level. One of my favorite bits involved several characters questioning Claptrap about having guns in vending machines and how dangerous that is, the rebuttal to which highlighted how dangerous candy is to your health. The game is perhaps a little less fun than the previous because of the increased difficulty, but the additional things like the unlocks, better lines, etc., make up for it. It’s one of those games that’s nice to play in about 20 minute increments, when you’ve got some spare time to kill, but don’t want to commit to a huge game – 7 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 7/10

Suggest Price: $2.50 (Lowest was $0.99)

*****

For more Poker Night 2, check out this collection of screenshots otherwise unused in this review. Click on any one for a large image.

Steam Winter Sale 1-2-13

Well, it looks like this is the end of the sale. Valve brought back some of the biggest sellers for the encore sale. Other titles aren't on sale anymore (i.e. non-feature titles like Gunpoint), though yesterday's titles are still active until 10 Pacific tomorrow morning, when everything goes away. Since I've already covered everything, and no prices have changed, I'll be a bit brief.

Main Sale

Garry's Mod - Sandbox game where you can mess around with Half-Life 2 and related games models and other art assets. Not something you'd really want under most gaming circumstances, since it's not really a game. $2.49.

XCOM  - I recommend this turn based strategy game with large strategy components, such as base building, air defense, and resource management by keeping countries happy. I've beaten this one, whihc took about 30 hours on a long playthrough, but haven't reviewed. $9.99 gets you the original, while $14.99 gets the expansion pack. Amazon still has both games bundled for less than Steam, coming in at $19.99.

Football Manager 2014 - Yeah, I haven't played this one, but it's $24.99 again today.

ARMA III - The latest in the high realism military sim is $35.99. Note that this game isn't required for DayZ, because that's getting a standalone game, which is also on Steam in early access.

The Stanley Parable - Expanded over the original mod, this recently released version is $8.99. The game does have a demo, and while it's worth trying out, I'm a fan of waiting for this game to hit a bit lower price in a future sale.

Borderlands 2 - While I greatly enjoyed the original, that one is not on sale today. Instead you can only find the second game, which comes in both the regular and incomplete GOTY editions for $7.49 and $29.99, respectively. While many of the DLCs not included are probably useless, such as skins, some things that actually add content to the game are also absent, such as any of the Headhunter DLCs. That's why I'm waiting for a better, more complete, pack in the future.

Bioshock Infinite - The base game is $9.99, while you can purchase the franchise sans DLCs for any game for $15.19. This is more than Amazon's deal, which will save you a bit. Also, you'd still have to shell out $19.99 for the Season Pass to save on some of the DLCs, though that pack doesn't include everything either. For these reasons I've yet to buy the game. Basically, it's in the same situation as Borderlands 2.

Total War Rome II - Previously you'd find other games in the series on sale, such as in a franchise pack. Today you'll instead find just this strategy game for $29.97.

Company of Heroes 2 - It's $13.59 for the base game and $27.19 for the Collector's edition. Unlike another strategy title, Total War Rome II, you'll actually find previous incarnations of this franchise on sale today. The original CoH, which is probably one of the best RTS games I've ever played, is only $3.39. The two expansion packs for it are $6.79 each.

Skyrim - As with some other games, only the featured game is on sale, not the franchise. That means you're just looking at the epic RPG for $7.49 for the base game, or $20.39 for the legendary Edition that includes all the DLCs. Even 2 years later the game is still too much for me to buy it, but maybe, just maybe, we'll see a more palpable price during the next sale. That, or Quakecon or what ever that even is where it seems like every Bethesda title is on sale for a bit.

Dark Souls - After 7 hours in this game, and now a couple of months away from it, I still recommend avoiding this poorly ported RPG. It is $5.99 if you choose to ignore my advice, but if that's the case, you should be prepared to download a couple of different mods to make changes to how it runs, such as allowing your resolution of choice, or not windowed mode. On top of that, spend a god amount of time on the wiki just trying to figure out what the heck is going on, because the game gives you little to no info about it.

Tomb Raider - For this one you can still pick up the regular edition for $9.99, the Survival Edition for $11.59, or the franchise pack for $13.99. If you're just looking at the regular edition however, Amazon once again beats Steam, as this time the game comes in at $7.99, which is still more than the $5 it was on Christmas Eve.

