And so sits the challenge presented to World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (WSoP: ToC). It arrives on the 360 in the wake of the Live Arcade hit Texas Hold 'em, which was launched with an initial no-charge window, before settling down at a price of 800 Microsoft points. No such generosity with WSoP:ToC, which settles in armed with a whopping £50 price tag that it comes nowhere near close to justifying.

A pity, really, as there are some neat touches here. The main one is the story-esque approach to the main single-player mode (naturally it comes equipped with multiplayer Live options too), which allows you to build up your poker skills at lower tournaments, earning your way up the ladder to get to where the real (virtual) money's at. The game earns authenticity points by packing itself with real poker professionals, and it's good too for novices, as it bothers to take the time to teach you what you'll need to know.

Couple that with the surprisingly good AI that greets you from the computer-controlled players, and it's a good few points in the game's corner. What's more, it's quite nippy too, and even if you're a poker virgin, there's a sporting chance that you'll quite enjoy WSoP:ToC. This reviewer certainly did.

But is it worth spending half a ton to replace Texas Hold 'em? Absolutely not. There's arguably more to do with WSoP: ToC, but the core gameplay is pretty much equal fun in either variant, and that makes things a bit of a no-brainer. Even one of the big selling points of WSoP:ToC, the fact that you can use the Vision Camera to put your face directly into the game, has already been done before by the competitor that sells for pence shy of £8.

Bottom line? WSoP:ToC is good fun, but is crying out to be priced a lot more sensibly than it is.