Poker Smash

9.0
Excellent

Gameplay	9.0	"Match three with a twist - this time it's poker!"
Graphics	9.0
Sound	9.0
Value	8.0

By Alan Bell

Match-three games have been around for a while. Bejewelled, the all time classic that arguably built the multimillion dollar company that is Popcap (the people that brought you Peggle), created a genre which, since Bejewelled's success, has been flooded with wannabe clones that do essentially the same kind of gameplay. There have been a few notable improvements to the mould (Xbox 360's very own Hexic HD takes the basic gameplay in a fun new direction, whilst the extremely good Puzzle Quest presents the same basic game but with an external RPG structure) but for the most part, Bejewelled is where it's at.

Poker Smash takes this basic gameplay (move stuff around to match recognized combinations, eliminating all components of that combination from the game board), combines it with Poker and comes up with something which is not only unique, it's quite possibly the very best match-em-up game ever released.

Let's take a look at how this is done.

First up, in addition to simply matching three cards (a three of a kind - so three Jacks, three Tens, etc), you can match any poker hand (except for a pair or high card), with additional points awarded depending on the complexity of the match. Getting a full house (a three of a kind and a pair, all together), for example, nets you a handy number of points over and above what you might expect for a three of a kind, whilst netting a royal flush (five cards in a row from the Ace through the King, Queen, Jack and Ten, all of the same suit) gives you a massive number of points.

In addition to the basic matching up points, you get extra points for creating a chain (cards that fall thanks to your previous match then land in places that cause a further match, etc) or for doing multiple matchups at once (swapping two cards over that creates two sets of three at once, for example).

The gamefield is probably best described as upside down Tetris; new cards are continuously entering the field from the bottom, moving cards that sit on top of them up as they go. These cards enter the play field at a linear rate, gradually at first but faster and faster as you progress through the game. If any of your five columns of cards should reach the top of the play field, it's game over.

The controls for Poker Smash are remarkably simple yet clearly well thought out. You have a "cursor" which you move around the screen with your left stick, your right stick moves the card currently highlighted by your cursor either left or right when you press the stick in that direction (no moving up or down) and pressing A places a bomb on the selected card. Using your bombs is an important part of the strategy - when and where to use them is something you will learn with experience.

Given the relative complexity of Poker hands, compared with just matching three coloured crystals, the game can be a bit overwhelming the first couple of times that you play. You don't need to be a poker expert to play, as you can simply match three the whole time and still do ok, at least to start with, but knowing the basics of poker will definitely help you get up into the upper echelons of the leaderboards in a faster time.

The game does move pretty quickly and, as a result, your initial games will be very short indeed and it is only after some time that a game will last more than a few minutes. Even then, don't expect to sit down and have a game session which is similar in length to what you might expect from Tetris, Bejewelled or Hexic. It has very much of an arcade feel to it (quick games - like it's designed to gobble twenty cent pieces), a game design which seems to fit the premise quite well, but might not be to everyone's taste.

The presentation is outstanding. Everything from the menus right through to the game itself just oozes polish and sensible design. You'd never believe that this was created by a tiny team (just two programmers and one artist form the core of Void Star Creations), let alone that this was their first project. Major kudos to them because this is one of the best presented XBLA titles yet seen, with hundreds of little effects (such as zooming in slightly on major combos, fireworks effects that increase in intensity depending on the impressiveness of the match that's just been made), combining with the gorgeous visuals and aural soundscape (it's kinda like playing Guitar Hero in some ways) to create a package which impresses your every sense.

Should you buy it? Absolutely. There's probably about four people on the planet that won't enjoy this game and 80% of the rest of us that do enjoy it will be very impressed by both what it brings to the genre and how it goes about presenting that gameplay to the player. Void Star Creations are clearly a company to watch - I'll buy whatever they release next without even trying it, as I'm that sure it will be something special.

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