Counter Strike - If you fancy team based shooters that reward you between rounds with more money to buy gear, or punish you by making you spectate for the rest of the game, you'll find the entire franchise is 75% off. Source is $4.99, while the other 3 titles are all $3.74. There is also a pack for $7.49. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure how many people still play the earlier games now that Global Offensive is out, despite the previously large 1.6 vs. Source debate.

Dishonored - Like Dark Souls, this is a game that failed to live up to the hype. Supposedly a game where you can tackle any scenario in a number of ways, the game ends up being pretty narrow in scope, and filled with random bugs/glitches, such as nonexistent rats eating the knocked out enemies you had secreted away for a stealth run. An okay buy only if you can't find something better to occupy your time with. $7.49 for the base game or $13.59 for the GOTY.

Far Cry 3 - You're looking at just the latest title in the series, as both 1, 2, and Blood Dragon are all back to full price. It's $7.49 for the base version and $9.99 for the Deluxe.

Chivalry  - A hack and slash medieval warfare game that doesn't appeal to me because it strikes me as being too much 1 shot kill/CoD ish. It's regularly on sale, and has had a number of free weekends, where I've tried it out before. It's $6.24. You can also get the expansion DLC for $10.04, or get both together for $13.99.

Call of Duty Ghosts - Speaking of games you should avoid for being too CoD ish, this one is $40.19. Actually, if you really want this game, you might as well buy it now, because the chances of it ever dropping below $30 on Steam is a very slim one indeed.

Batman Arkham Origins - Unfortunately, the earlier games, which are the only ones I've played and or reviewed, are not on sale. Those would definitely be worth getting. Someone told me this game comes off as half assed and not really worth it, which would mean it's worth less than $24.99. Surprisingly, it's $23.49 on Amazon, while the first two games are also on sale, for $4.99 and $7.49 respectively, though a pack with both may offer greater discounts if it's restored.

Saints Row IV - Over the top game in the GTA sandbox genre. It's $19.99 today, which means I still won't be picking it up for some time.

Payday -The whole franchise is on sale in this coop bank robing sim. While a game that I briefly tired, I could see the potential in this one, but only if I had a group of friends I trusted to play with. Otherwise, the friendly AI in the first game wouldn't do things like take or protect hostages. The first game is $1.99, while the latest is $13.49. That one also comes with a demo to see if it's worth it.

Assassin's Creed - Another case where you're looking at only the latest title in a longer series being on sale, which means my reviews for the first two games are no good here. Also, this one is $44.99, which means you should check back with me in a year and a half or so.

Anno 2070 - Futuristic city building sim. It's $7.49.

Metro Last Light - Again, just this one and not the first game. Still too new for me at $13.59.

Age of Empires II - Another game that seems like it is always on sale. This time it's $4.99.


Flash Sales

Previously it was Delver for $3.99, Serious Sam 3 BFE for $9.99, ARMA II for $6.49, Slenter The Arrival for $4.99, Rogue legacy for $4.94, Track Mania for 42.49, Nether for $11.99, and Terraria for $2.49.


Community's Choice

The last two winners were Orcs Must Die! 2 for $3.74 and Far Cry 3 for $7.49.

***

Okay, that makes the sale. I picked up a total of 10 games, which is still pretty small compared to just two years ago when I dropped way too much money into this. Hopefully you found something on sale that you really liked. For me there just didn't seem to be that many great deals, which might be more of an issue with the games that came out this year more than anything else, as it seemed to be lacking in every category from AAA to indie.

In other news, I've got several reviews written up that are either awaiting finishing touches are a bit more gameplay in the case of one or two exceptions to the rules. Additionally, I took note of all the games that were on sale that I own but haven't gotten around to playing and/or finishing. I think I'll use that list to determine what I should play in the next couple of months, that way I'll have a bit more to tell you when some of the common games are on sale again, such as Metro, Deus Ex, Batman, Assassin's Creed, etc. Until then, please just check in regularly for reviews, or join the Steam group. See you out in the gaming world!

Steam Winter Sale 1-1-14

Hello again! Welcome to a new year! I hope everyone that celebrated did so safely. As for me, I'm back with a full keyboard in front of me, so I can comment a bit more on today's sales.


You should of course check out Amazon, Green Man Gaming, Gamers Gate, and The Humble Store for some other deals as well to see if something you really want is on discount there. The Humble Store is counting down the last few days of the last set of games for sale (I didn't realize it was a 72 hour period when I posted yesterday). Additionally, if you made a qualifying purchase from Amazon last month, you should be getting your $5 off an editor's choice purchase coupon pretty dang soon, since that goes into effect on Friday.

