Poker Night 2

Well, I've been busier than a Parasprite in a Masterchef final: Admin stuff, university coursework, trimming my tails.

By Celestia's g-string, I've practically frazzled my bo-shazzle. Or...something coherent and in English. Now, do I blow of some steam by abusing my power here or do I just go play something? Hmm...Armies of slaves to storm and conquer Equestria Daily or go play that new Poker Night Game? Hmm...

Seth might be better with a dog comb than he looks and I'd finally get to have a showdown with that Xyro guy...

[size=-1]Pictured: Statistical Improbability[/size]​

Nah! Let's review stuff. Get some normality back for a bit.

[size=+1]Poker Night 2[/size]​

Good Great Gravity Gravy, is this game good.

Poker Night at the Inventory is something I could have sworn I've written about but apparently I haven't so here's the quick version: very funny and surprisingly entertaining in both it's gameplay and comedy. The characters talking to one another connects you to them and makes things all the sweeter when you kick their behinds with a flush from nowhere. Plus, you can win little things to then use in TF2, such as the Pacman Watch and one of The Heavy's miniguns. It's a really well made, well-polished and entertaining little jaunts into what game characters do in their down time.

Poker Night 2 is an upgrade in almost every single aspect of the orignal game. The graphics look even better and slicker, the writing is funnier while also expanding on the idea of characters interacting with each other outside of their respective universes and the gameplay has been subjectected to a tune-up then given a few well thought out additions. Over all, it's an excellent package.

Oh! And the rewards are better two. You still get TF2 doodads but now you get stuff for Boarderlands 2 as well. Although, what I'm going to do with my character skin, gold and XP boost I'm not sure without the game.

So, the first thing that has to be addressed is the cast. In the first game, it's what sold it as one of my favourite games because Strong Bad, Max, Tycho and The Heavy were just great to listen to.

So, I saw the cast for his game and...Well, I wasn't overly impressed with all of them. One got me stupendously excited but the others just had me scratching my head in confusion.

I mean, Sam from the Sam and Max series? After Max was in the last one? All right. Claptrap? I'm not sure. I need to play Boarderlands but I've heard that Claptrap doesn't have much of a presence outside of being a glorified PA. Hmm...And I've no idea how the other two got in here. Ash Williams of Army of Darkness and the Evil Dead films? I know he was awesome in them but I've never heard of the game made from them. Bruce Campbell or not, him and his chin aren't what I'd have thought of when I think of for 'Gaming Icons playing Poker'. Telltale must be raiding their player model bins again, like they did with Strong Bad and Max. There it was understandable because the game was an experiment. Why here though? Poker Night at the Inventory as a success right? And who the hell is Brock Samson? What's Venture Bros.? I don't watch Cartoon Network anymore, much less Adult Swim! Oh boy...This could suck...

GlaDos is the dealer? OK, I'm willing to give this a go.

Well, all that whining was for nothing because the characters are fantastic. They work off each other fantastically well and get their personalities across in a clear manner while even showcasing each character's appeal very well.

GlaDos, of course, is forever undermining your self-esteem with backhanded jokes at someone elses expense while dealing cards. She'll comment on the character's and your play styles while chipping into the banter whenever she feels like it by dropping from the ceiling from out of shot. Her transferal into this game is seamless and impeccably done with some scene stealing lines.

Claptrap is probably the loudest and one of the more prevalent characters. He will make most of the jokes, mainly along the same lines of Strong Bad's egotism from the first game or around being a robot. He'll even hit on GlaDos, who puts him down quickly like a lit bomb. What's also rather fun about him is how self-aware some of his jokes can get. I think the level of how much they try to do with him is worth keeping quiet about but it's some of the most laugh out loud moments I've enjoyed for a while. Considering I reckon that Boarderlands 2's working title was "Referenceland 2: Revenge of the In-Jokes", it makes a lot of sense for Claptrap to be the centre of most of the referential and even fourth-wall humour on offer.

Then there's Brock, who's voice you'll recognise from somewhere. Those deep tones always sound fantastic. While acting more as a straight man to the others, Brock is surprisingly likable and suave character in this. Don't get me wrong, the psychotic maniac bubbling beneath and the hyper-masculinity shine through as well but he's so cool, he's hard not to like. He might not have the lines, but he makes me want to check out his cartoon.

