With the current glut of poker games clamouring for your hard earned pennies, it seems that to even register on the gaming radar, a poker title has to offer something unique, something that will help it raise its head above the parapet and carve itself a niche in what is fast becoming an overcrowded market. So, has World Championship Poker 2: All In identified a gap in the market and, if so, has it managed to successfully create a market in that gap? For many reasons the answer to both of these questions has to be a reluctant "no".

It has often been argued that poker is just one of those games that either appeals to the senses or leaves you cold and uninterested. Luckily (well, lucky for me, that is) I love poker. No, really, I do. Whether it's online or around a table with mates, I get a buzz out of double guessing my opponent, calculating the odds and staking my last Rollo on a K5 hand. Bearing that in mind, I was particularly disappointed by this offering from Crave Entertainment, whose latest releases have included The Bible Game and The Pinball Hall of Fame. On paper at least, WCP2 manages to check all the right boxes: big name opponents, character creation, a challenging career mode, online play and some degree of innovation - but look a little closer and you'll quickly begin to realize that something is indeed rank in the state of Poker.

First of all, the graphics here are plain old ugly. We're not talking ugly in the way a date is ugly at 6.30pm but at 11.00pm - and after a few pints - seems strangely attractive. No, World Championship Poker 2: All In is just plain ugly. The colours are bold and garish, the characters look like they were carved by a blind man using a spoon and the animation makes the PSOne look decidedly next-gen. Oddly enough, your computer opponent seem to vary from scores of bearded men in suspiciously tight outfits to butch women with fixed wooden expressions. The heavy-palette approach pervades throughout the game, from the opening title screen to the rooms you're playing in - an odd choice for a game that relies on calculation, nerves and the ability to read subtle changes in mood and expression.

WPC2 also boasts some of the worst audio known to gaming. The music is the audio equivalent of being mauled by a dead sheep, the commentary repeats itself within minutes and the in-game characters have a repertoire that is more limited than your average footballer in the post-game interview. Thankfully, you can choose to turn the music off and the chances are you'll be making use of this facility before you even get to the flop.

The character creation option at the beginning of the Career mode is also as basic as they come. Eventually you'll realize that Crave Entertainment weren't planning on allowing you to create a character that looks like you; instead you're going to have to settle for creating a character that you kind of like the look of. It's not the same and, with the monster processing power of the Xbox 360, it's pretty inexcusable. Once you've created a character, you begin in the Career mode. Here you take part in tournaments, win cash prizes and use the money to buy items for your apartment. Yes, it's a little like The Sims except that here you only have the choice of one job: to become a poker pro. At this point it's worth mentioning that WPC2 allows you to navigate from location to location in a manner that's similar to some of the old-school god sims. Unfortunately, the world map is pretty confusing and you'll eventually find yourself hopping from place to place in the hope of stumbling across a game that you can take part in.

There are nineteen variants of poker on offer here, including the more popular Texas Hold'em, 7 Card Stud, 5 Card Draw and Omaha to name just a few. There is also online support for up to sixteen players, although you'll be hard pressed to find that many people playing on Xbox Live. It has to be said that WPC2 does boast a fairly good level of AI; once you get past the bizarre looking players and their wooden movement, you'll realise that this is as challenging a poker game as any other. The in-game characters all have their own distinctive methods of playing and, just to keep things interesting, throw in the occasional random move for good measure. There's also a comprehensive tutorial mode that gives you a good nodding acquaintance with each of the game types. There's also a stab at innovation in the shape of bluffing; at key moments during a game you'll see an icon appear at the top of the page and after a button press you can choose which bluff your character performs. While this is pretty interesting, it does little to remedy the fact that, ultimately, this game is a below average effort, which might have been more acceptable on the PS2 but sticks out like a sore thumb on the Xbox 360.

Some poker games are truly one in million, but thanks to its terrible presentation and a general lack of innovative features, World Championship Poker 2: All In is, sadly, more likely to be won in a car boot sale. Avoid.

Reviewed by Kizzi Nkwocha for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).