Have you ever wondered what all these game characters get up to when they're off duty? When they're not busy fending off alien invasions, helping the stone head of Abraham Lincoln run for president or raiding tombs for ancient treasures? According to Telltale, the people behind the incredible Sam & Max point and click games, and the more recent (and equally incredible) Walking Dead series, the answer couldn't be clearer. They play poker.
Much like the original Poker Night at the Inventory, Telltale Games' Poker Night 2 sees you playing a game of poker with four familiar characters - and marks the return of Telltale's trademark humour, after it's five game hiatus for the Walking Dead series. It's a game that's less about the poker and more about the one-liners and conversations between characters from opposite ends of the entertainment spectrum - which are doubly hilarious if you're familiar with the characters already.
This time round, Claptrap, the lovable robot from Borderlands; the half Swedish, quarter Polish and quarter Winnebago murder machine body guard from Adult Swim's The Venture Bros. series Brock Samson; canine kleptomaniac and freelance police officer Sam from Telltale's Sam & Max games and Ash Williams from cult classic film Army of Darkness are in need of a fifth player - you. And with the stakes high and the chips flowing, who better to make sure everyone sticks to the rules than the passive-aggressive, neurotoxin-obsessed, cake con artist, GLaDOS from Portal.
Meet the gang.
While we are disappointed to see the back of the characters from the original game - Sam's partner in policing and hyperkinectic rabbity thing, Max; self-proclaimed ladies man and criminal mastermind Strong Bad; Tycho from Penny Arcade; and the hulking Heavy from Team Fortress 2, the new line up of characters looks set to be every bit as entertaining as you barter and bluff your way to victory. And while the original game was a thoroughly single player only affair, we're still hoping for a multiplayer mode for the sequel, whether online or off.
Poker Night 2 will be available for download from the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network by the end of the month, and will feature oodles of unlockable items - from heads and skins to use in Borderlands 2, to Xbox 360 avatar items and premium themes for your Playstation 3, while the PC version will also feature accessories for your Team Fortress 2 character, on top of the aforementioned Borderlands bits. So far, there's no details on price, although we're imagining it'll be fairly cheap, as the original game cost less than a fiver.