Now, Sam is definitely the other character that's actively telling jokes. His conversations with Claptrap about being in a Boarderlands 2 expansion pack are entertaining as well as his alternative swear words. I'm thinking of shouting "Asterisks!" more often, just to see the faces around me. What makes his lines even better is that Max is present too. Sitting in the background and just as capable of chipping in, the pair function as a double act. This works greatly in their favour as they can now have, say, Sam set up a joke and Max pay it off as he skips around in the background, clearly bored.

And finally, the least interesting character; Ash. It's not to say that I don't like him though. He's friendly enough, has a few neat lines and even takes part in a few good jokes but he's very overshadowed in this compared to the other four, especially Claptrap. Although, a foghorn could be overshadowed by the robot. He's welcome but not hugely memorable sitting amongst AI, Dogs and Brock, somehow. Still, I was praying for one of the VG cats and I never thought I'd ever see him in a game like this. Makes me wonder if they want Martie McFly in the next one.

In fact, the humour here is one of the biggest upgrades. You see, it was entertaining to listen to the last game because they were playing with the concept of worlds meeting. There were in-jokes but characters would make fun of each other too. Poker Night 2 kicks everything up to 11. The characters still make jokes about their worlds and comment on each other but they're written with so much less restriction here. They're slicker, funnier and allow the character's to compliment and put each other down brutally well.

While the characters are all well and good, there's another place where this game is better: the gameplay. So, what can I say? Well, it's Texas Hold 'em. It's reasonably quick to pick up and learn, I've found it surprisingly fun and the dialogue has only enhanced the experience. Extra features is where the game get's interesting.

For starters, they've added a small shed-load of new booty to claim from the four of them. Each character has a bounty that can be won by winning a tournament when one is revealed. You can unlock the chance for a bounty to appear by completing three, randomly chosen objectives while you play tournaments. They're rather simple things like go all in, or steal two pots and won't push you too hard in terms of their difficulty to pull off. Once complete, you'll be told that a bounty will be put on the table. If you loose in the tournament, the item is taken back but your given another chance for another bounty in the next tournament until you have one a bounty. Then you get three more objectives and start again. For a way of adding some purpose to your games, this really does add to the desire to win and continue to play for more unlocks. Afterall, you get those sweet extras for other games with every bounty.

Then, there's the added strategy here. The last game was not big on poker faces. Character's could get very transparent about their hands and give away how badly or well they were doing in a moment of weakness sometimes. Although, their actions still reflected that too. In Poker Night 2, these little outbursts aren't as prevalent which makes the game that much more difficult to play well. You can read their actions and small movements but they won't telegraph quite as much.

But you can make them do so by buying them drinks. Playing respectively in tournaments gives you Inventory Tokens that you can use to pay for drinks. These drinks then let down a little of the player's poker face so that they'll be a little more honest about their cards. Now, each costs 5 tokens and you can only buy one for each of your other players. This is rather interesting if you can't afford to buy a whole round. You'll then have to choose who's the biggest threat to you.

And that's not all! The last game rewarded wins with extra decks and various alternative tables. Some would alter something about the appearance of the game as well, like giving The Heavy a dealers hat or something. Poker Night 2 is the same but your tokens buy these alterations. Each one costs a certain amount and when you buy a set of chips, table felt and cards, the whole Inventory's appearence is altered to match the theme. Each set is based on what each character hales from, so there's Portal, Boarderlands and the like. When each set is complete and activated, it will even alter certain events. I activated the Boarderlands set and Steve popped up and fired a rocket-launcher at Brock. I activated the Venture Bros. one and his head ended up sticking out of the wall. They're well worth picking up to spice up the game when it's getting stale.

What I found rather neat is that the Drink system means that your tokens continues to have a use when you've brought everything. Clever design, that.

So...I think I've gushed for long enough. What will ultimately tarnish this is hearing the lines over and over with extended play. While the game seems to inject new lines every so often to keep itself sounding fresh sometimes, the game will soon get a little tiresome. For me, this didn't really happen, I just tuned out most of what they were saying. Most of the lines are good enough not to get too grating, for me anyway, someone else could start to feel the deja-vu getting to them.

For a game this entertaining for something so small, I am very pleased that my...what? £4 went towards this. It's creative, bright, colourful and tons of fun. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think Sam is bluffing.