Main Sale

The Walking Dead - Reviewed! I played the first game and found the story and characters to be extremely engrossing. Sure, it was a point and click type game (though there were a few FPS moments for some reason), but damn, did it build relationships based on the choose your own adventure style story, and then force you to test those relationships at critical points. The original is $6.24, while the DLC that acts as a filler between the first and second season is $1.24. Then you get into the unknown when you buy the second season at $18.74, though I'm pretty sure that's not much of a stretch.

Civilization V - Reviewed! This game is always on sale, and it always ends up being a game I recommend avoiding, just because it seems like it lacks the depth necessary to make it an enjoyable game. That, and a terrible enemy AI when it comes to diplomacy. The base game is $7.49, while the Gold Edition is $12.49. Note that the Gold Edition includes the Gods and Kings expansion, but not Brave New World. Frankly, I'd recommend skipping this one.

Natural Selection 2 - An interesting asymmetrical RTS/FPS hybrid. The aliens evolve and come in multiple forms, from the large as a rhino Onus to the small wall crawling Skulker. The space marines will gain access to new weapons and armor, including jet packs. All of this depends both on the skills of the commander in upgrading, building, and ordering troops around, especially when they need the extra assistance one can provide, as well as the combat skills and teamwork of the regular players. I loved the first one but never really got into this one when I could test it out on a free weekend. Still, it's $2.49, which seems to be it's usual sale price.

Just Cause - 2 is almost always on sale in this huge open world sand box game that just got a multiplayer mod. While it's something you should probably pick up, you might want to skip Steam. Steam has it marked at $2.99 for the base game, and $14.99 for the whole franchise, basically. Amazon has a Just Cause 2 pack that is missing 1 DLC (Black Market Boom Pack) and the original game for $7.99. You could add the missing pieces off of Steam for $0.39 and $1.39, still leaving you ahead more than $5.

You Need A Budget 4  - Because you need a budget? Actually, the irony in this game being on sale during a Steam sale is that all purchases made during a Steam sale are unnecessarily when you think a bout what you need versus what you want. Anyways, it's $14.99 today.

Castle Story - An early access game that looks like it could be fun, but as it's not actually done yet, I can't tell you for sure. It's $13.39 today.

Mortal Kombat - I'm not a fighting game fan, so I won't be getting into the details of which game in the series is the best. Just know that this one is $10.19.

Hammerwatch - A pretty simple looking action adventure game. Frankly, the description does give very much information, or, for that matter, motivation. It's $3.39 today.

Valdis Story Abyssal City - Another greenlight game, though this one is $3.74. It looks to be a bit of a blend of ARPG and platformer, which could make for an interesting combination. Argh, why don't games have demos?!?


Flash Sales

Legend of Grimrock - This game just hit an all time low (as far as I can recall) at $2.99. It's been in bundles too, so you might have snagged it there. Anyways, it's supposed to be a great dungeon crawler RPG, though I still haven't tried it yet.

Rayman Legends - $19.99.

Super Street Fighter IV - Because if you don't like Mortal Kombat, you can give this one a try at $7.49.

Interstellar Marines - An early access FPS game. I'll tell you more once it's released and I've had a chance to play the actual, final, version of the game. It's $5.09 for the base game, or $13.59 for the Spearhead Edition, which has extra bonuses such as your name in the game.

Past flash sales consist of Contagion for $3.74, Primal Carnage for $3.74, Game Marker Studio for $24.99, a game I can't tell you about because the saved page on my phone is blocked by a game info popup, Desktop Dungeons for $7.49, Sniper elite V2 for $7.49, 7 Days to Die for $23.44, and Cities in Motion 2 for $4.99.


Community's Choice

VVVVVV - Kind of an odd platformer, which isn't surprising since it's an indie game. Also, it's only $0.49.

Previously it was Tomb Raider for $9.99 and Bioshock Infinite for the same.

***

Alright, so that's it for today. Tomorrow is the last day I'm certain there'll be a sale, since it seems like things should end on the 3rd. However, that may just be a Best Of, or there may be an additional day added at the end, which is what happened last year. So long as new things keep getting posted, I'll keep posted. As for what you should buy today, The Walking Dead is the clear winner, though you should probably also grab Just Cause 2 (from Amazon, of course), and maybe Legend of Grimrock.As for all those fighting games and odd early access titles, meh.