Sword & Poker II

Moby ID: 47114

Description

Sword & Poker 2 combines classic Poker game features with RPG elements.

In a magical world based on cards your hero returns home from his battles fought in the predecessor. Soon he is called for battle once more to fight back the dark shadow starting to cover the entire continent.

Through a world map the player chooses a dungeon to go into. Each dungeon consists of several levels with a handful of enemies each. Once facing an enemy the player's goal will be to reduce its hit-points by forming a row of cards you know from the Poker card games. A flush is worth more hit-points than a pair of two cards.

The player will find 3x3 cards in each level. His or her deck of cards will then be used to add two cards per turn on each side of the 3x3 board. One card opposites the second forming five cards in a row.

Defeating enemies earns the player gems that can be spent on new bags (increased hit-points), new weapons (stronger attack rate) or shields.

Screenshots

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 9 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.7 out of 5 (based on 1 ratings)

If you know Poker hands you can enjoy this.

The Good
What makes a good, casual turn-based strategy game? There are some good answers here. During each turn, you never have to think too much. The options in any single turn are quite limited. However, there is still a VERY big difference between a good, strategic play, and a bad, careless play. Typically you'll realize a mistake right after you make it, and feel bad about it. This is what a good turn-based strategy game should make you feel.

The RPG elements mean that you become stronger over time. This is not acheived through leveling up and experience points. There are no levels or experience points. The main way to become stronger is to buy stronger weapons. This is not one of those games where you earn so much money you'll never spend it all. This is a game where you may want to replay levels repeatedly to earn enough money to buy that next weapon.

The weapons aren't as strong as I would like them to be. Sometimes, you spend $20,000 on something that's only marginally stronger than the previous one. If you want something more powerful than that, wait till the next dungeon, or you won't have enough money. And more often than not, the new weapon deals more damage for certain poker hands, but deals LESS damage for other poker hands. For example, your old weapon could deal 50 damage if you're lucky to get a Four of a Kind. A new weapon will possibly deal only 10 damage for the same hand (Four of a Kind). Why buy the new weapon at all, then? Because it deals significantly more damage in cases of a Flush, Full House and Three of a Kind. And these three are the main forms of attacks you'll encounter throughout the game.

The difficulty is mild, but there is a special type of monster that is quite hard to kill. These are side-quests in nature; you don't have to kill them, but doing so will reward you with exclusive items. Only the most experienced, smart and (sometimes) lucky player can kill these monsters. Once you do, it's an enormous feeling.

Luck is not a big factor in this game. Strategy and careful planning/observing are much more important.

The Bad
There are two main weak spots in Sword & Poker II.

  1. Incorrect/incomplete translation text and help text. Some descriptions of spells and items are wrong. The help system looks well-organized and well-presented, but some of the important info is absent. You'll have to discover those on your own. However, this requires some effort, and I believe that most players won't be able to discover them. A spell may be more powerful than you think it is, but you'll never find out.

  2. Unbalanced weapons and spells. You'll be using mostly the same few weapons and spells through the game. The spells, especially, are poorly designed. The spells you get in the third and fourth dungeons are almost useless. Now, I'd really like to get more powerful spells as I progress further into the game, instead of less powerful ones that this game throws at you.

In addition to that, I didn't like the music and sounds. I didn't like the graphics. The characters look annoying. But those don't affect the gameplay, so I won't complain.

The Bottom Line
Buy this for some exciting Straights, Full Houses and possibly Royal Straight Flushes. I got a Royal Straight Flush in this game, in the third dungeon, and I liked it. I miss it.

iPhone · by Pagen HD (146) · 2013

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Game added by Hammerlore.

Game added June 28, 2010. Last modified February 22, 2023.