Producer: Martech
Retail Price: £8.95
Okay you 'fellas' you all know Samantha Fox, right. You've ogled at her pictures, watched her on television chat shows, listened to her record. Now play her at strip poker. Well, it's not really Sam Fox, but your humble Spectrum who plays the game and supplies pictures of the lumpy page three girl. Samantha Fox Strip Poker plays you at the classic Seven Card Stud poker game. Both you and the computer start with 999 credits apiece and you must win as many points as you can by betting on your cards. Every time you reduce the computer's points by one hundred you are rewarded with a digitised picture of Sam Fox taking her clothes off, starting with her gloves at 800 points then the rest of her clothing piece by piece... If she starts winning back the lost points then her clothing is retrieved and if you start losing points then she starts ordering you to take your clothes off, whether you comply or not is another matter.
The game is controlled by two keys - one to choose one of the options presented after a dealing and the other to select it. The game is made foolproof by the computer referee who only gives the options relevant for that go, eliminating any mistakes which could otherwise be made.
For the uninitiated Seven Card Stud is a game where the player has to try to make the best hand possible out of the seven cards dealt, the best hand winning the 'pot'. When a hand starts the player is dealt three cards, the third being dealt face upwards so your opponent can see it. From these three cards you must decide whether to pass (throw them in) check (keep your cards but not bet) or bet. The betting continues until either a player calls or both players check. When that happens a further card is dealt and the betting continues. If you have what you think is a jolly good hand then you can up the stakes by raising. The game follows this pattern until all seven cards have been dealt, then the betting continues until a player calls, then both hands are shown and the best hand winds the pot. Throughout a hand there is the option to pass and other relevant options can be chosen if desired.
On the 'B' side of the cassette is an added bonus. No Sam Fox, but a four player Seven Card Stud poker game. The rules are the same but here you can play against up to three computer opponents. In this game there are another two options auto where the computer takes a decision for you and demo, very useful if you're new to poker and want to see what the game is about (try playing two computer players against one another).
COMMENTS
Control keys: SPACE to cycle options, ENTER to choose it
Joystick: not needed
Keyboard play: very simple, fine
Use of colour: as you might expect for a card game
Graphics: the pictures of Sammy are reasonably good, cards very good
Sound: thin version of 'The Entertainer' and a few bloops
Skill levels: one
I must admit that I find computer poker games boring and pointless, it's much more fun playing with humans. As for getting a page three model to officially endorse a 'strip' poker game, what a con. What you get is a very good poker game with a couple of crummy digitised pictures of Sam Fox 'stripping off' - wow! Why not just buy The Sun for a week and you can ogle at the pictures there - they're of far better quality and a lot cheaper. The whole thing somehow seems rather tasteless. Still, for poker fans, there's at least the consolation of the game itself, and this will probably prove worthwhile.
I decided to settle down one evening and see if I could find out Sammy's secrets all the way through. Well I did, all the way through, right to the Page 3 picture at the end when Sam ended up bust (no pun intended). Despite the obvious enjoyment, I was glad I hadn't bought the game - finishing it on the first session was a bit of a shame - not my idea of value for money, but I was very lucky: no one else in the office got further than the second picture. The game itself is very good and contains some lovely detailed cards and a nice smooth dealing sequence. If I wanted to be niggly I could say it takes a bit long your turn comes round, but as a card game this is one of the best and Sam Fox Poker is a must for all Sam Fox fans. Surely the sequel must be animated with a print-out option!
Usually I really enjoy computer card games, in this case however even with the promise of seeing Sam Fox's naughty bits I wasn't really compelled to stick with it until I had mastered the game. The input is pretty limited so I didn't really ever feel that I was in total control of my game, it would have been nice to raise the betting by a couple of hundred 'credits' for instance. The graphical representation of the cards on screen is fair but they could be a little larger or a little more detailed, Sam herself is fairly well drawn but she has lost whatever she had, during the conversion onto computer. The sound also leaves a little to be desired as there is only one tune and a few spot FX here and there. The main moan I have about both these games is that they are very slow, there is always a long pause between goes, so interest is lost very quickly. Generally I don't think Sam's pixels are worth the nine quid being asked.
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