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Poker Night 2 gambles with character.
| Game Info |
| PlatformWin, Mac, iOS, XBLA, PSN |
| PublisherTelltale Games |
| DeveloperTelltale Games |
| Release DateApr 24, 2013 |
Poker Night 2 is about personality.
Telltale's second shot at a comedy-driven poker game comes with a table full of characters from popular franchises, including Sam and Max, Portal, The Evil Dead, The Venture Brothers and Borderlands. But it takes more than a few pretty — or funny — faces to liven up core gameplay that's seen countless video game iterations.
Buy Poker Night 2
Poker Night 2 features dialogue and animation true to the flavor of its characters, and an expansive set of collectibles that carry over into other games. But its vibrant personalities fail to offer much shelf life beyond a comparatively bare game of poker.
Much like the first Poker Night, you're at a high-stakes underground poker game with a bunch of goofy frenemies, all of whom happen to be characters from various movies, cartoons and video games. Your goal is to take their money, treasures and tokens, which you can use to buy new chipsets, table themes and other collectibles.
The poker game underneath the funky decor is functional and fast-paced, but nothing special.
Telltale was wise to include the option to play the Omaha variant in Poker Night 2 — the first Poker Night had only Hold'em rules — but it's pretty simple video game poker.
In both variants, your goal is to make the best five-card hand using cards you're dealt and a set of community cards on the table. Each player makes bets on their hand — and what they imagine everyone else's hands to be — and the player with the best hand wins. A quick cheat sheet is included for players who are unfamiliar with the rules, but it certainly helps to know the basics of poker before jumping in.
Telltale encourages continued play through a system of collectibles and awards. You win tokens for besting everyone in tournaments, which you can use to purchase chipsets and table themes from the various franchises. You'll get extra tokens for completing 'bounty' objectives like winning a showdown with a better kicker, or stealing a hand on the flop. Typically, you'll have three bounty tasks assigned at a time, then, once you complete those, you'll have the opportunity to win a special item – the Necronomicon from Ash or Claptrap's 2012 Spike VGA award, for example.
Poker itself is a deep game reliant upon players' ability to 'read' others; to guess their hands and detect subterfuge and strategy. Poker Night 2's detailed and nuanced animation is integral to the metagame. You play your hand, but you need to watch each character for their 'tells' — twitchy eyes, nervous looks etc. — to guess at their cards and to detect whether or not they're bluffing. This gets more obvious if you buy them drinks using your tokens. A character who has had an adult beverage will show off his tells more often. The subtle cues afforded by the animation help alleviate the fact that video game poker is a simple but appreciated approximation of real-life poker's best feature — the psychology of playing with other people.
Poker Night 2 Download
Poker Night 2's main appeal is its cast
The table seats Sam from Telltale's own Sam and Max series (Max quips from the sidelines), Brock Samson from The Venture Brothers, Ash from The Evil Dead and Army of Darkness and Claptrap from Borderlands, who is amusing, but clearly the runt of the litter. GLaDOS (from Portal) is the laconic dealer and easily my favorite part of the game, snapping off thinly veiled insults at the table with abandon.
As you play, everyone interacts via random, scripted conversations. It's entertaining to watch the group make fun of one another with winking references to each others' franchises. They crack jokes about Sam's voice, Brock's haircut and Ash's adventures with the deadites. One particularly hilarious sequence involves Pandora and Avatar (the movie) jokes at Claptrap's expense. Its funny and effective — at least until these scenes begin to repeat.
This is Poker Night 2's biggest problem. I was ready to mute the game after the third time being forced to watch a particular Claptrap sequence. You can't skip segments you've already seen, and some don't allow you to keep the poker game going while they play out. If you plan to play for more than four or five hours, be prepared to listen to these beloved characters go on about the same subjects over and over again. Claptrap wears the most thin, as his chirpy 'attitude' grates the quickest. He's saved by his continual flirtation with GLaDOS — and the fact that everyone else at the table clearly finds him as annoying as she does.
Wrap Up:
Poker Night 2 isn't deep, but it offers an excuse to play with a bunch of beloved goofballs
The appeal of Poker Night 2 is obvious: you get to play poker with a well-realized crew of goofy characters. The drive to collect everything adds some replay value with basic, almost Pavlovian game design — you simply keep playing until you earn your prizes. I wasn't happy until I had all the Portal gear to outfit my table with. That drive is short-lived, thanks to repetitive dialogue and familiar gameplay that doesn't push video game poker anywhere especially new. But a card table with friends isn't a bad place to spend a little time.
