Although Coresoft has made a lot of improvements to the version of World Poker Tour, sadly it is not perfect. The AI has been improved to a more bearable level and there is a lot of content within the game to get stuck into rather than simply play poker. However, all is not perfect - especially as the tempo increases. More times than not, it is not your lucky day, and you're left with a palpable sense of injustice. This causes immense frustration, even making it difficult to simply advance from the first competition; if you play poker for real, it will take a long time to adjust to the workings of the game. It is very different and seems near impossible at times - but patience is the key to success.

However, apart from these one or two problems, linked to the necessity of a trial and error approach, WPT is an excellent game for the PSP. You will find that different to other poker titles on the PSP and other existing platforms, WPT has a much more solid structure to make the game and experience as realistic as possible. The people you play against actually know what the cards they have in their hand are and respond to them accordingly. They will not make ridiculous bets such as going all in on an extremely low hand or fold when they have a high hand; to put it simply they play very closely to how you or I would.

To go along with this new direction towards realism, the players will not simply sit there stone faced or repeat a single animation frame. Whilst the game takes place, they will comment on how it is going or on their hand, they will also sometimes talk to one another. On top of that, usually when you get down to a one on one show down, they will talk to you, taunting you or trying to steer you towards the decision of either calling or folding. It is a very convincing aspect of the game and because the gameplay itself has become more believable, it will actually make you stop and think twice on what you want to do - rather than you just ignoring it as stupid looped speech.

In order to place you more into the game, WTP also has a "create a character" option. Although it does not allow a great deal of depth - with only ten or so different sets for each aspect - you can clothe your character and give him accessories from a varied wardrobe. This adds more purpose to the game, as when you perform certain tasks within games you will be awarded with coins. These coins of course can then be used to buy more clothes and accessories giving you a taste of what it might be like to be a real World Poker Tour player.

Thankfully, WPT has excellent options. Along with friends you can of course play via a wireless link. You can create and set up your own matches, choosing which rules you wish to include and so on. Amazingly you can also play but not in simple terms. You can connect to players around the world who are playing the counterpart version of the game on the PS2. This is excellent and offers up a lot of online players to pit your skills against. Navigating through the menus and joining games is very easy although you may need some patience with connection issues. Aside from a few net glitches it is a very enjoyable experience and better than playing against the AI characters within the game.

World Poker Tour on the PSP is a superb title and one that no poker fan should miss. It offers an excellent experience both on and offline and apart from the problems of adjusting to the game and the pace that some of the characters are set, too, there will be few who will not find some pleasure here. It is the best poker experience available on any platform and should not be missed as a result...

90%

By Tobias Rowe

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