Multimedia Celebrity Poker
POKER HOLLYWOOD STYLE
A Review of Multimedia Celebrity Poker
by Susan Davis
Poker, like many other card games, isn’t really about cards. It’s a
social game, designed for people to interact in an enjoyable
environment, with a chance for some friendly competition to spice it
up. Multimedia Celebrity Poker, unlike so many of the “computerized”
card games that I’ve played before, manages to bring the human element
back into the game. However, it has its limitations.
Multimedia Celebrity Poker (MCP) features three celebrity players who
are all attempting to give you a real run for your money in a variety
of poker games. You face off against Jonathan Frakes (the
poker-playing Number One from Star Trek: The Next Generation), Joe
Piscopo (of Saturday Night Live fame), and well-known actress Morgan
Fairchild.
All three are good poker players, and each has their own
style and approach to the game. MCP features 8 different brands of
poker, from standard Five Card Draw, with or without Deuces Wild, all
the way to Lo-Ball Seven Card Stud, which Morgan Fairchild is more
than competent at, by the way. Once you earn the minimum stake
required to enter a tournament, you also have the chance to play for
tournament stakes, which is standard poker with elimination play. You
play until you, or someone else, is the last one left with everyone
else’s money. Talk about cutthroat poker. Everyone gets a little more
conservative at that point in the round.
Joe is the funny man, with constant wisecracks and exceptionally well
animated features. In fact, the animation is incredibly good in MCP.
All three characters are very realistic in their expressions and
movements. Their dialogue is in character with their personalities,
and you really feel like you are in the room with the three stars.
The
only problem is that after a while, you’ll start hearing the same
comments over and over. There is only so much dialogue you can put
onto a CD-ROM, and sometimes it is tiring to hear the same “Your Bet,
Jonathan” over and over from Morgan. Joe manages the most unique
dialogue, and Jonathan’s movements are the most interesting to watch.
When you catch him actually making rude faces at you when you aren’t
(or might not be) looking, it cracks you up. My husband had to keep
coming in to find out what I was laughing so loudly about.
The sound quality, like the animation, is excellent. Multimedia is an
appropriate label, for once. The specifications recommend running MCP
in 640×480 resolution, and the performance does degrade some at higher
resolutions. However, the processor speed and RAM will make all the
difference to this game. With 16 MB of RAM and a 486DX4-100, it runs
pretty well. I’m not sure I’d want to wait for some of the functions
to run their course on a much slower machine. Pay close attention to
those specs. If your computer is close to the lower end of the
spectrum, I’d make sure you REALLY want this game before buying it. Of
course, if you inherit it, that’s another matter altogether!
One feature I’m particularly happy about is the level of poker
expertise of the other players. While a beginning poker player might
be frustrated at first, these opponents will really give you a
workout.
The only thing I continually find frustrating is the relative
lack of bluffing. Most of the time, the other players play the odds
pretty well. In fact, I’m rather sick of hearing Jonathan Frakes
saying “Beaten by statistical probability again,” as he folds.
However, despite the frustrations I have with Multimedia Celebrity
Poker, it is certainly a far sight better than the other poker games
I’ve played. Some of the more traditional “card game” programs might
have better poker simulators, but for my money, the game that brings
the human element back into the computer game deserves my vote of
respect. Now, if I could only fill that inside straight!
Gamer’s Zone Scorecard
| Product: | Multimedia Celebrity Poker |
| Company: | New World Computing, Inc. |
$59.95
System Requirements:
486 or Pentium PC running Windows 95 or Windows 3.1x,
4 MB of RAM; Video display capable of at least 640×480
resolution with 256 colors; Double Speed CD-ROM or faster;
Soundblaster or compatible, or other major brand multimedia sound
card. Recommended: Local Bus Video and 8 MB of RAM.
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 3
Graphics 4
Sound 4
Interface 5
Replayability 4
Overall Score:
(* 0 rating, 0 votes)
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