World Championship Poker

Written by Matt Swider  on January 06, 2005

Review: Donald Trump: A classy, classy poker and casino game. It's gonna be hhuuuge.

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Poker has gained immense popularity, but if your personal pot has dwindled in the process, Crave has a quick fix for you in the form of a Game Boy Advance game. World Championship Poker represents the perfect cure for the gambler that's out of money and assets to ante up for real, but still too addicted to completely give up on the game. And it's also a safe and fun alternative for those without a gambling problem since you can participate in poker and casino games on the go.

One of the things that World Championship Poker has going for it is that it packs four forms of poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hold'em, Seven-Card Stud and Five-Card Draw, plus three classic casino games, Blackjack, video poker and slots to boot. Such a collection from a budget title took me by surprise, as I half-expected the more popular Texas Hold'em to be the extent of the game.

Besides a standard quickplay mode for the seven poker and casino games, a career mode takes you from the Wild Corral to the Renaissance casino. Like in quickplay, the opponents are blatant stereotypes. You've got the old woman with a headscarf biting down on her nails, the retired cowboy betting it all and the one Indian that doesn't own a casino. When you've busted against this hardcore group of gamblers, a loan shark can save you from gambling withdrawal. However, winning the tournaments is fairly easy and may be a drawback for more experienced players.

An extra bonus for novice players is that they don't have to be dealt in without proper poker knowledge. The game includes easy-to-understand tutorials for all seven of its games, even for the slots and what can only be referred to as virtual virtual poker.

Another quality aspect is the ability to link-up with three of your poker buddies and never need to find, distribute and clean up any chips. The one and only drawback to this feature is that each member must have the game, which I fully expected from this budget game. Passwords were another predictable part, as Crave didn't spring for a battery-save. At least there's a clever system by using six cards of a 52-card deck (no jokers) for each password.