About Polygon's Reviews
| Poker Night 2 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Telltale Games |
| Publisher(s) | Telltale Games |
| Composer(s) | Jared Emerson-Johnson |
| Engine | Telltale Tool |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,[1]iOS |
| Release | Xbox Live Arcade Steam (Windows & OS X)
iOS
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| Genre(s) | Card video game |
Poker Night 2 is a pokervideo game developed by Telltale Games.[1] It is the sequel to Poker Night at the Inventory and, like its predecessor, features crossover characters from different franchises. The game was released for Steam, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in April 2013, with an iOS version released the following month.[2][3][4] Due to expiring licenses, the game was pulled from sale in September 2018.[5]
- 2Development
Gameplay[edit]
Like the original game, Poker Night 2 is a computer-based poker simulation between an unseen participant (the player) and four characters. Each player starts with the same amount of virtual money, and competes in standard poker rules to try to eliminate all the other players by exhausting their money. In addition to Texas hold 'em style of play, Poker Night 2 includes Omaha hold 'em as well.
The four additional characters in addition to the player are Sam from the Sam & Max franchise (voiced by David Nowlin), who is assisted by Max (voiced by David Boat), Brock Samson from The Venture Bros. (voiced by Patrick Warburton), Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise (voiced by Danny Webber), and Claptrap from the Borderlands series (voiced by David Eddings). GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain) from the Portal series takes a supporting role as the dealer. During the hands, these characters provide humorous chatter between each other and towards the player. Reginald Van Winslow (voiced by Roger L. Jackson) from Tales of Monkey Island reprises his role as the host.[1][6][7] Additional brief cameos include Steve the Bandit and Mad Moxxi from Borderlands, Doug and a Save-Lot Bandit from The Walking Dead, and a waiter from Gravity Bone.
The game features unlockable in-game card, chip and table designs, as well as 'Bounty Unlocks' for completing certain goals, which unlock Borderlands 2 content and, depending on the platform played, Team Fortress 2 items on Steam, Xbox Avatar items, or PlayStation 3 themes.[6][8] Simultaneously using chips, cards, and tables sharing the same theme alters the design of the Inventory, opening up new conversation possibilities. Players can also buy the other characters drinks in order to more easily expose their tells.
Development[edit]
The first Poker Night game was developed by Telltale during a lull in their release schedule, and proved to be successful; Steve Allison, vice president of publishing at Telltale, believed it was the relationship between Telltale and the Valve that contributed to the success of the game, luring players with Team Fortress 2 items for performing well in the game.[9] As completion of The Walking Dead neared, Telltale found themselves in another lull, and returned to the Poker Night concept as a way to fill the gap.[9]
Character selection was more direct than the first game, with Telltale wanting to bring in characters from movies and television. Allison had a good relationship with MGM Studios who were eager to offer characters, and was able to secure the character of Ash from Evil Dead, which also was timed well against the release of the 2013 remake.[9] Similarly, Allison stated that Cartoon Network readily agreed to the inclusion of Brock from Venture Bros., one of the Telltale team's first selections.[9]Gearbox Software, the creators of Borderlands, appreciated the first game, and allowed the Claptrap character to be used.[9] The final spot at the table was to be left open for a character from a Telltale game, eventually resulting in Sam. They had considered using either Marty or Doc Brown from the Back to the Future game but realized that they would not be appropriate in a game with mature spoken content. Similarly, characters from The Walking Dead series would not be a thematic fit for the poker title, as it would make people emotional about the game.[9] To help make the play more personable, they needed to have a dealer for the table, and GLaDOS was considered an obvious fit.[9]
Marketing[edit]
Telltale started a website called The Key Party in 2013 in order to promote the game, with a new keychain related to the game characters revealed every working day from March 25 until April 1, when the game was officially revealed.[1]
Reception[edit]
Anthony Gallegos from IGN gave the game a 7.5 out of 10.[10]
References[edit]
- ^ abcd'Telltale Teasing The Key Party'. The International House of Mojo. 2013-03-27. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
- ^'Ash, Claptrap, Sam and Brock Samson Ante Up For Poker Night 2'. Kotaku. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- ^Usher, Anthony. 'Take Evil Dead protagonist Ash Williams to the cleaners in Telltale Games's Poker Night 2 for iOS'. www.pocketgamer.com.
- ^'Out Now: 'Combo Crew', 'Poker Night 2', 'Epic', 'Stickman Tennis', 'Zombie Fish Tank' and Much More'. Touch Arcade. 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
- ^'Why is Poker Night 2 no longer available?'. Telltale Games. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
- ^ abMiller, Greg (2013-04-01). 'Telltale Games' Poker Night 2 Announced'. IGN. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- ^'Poker Night 2 – YouTube'. YouTube.
- ^'Poker Night at the Inventory 2 Leaked Through TF2 Promo Items List'. Softpedia. 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
- ^ abcdefgMcElroy, Griffin (2013-05-07). 'How Evil Dead, Venture Bros. and Borderlands Ended Up at the Poker Table'. Polygon. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- ^Gallegos, Anthony (2013-04-30). 'Poker Night at the Inventory 2 Review – IGN'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2015-09-19.