Been seeing an awful lot of poker games coming out on the PSP lately. Not that this is a bad thing, poker is as hot as it has ever been, and the fact that there have been several amateurs winning big on the poker scene only ensures that there will be countless players attempting to make it big. Chris Moneymaker won the big one a few years ago and has been riding that one single win to fame and fortune. In fact, every time you turn on a poker show, chances are there is at least one or two amateurs in the hunt all the way to the end. With such a mass of players joining the ranks, it makes it difficult for the Pros to continually place in the money-making tables. One such pro who seems to be immune to this trend is Daniel Negranu, a former Canadian who now lives in Las Vegas and makes his living (well) by playing poker. His total cash earnings are over $8 million and he is widely respected for his incredible poker skills and intuition. So the folks at 5000 ft studios decided they would toss their hat in the ring and see if they could make something happen with Mr. Negranu adding his poker wisdom for weight.

Like most poker games, you can play the game in a career mode or rifle off a quick game. Quick gaming merely means you hop into a game that has no real consequences, merely play and once it's over, it's over - the arcade poker game. But playing the career mode is where things get a bit more long winded. First off, you can create a player using clothing, skin color, hair type, you know the basic points.  And where this is a common staple in poker titles, Stacked seems to drop the ball a bit. I found the selections to be too few and without any real flair. There is only a couple of skin tones and the clothing tries to hit three or four demographics. Normally in a title like this, I try and make a doppelganger of myself and then show it to my wife. If I can really dial it in, then I know I've got a winner, here I looked like Don Johnson circa 1984.

"If you meet this man at a table in real life, run."

From there you can start off at the first casino and begin playing in the public games, playing in the public games is the easiest way to increase your bankroll even though it is usually a small amount at a time. But more importantly you can access the V.I.P. rooms when you win at a public games. This is the only way to make it to the real competition of the game and unlock the seven pro players that are scattered throughout the game. Plus, V.I.P. games are where the bigger money wins are found. I will tell you that there are three casinos to open and seven pros to find. There is another selection of game, the championship games where the buy ins are really large but the money you can win if you finish in paid positions is huge. These games are accessible when you win enough money to pay for the huge buy in.

Now there are a couple of sizeable gripes that I have about this game and you should be aware of them if you want to purchase this tile. For one thing, the game is kind of wishy washy.  Meaning, while the game does a great job of showing you people in the background playing at other tables, escalator steps moving upward and ceiling fans spinning the visuals on the table are completely lacking. For example, no matter how much money you have in chips, it is never represented visually more then a couple, meaning even if you have $2,000 in chips, all you will see in front of you is a handful. Some may argue that it is possible to have two grand in chips and only have a couple but when you are playing a $20/$40 no limit game and you call $40 bucks then you would need to have a sizeable stack when you got your change.

"See, she has $2000 in chips, where are they?"

Next, the game dropped the ball when it failed to allow players to know how much money their opponents have at any given time. I know for a fact, when playing a game of poker, players are constantly looking at others' stacks.  Sizing up your opponents money is all a part of poker and knowing how much they have at any given time is crucial. In Stacked, it is impossible to know how much the A.I. players have (or real players for that matter) without watching the streaming menu that's on the upper left. You see that picture above? The only time you will know how much money Diggler has, is when it's her turn to make a play (call, raise, fold). When it moves on to the next player, her little menu closes and the next one opens up. So unless you have photographic memory, or are writing down how much each player has, then you are crippled in your play. Why? Because any poker player will tell you, they change their style of play depending on how much or how little an opponent has. If you are shortstacked (low on chips) others may play you differently because they know you are only going to play the hands you start off in good position with. The same could be said if you had a huge pile of chips, others may approach how they are going to take those away from you.

The graphics in the game, while missing crucial elements (above) are fairly decent when it come to the casino itself. They all look like casinos and while it sure is nice to see that the ceiling fans work, it still is just a casino, loud carpets, bright chandeliers and a certain faux fancy look about them. The lack of options to create a character are reflected in the A.I. players, and on more then one occasion I would sit down at a table only to find my twin sitting there, only in a different colored jacket. The cards themselves when they are dealt are only visible for a couple of seconds, if you need to check your hand, you must access a menu at the bottom of the screen and then select the view card icon. When the cards do come up, they are in a small window at the bottom of the screen and due to the size and not-so-clean lines, it can be difficult to tell whether you are holding a club or a spade.

The voice work and sound effects in the game are a bit better. That menu you can access when you want to do something other than call, bet or fold gives you the option to ask Daniel Negranu himself some advice. Sure enough, Daniel chimes in with a couple word comment for the most part. Sometimes he will say a bit more, but don't expect any sort of reasoning for why he's saying what he is saying. Ask him for advice when the bet is $400 to you and you have off suited connecters and he may tell you to bet the farm. Not what I would normally do but hey, he's the pro, but still sometimes his advice is a little ... off.

If there is a silver lining to this game it is the A.I.; the folks at Myelin Media used this type of A.I. called POKI which has been in development up in Canada for years. It more then does a good job of figuring out your routine play, so it helps to mix things up on a regular basis. You may be able to go all-in several times in a row in order to steal the blinds, but it will catch on and one of the computer players will end up calling you and make you pay.

Gameplay: 6.2
The slow play of the game, the menu system you use in order to make things happen and the rocket fast slider bar that can make you bet more chips then you want. It feels unfinished; it feels ineffective. 

Graphics: 6.8
While the floor and table look great, you have to remember, who cares? There are no chips anywhere to be seen on the table, which can cripple your play and the hole-card window is too small. Clubs and spades look too much alike.

Sound: 7.4
Daniel Negranu provides some voice work and does a decent job of it even if sometimes his calls make no sense. The background noise sounds like a casino. The canned responses from the A.I. players are long in the tooth after a while.

Difficulty Medium/Hard
Poki is the real deal, but you need to remember, this game goes at the same slow pace as a real-life poker game. I wish there was an option to skip hands that only A.I. players are in.

Concept: 6.5
Poker games are coming out regularly. There is nothing in this title that is cutting edge or innovative. The POKI A.I. engine is pretty good, but lots of poker games have good A.I.

Multiplayer: 7.0
This is the best reason for purchase, the game allows for nine people to play ad-hoc and there is a fairly easy online multiplayer mode. It's the part of the game that will keep people coming back.

Overall: 6.8
There are better poker games out there, and there are worse. I just wished the developers could have ironed out the rough edges a bit more before releasing it, as it is, I am left unfulfilled.