There was a time when you just couldn’t get enough F1 games. Every game had the latest license, the big red Ferrari and the German cheat who drove it, every game had the official licensed courses, including Monaco in all its glory, and every game had Murray-bloody-Walker. So without further ado, let’s go-go-go!

The next money-spinning series seems to revolve around poker. Perhaps it was the late night live shows, with the babes in bikinis, or the magazine articles about poker cruises around the world, or perhaps it was some bright sparks idea to make several games, on every single platform known to man to try and make a few bucks. No prizes for guessing what I’m thinking here.

The graphics are awful, ok. I can’t sit here typing without telling you this at the earliest opportunity. They suck. Drab, terrible, awful, miserable. The box says “fully realistic detail” – I’m guessing this is what it’s like when you go blind, or there about, because we’re meant to be looking at painstakingly recreated real life casinos. Nope, we’re looking at a green table with cards on it, with occasional glimpses at the terribly animated players. Speaking of players, there’s apparently real-life pro’s lurking around the game tables waiting for a game. That’s hard to believe, since you’ll barely ever bump into them, and seeing as the graphics look like a cows arse, you’ll have a hard time recognising them, too.

That aside, you’re getting a decent poker machine for your buck, if playing online that is. In your own home, against the computer, it’s a right laugh as the computer seems to check, then check again, check a third time for luck, then maybe check again and again and again. So much so, you’ll walk off with their life savings time and time again. There are differences between opponents for sure, some are more aggressive whilst others are more laid back, but time and time again they’ll throw the game away despite having an arse-kicking hand to wipe the floor with you.

There’s a good selection of games to play, from Texas hold ‘em and seven-card stud to more obscure rendition such as billabong and pineapple. Things could have been made more compelling, internet wise, had we got some sort of over-21’s with a gambling limit room where you could bet for cold, hard cash. Or even synchronise with the Eye toy for a bout of strip poker.

Playing poker isn’t simple, however. As every other poker game has ignored, World Poker Tour has an emotion system. Pressing the D-Pad in whatever direction you desire has your player show emotion to try and throw the opposition; it could be handy in games against the AI to sucker punch them, but when you have no idea how it’s affecting the game, it’s quite hard to continue along that path. And it isn’t just simple games against the computer; the career mode really is fantastic, as you play at bigger and higher reputation venues with more cash in the pot, it really feels like you’re progressing.

If anything, buy this game for harmless online poker fun, without fear of getting into huge debts and running into the mafia. The graphics are piss poor and the AI a joke most of the time, but generally this is the best of the bunch.