Over the last couple of years Texas Hold ‘em has taken the world by storm. Following this explosion of all things poker related came several poker styled video games, although many of them were just a weak re-hash of the Texas Hold ‘em poker variant. Then Void Star Creations came along and brought us something original, something beautiful, and one of the more creative attempts at a poker game. Poker Smash is not poker as you would expect it though, it is a ‘rising’ block puzzle game with each block resembling a poker card between ten and ace. The object of the game is to clear the rising blocks by lining up certain poker hands. While all this sounds relatively easy, once you play the game you will quickly find out that Poker Smash is one of the more challenging puzzle games out there.

Rising blocks can be selected using the left analogue stick and the blocks flipped horizontally using the right analogue. This dual analogue control system takes a few minutes to get used to, but once you get your groove on, working the blocks this way feels rather empowering! Other control options you have are to slow the blocks from rising at full speed (essential when you are working blocks towards a big hand), speed them up, or drop a bomb (to clear a dud card / block).
The game play is super addictive, albeit super hard. Poker Smash requires you to process a lot of information on the spot. Poker hands start from three of a kind, but anything higher than a full house tends to occur by fluke (unless you are super human like Wugga). This is the one deterrent in a great game, if you are prepared to sit down and put ten hours into the game you will get along great, if not, you will struggle to implement some of the tougher techniques required to build a high score. The main technique you will need to master is creating chains. When you clear blocks, those above it drop down. If you are forward thinking enough you would have set it up so more blocks are cleared creating a chain reaction which boosts your score.
There are a few different game modes to choose from, a timed mode, puzzle mode, and an online mode which you can enjoy with up to five people. The online multiplayer is quite fun, with each player rotating the dealer button. When you are on the button you are able to send garbage lines over to your opposition if you manage to create chain reactions. You also win and loose chips for good hands as you play, but if you run out of chips it is game over. Another nice little feature of the game are mini challenges which pop up every so often. Manage to complete the challenge successfully and you are rewarded with a big bonus.
Poker Smash is great but challenging game that offers some original and addictive gameplay. The graphics and sounds are appealing enough, but I do feel the difficulty of the game works against it. To me puzzle games are a rather casual affair, simple to learn and easy to pick up and you play them when you are bored or filling in a little bit of time. Poker Smash is hard work and because of this it is a game that I struggled to maintain my interest in, even though I tend to enjoy all things poker related. I am sure many of you will love the style of play and challenges that Poker Smash offers, so I encourage you to pick this game up and give it a whirl. For 800 Microsoft points, why wouldn’t you?

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