Poker Smash

Poker Smash by Void Star Creations is to be next weeks XBLA release. I got the chance to play a preview of this awesome new game a few weeks ago. The closest thing I could compare it to would be Tetris Attack or Planet Puzzle League on the DS – but with playing cards. You are presented with a rising tower of cards of the four suits your aim is to move the cards horizontally to form the basic Poker hands that can be made with the included cards (10, Jack, Queen, King & Ace). At a basic level you can play the game like a matching game by pulling off 3, 4 and 5 or a kind moves. Yes, yes, I know you can’t get 5 of a kind in poker but we’ll let that slide. The real points come from making the big hands like a Full House or Royal Flush. Start racking up combos of by chaining these hands and you’ll be hitting the leaderboards. If it all gets a bit too much you can slow time to get your head together. You also have bombs to knock out cards that are in your way or to set off another monster combo.

They have included a bunch of community based options. The leaderboards are on rolling tickers on the main screen and you can upload and share your best runs with the world although watching the masters at work can be depressing when compared to your own skills.

So maybe you are reading this and thinking that it sound alright. If that’s the case then I’m not explaining it well enough or you arn’t listening, it’s not alright. It’s freakin’ great. Check out their website and download it next week. No price announced as yet but if it’s less than 10,000 MS points then it’s a bargain.