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Remember that old Reese's commercial where two guys bump into each other, which mixes up their chocolate and peanut butter? That's the first thing that comes to mind after firing up Void Star Creations' new poker-based puzzle game, Poker Smash. One part Tetris. One part Five-Card Stud. The thing is, much like the classic peanut butter cup, these are two great tastes that seem to taste great together.
In Poker Smash, players race to clear rows and columns of blocks before they fill to the top of the screen. It's a formula that's been done to death in the puzzle genre. The hook here is that players aren't matching up like colors or shapes. Instead, players maneuver playing cards around—Ten through Ace and all four suits—trying to make various poker hands. Make a hand that ranks three of a kind or better, either vertically or horizontally, and the cards disappear with a "poof," leaving the cards above to drop down and fill in the gaps. At certain intervals, the game adds a bonus challenge by displaying a specific hand for the player to try and match within ten seconds. There's no penalty for missing the hand, but matching it scores the player a handful of extra points (and chips).
There are a couple of extra abilities to help players out in their poker-smashing ways. For starters, players get a limited number of bombs that can be used to blow up pesky cards that are otherwise getting in the way. The bombs recharge as the player forms hands and clears spaces. The other ability at players' disposal is a bit of a time manipulation. Through the use of the left and right triggers, players can speed up or slow down the rate that new rows are added. Like the bombs, this ability recharges over time. Both of these abilities work well to help players out while not breaking the balance of the game.
Poker with a twist...
Poker Smash has five different game modes available right off the bat: Arcade, Timed, Puzzle, Practice and Custom Playlist. Arcade Mode is the standard game, while Timed Mode pits players against a three-minute clock to score as many points as possible. Puzzle Mode serves up a playfield of cards and challenges the player to find the right combinations to clear the screen. Practice Mode is, as the name suggests, a place for players to hone their skills, giving the player full control over the speed at which new cards are added. And, finally, the Custom Mode enables players to pick their favorite themes and put them in whatever order they want. Players can save up their in-game winnings and visit the store to purchase more themes.
Of course, you can't really have a good card game without a table full of suckers…er, opponents. Poker Smash has a multiplayer option for two players via split-screen play on the same system or up to five players over Xbox Live. The two-player, head-to-head action is pretty self explanatory. The bigger two- to five-player tourneys, though, have a suitable difference. Each player starts the game with a set number of chips. The chips flow from player to player, based on the hands completed, combos chained together and other such scoring. When a player runs out of chips, he's eliminated from the tournament. If one player's cards reach the top of the screen before he runs out of chips, he's eliminated from play and his chips get divided among the remaining players. In the end, it's a winner-take-all scenario, with the last player standing taking home all the chips in play.
So far, Poker Smash looks pretty sharp. The graphics are crisp and vibrant. There's always a lot happening on the screen at any given time. Actually, if there was one major fault to the game, it's that there's almost too much happening at once. Sometimes, between all the fireworks, effects, the cards, the chips and everything else, it's hard to follow things, such as which hands make up the challenges and also exactly which cards and suits are floating on the playfield. It takes a fast mind, as well as fast reflexes, to track it all.
As it stands, Void Star Creations' upcoming puzzler is looking pretty good. Poker fans and casual gamers will find something to sink their teeth into here. Poker Smash is shaping up to be an addictive time killer. Barring any unusual changes between now and the game's final release on XBLA, it looks like Poker Smash will deal a strong hand to gamers and be a safe bet to add to their Xbox 360 libraries.
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