Telltale Games'
Poker Night 2
It's a quiet night at The Inventory, an interdimensional club where imagination's elite meet. That is, it's quiet until Brock Sampson walks into the bar, taking a break from "...being an Uncle who gets to kill people on the side."
As he takes a seat at the poker table that dominates the room, the self-proclaimed star of Borderlands joins him, the annoyingly self-possessed Claptrap. And to the faint sound of chainsaws, Ash Williams pulls up a chair.
To keep the peace, it's the police -- except it's actually the Freelance Police, Sam & Max. This is not going to end well. Just in case you had hope, the dealer turns out to be GLaDOS from the Portal games. Maybe it will be worth congratulating you if you make it out alive from Poker Night 2.
Obviously, the allure isn't necessarily going to be poker, which is offered up in both Texas Hold'em and Omaha variations. No, this is going to be a game for the fans of the various franchises represented here, and the chance to see and hear these characters ramble while trying to psych you out over a game of cards.
 Victories earn you points and trophies that allow you limited personalization. You could make the table, deck and chips reflect whichever of the franchises you'd like, and if you're playing on an account linked to one of the main gaming platforms, you can earn personalizations for different games there. (I haven't played Borderlands, but I'm intrigued by the chance to give a zombie Max's head, or let Brock Samson loose as an assassin.)
It still comes back to the banter, and if you're paying enough attention while playing, there's some great stuff here. Brock (voiced by Patrick Warburton) is clearly dying for this night out away from the Ventures, and lets slip secrets that may or may not play into continuity. He seems to have an affinity for Ash, which does make a weird sense, and as the night goes on, he encourages Ash in updating us with an Evil Dead sequel that never happened.
Though Sam & Max do reference their earlier Telltale games, they're mostly about non-sequitirs and getting under everybody else's skin, as is Claptrap. But Claptrap also points out he has a right to be cocky; he has an award for Best Videogame.
The banter does slow down game play, so if you're really looking to sharpen your poker game, there have to be better apps out there. But if you just want to spend some time playing cards and shooting the breeze (though you are "the silent one"), this is a really fun game.
It's also really raw; none of these characters censor themselves, to hilarious effect. But for some people, that might really be a drawback. Forewarned is fore-armed, but Ash is the one with the gun.
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