Stacked with Daniel Negreanu
Score: 80% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Myelin Media Developer: 5000ft, Inc. Media: CD/1 Players: 1, 2 - 9 Online Genre: Card Games
Graphics & Sound: The game of poker is a patient man's game. You may have heard a little ditty by Kenny Rogers, explaining how the game goes. He could have never been more right when it came to the game of Texas Hold'em. STACKED with Daniel Negreanu is another game cashing in on the Texas Hold'em craze. You will spend a vast amount of time sitting and waiting for cards you can use to come up, and such is the true game of poker. The animation of the players is not going to make you feel like you're sitting in the casino, except maybe, for the showgirl-esque player characters available. There are plenty of other character customization choices to keep you happy, and I guess if you have to stare at a player for hours, it may as well be shapely. There is a post hand camera swing that happens after each hand that is more likely to give you motion sickness than add to the excietment of the game. There seems to be no more than four or five different camera runs, so they get old fast. There is no soundtrack to speak of, only the canned casino sounds that play at random intervals. The voiceovers are character specific and mildly entertaining, but again there is nothing here to keep you into the game.
Gameplay: You can play STACKED with Daniel Negreanu on Xbox LIVE or single-player mode. The LIVE play has many sponsored and ranked tournaments, so you can compete against the world. You can, of course, set up your own table and set the limits for whatever you want. The single-player mode allows you to play all of the different tournament table styles for tournaments. This involves changing the betting limits and blinds. You will forgive me if I breeze over the larger aspects of poker seeing as how there is an encyclopedia's worth of information and terminology regarding poker. The game contains a poker school that is live action hosted by Daniel Negreanu and is very in-depth and put together very well. Their is a huge problem with the single player mode, however, in that you cannot save at anytime. If you walk away from a table, you start over.
Difficulty: STACKED with Daniel Negreanu is poker. And, poker is only as hard as the cards you hold in your hand. I highly recommend that if you are new to the game of Texas Hold'em, you take the time to watch all of the tutorials. They will keep you in the game longer and offer insight to even the more experienced players.
Game Mechanics: I really wanted to give STACKED with Daniel Negreanu a lower overall score. The graphics and sound are average at best. There is also the unforgivable inability to save. So, why such a high score? Simple - STACKED is about poker. Poker is about playing a patient game, knowing when to bet and when not to. It is also about playing the players. The Poki-bot A.I. system used in the game is as close to playing a real poker game as I have ever seen in a game, and believe me I have played my fair share. Usually games use loose play and skewed odds to make the game fun. Poker isn't about fun only, it's about playing the odds, watching your opponents' betting habits and facial expressions. Though, yes the body language could have been better, the A.I. is competitive and intelligent. All of the cards are on the table, and STACKED comes up aces in my book. I would like to see this go another revolution allowing more time for sound animation. It would only make the game that much better and more immersive. After all, that immersion is what playing at a table is all about. Editor's Note: It has come to our attention that you actually can save during the Tournament modes on single player. As things would have it, and I fully understand that they do, there is a minor glitch in the game that pulls up the "All Progress will be lost" screen accidentally when you leave a tournament. Simply ignore this screen and then save your character in the menu. It's that easy. You still will not be able to save during "Quick Play," but that is how it should be. This minor glitch should not and does not take away from the great Poker play of STACKED: With Daniel Negreanu. Enjoy and good luck.
-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd
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