Review: Sword & Poker 2
by Staff Writer
May 12, 2010
Overview
Sword & Poker 2 is a sequel to a unique game that is a mash up of poker and rpg. In this game poker is turned into a battle against various monsters along your path. There are nine cards in the middle with sixteen total spaces, and you and your opponent have four cards. You place two cards per turn either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Your goal is to form a poker hand from a pair, two pairs, three of a kind, full house, straight, flush, etc. Every hand is worth a certain amount of damage to your enemy.
Features
The game features a story in line as a sequel to the original. In the first Sword & Poker you play as a warrior who needs to fight through a dungeon to defeat the "Lord of Chaos", and get back the stone of creation. Sword & Poker 2 begins with the warrior having returned home with the memories of the old battles fading away. The warrior senses a tremendously dark shadow covering the entire continent, and now you’re back at it with new battles to reach the Heavens Tower. There are three different dungeons to battle through before getting to Heavens Tower so there are a lot of various monsters and battles to deal with. The game's RPG elements deal with upgrading your weapon, bag of coins (health), and magical abilities to use in battle. The game also features a local two player mode to play on one device.
The Good
From the first battle you play, you will be hooked to the action like not many other games you've ever played. It's such a unique connect that is executed to perfection. Rather than just playing poker it has been molded into a head to head battle. Poker is relatively simple and mundane, but that is changed completely as there are already three cards on the table, and you can only insert two to make a hand. Not only do you have to make a hand, but you need to be conscious of what the enemy can play and how much harm you can handle. It's as fast as poker can be while still having the same strategy of making the best hand possible.
On the 5x5 grid you have eight different ways you can play your hand, and you need to look for the best possible with the four cards you have. Depending on what you play changes what the AI will play, and every turn to follow. Every battle plays differently with the nine random dealt cards plus the ones in your hand.
As you progress you will need to upgrade your health as well as your weapon to be able to survive the monsters. The biggest thing is that you will need to face a whole floor of monsters rather than just beating one head to head. Your weapon is very important as it increases the attack power of each of the respective hands.
The game has good cartoon artwork of the various monsters you will have to face. A great soundtrack is included that is an action based theme improving the entire experience. The multiplayer is good to play against real people instead of just the computer.
The game is packed with levels, and it has the rare ability to keep you going through all those levels. After the first floor you'll want to make it through every level in the game with it never getting stale because of the constantly adjusting strategy.
