Full House Poker (XBLA)

[Charlie]

Spent an hour or two playing multiplayer mode and, all in all, it's a pretty good take on the game.

The look and style of the game is in keeping with the plethora of poker tournaments that have become so common on late night TV and, surprisingly, it does add a certain something and makes for a more engaging game than the well established Texas Hold 'Em on XBL.

Unfortunately the developers haven't focused as much energy on providing the same levels of data as you get on TV poker shows. There are no on-screen percentages, no data to show how much each player has put into the pot and, depending on the camera, when players turn their hands over it's sometimes difficult to see what they are. The latter is difficult to exuse considering all they had to do was, again, copy the way hands are shown on TV tournaments. But hopefully they'll sort that out with a patch.

As seems the norm in every game nowadays, there's an extensive experience system in place. You gain experience from almost every action (being dealt a hand, folding a hand that would have lost, winning a hand, a winning streak, busting a player out, etc.) and as you level up you unlock new chip tricks, emotions, costumes to wear at the table, new cards, decor and so on. It's a bit gimmicky for my liking but does I suppose inject some variety to proceedings at the table.

The true selling point for keen poker fans are the game's live tournaments which, hopefully, should provide some proper games of poker and eradicate much of the silly 'all-in' nonsense that plague Texas Hold 'Em on XBL and free table internet poker.

So yeah. not a perfect representation of the game by any means, but definitely a good tool by which poker fans can better their game.

[rmoxon]

Tried the trial and enjoyed it enough though I dont know if I'll buy it yet.

My main gripe with it was that somtimes once the last card is revealed the round is over pretty quick and then it cuts to asking you what you want to do but it dosent seem to keep the other cards on the table up on the screen so it gets a bit confusing, not sure why it does that.

Besides that though its probabaly as good as youre likley to get from a game like this. Im just not sure how much thats worth really, I might get it if it goes on sale somtime.

[Kubrick]

rmoxon, are you talking about the screen prompt where you can choose which of your "Hole" card(s) to show? If you see that screen, then you've lost so it won't matter.

Regarding the camera, you can click the right stick to move between different fixed angles and then fine-tune them. One of them is a bird's eye view that lets you see everything clearly. I normally pick the middle angle and raise it a bit higher.

Agreed about the lack of winning potential percentages though. I was expecting those to be present.

[Flabio]

Apparently the DLC add-on which enables the first 'live season' game is region locked. So it looks like they won't be doing this in all countries.

[Charlie]

Being region locked, does that mean the live seasons will be a national event like 1 v 100, or will all the countries with access to the DLC be able to play together?

[Mayhem]

Hard to tell. The first "live" sessions post release now are evening/early night over the weekend, so I suspect that's Europe only. I was playing two live sessions last night at 3am, and it was all against Americans, I think I was the only Brit in there

So yes, I presume that pre release session was meant for Americans, but I happened to be online as well. I even did well enough to earn one of the three cheevos for the Spring season.

The "Texas Heat" live sessions can vary the rules and conditions. I believe regardless it's still all about earning as much XP as you can within the 30 minute play session, not necessarily about winning the most money. But doing well boosts you up to the better tables where the stakes are higher, and with it, the chance to earn XP more quickly.

What will become important is the earning of the "bankroll" chips, essentially what is needed to fund getting into some of the later and/or larger tournaments that might be run. Poker is a game where you generally only earn well if you play well, so you can't really grind your way through and earn these chips just by putting in the hours. Playing tournaments of course is the main way to earn these chips so... it's a self perpetuating cycle. If you want to buy back in, then it comes out of this payroll too.

For many other people, just having the ability to play poker online with friends or randoms will be enough. There are a wide number of choices per variable for setting it up, allowing people from noobs to experienced card sharks to get right in there and find their level. Want to stop all-in nonsense? Fine, you can set up a game with maximum bet levels (say x5 of the blind or ante amount).

After the live session early in the morning, I got invited to a private game where five or six of us just chilled out, chatted about stuff (one of the guys worked for Microsoft, "deep in the bowels of the office in Seattle" he said) and played some loose, relaxed, fun poker for $1/$2 blind amounts (starting money $250).

[Flabio]

If you're in Oz, the DLC pack for the 'Spring Season' won't download. That's all I really know about it.

[Mayhem]

It appears it might be for US, UK, Ireland, France and Germany only.

[rmoxon]

rmoxon, are you talking about the screen prompt where you can choose which of your "Hole" card(s) to show? If you see that screen, then you've lost so it won't matter.

Regarding the camera, you can click the right stick to move between different fixed angles and then fine-tune them. One of them is a bird's eye view that lets you see everything clearly. I normally pick the middle angle and raise it a bit higher.

Agreed about the lack of winning potential percentages though. I was expecting those to be present.

Ive lost? eh? whats the point in letting me pick somthing then?

What a horrible game.

Well I wont be buying it now then.

[Mayhem]

You get it as well if you win via everyone else folding. It's basically a teaser... to either bluff out people or misdirect at times.

[MartyG]

I've had the odd fun games, but the net-code for this seems broken to me - most of the time I can't connect to online games due to "network errors", when you do get in a game they seem to die horribly rather than with any grace. Black-Ops MP was absolutely fine, so it's not due to my setup I'm sure.

That kind of spoils the fun really - online poker game that doesn't work properly online

[Charlie]

Yeah, I'm having difficulty connecting to games. It's a a piss-take considering it's a Microsoft Studios game, made all the worse as it takes so long just searching for games (which you then usually can't bloody connect to).

Ive lost? eh? whats the point in letting me pick somthing then?

What a horrible game.

Well I wont be buying it now then.

As Mayhem pointed out, if you win because everyone has folded or if you lose on the river after the winner turns their cards over then you can choose to turn over either, both or none of your cards. It's a nifty lil feature and good it's included as professional players frequently show the odd card to the table trying to gain a psychological edge.

It's basically a tool that can help create the impression you're a particular type of player (be it tight or loose) in a bid to get the other players betting against you when they shouldn't.

[Super Grover]

Is there the possibility of setting up a NTSC-uk table on live with this? Consider me for a place at the table if that's so (tho' I hasten to add I'm a newb at all things poker).

[Mayhem]

I believe some of the connection "issues" are possible due to some sort of "automatic" session starter when a lobby has at least six players in it. Quite frequently, as soon as the sixth player enters, the countdown begins to start the match. I don't know if it's coincidence or deliberate on the lobby maker's part. But I imagine sometimes you can't connect to a match because it has since begun from the time its details were gathered to be put in the search list.

And yes, I'd be interested in a NTSC-UK table if enough people get the game

[MartyG]

I'm not sure that's the case - I've had the problem when there are plenty of empty slots in the games. Given there are only 20K odd people on the leaderboards, I don't think the online games are that heavily subscribed.