Customer Rating:  
Summary: I agree
Comment: I agree with the words of Mr. Warren. Two reds equal two points and not a foul. Career mode is an excellent part of the game, if challenging. Good graphics, good gameplay and a great fun game, with a couple of minor flaws that do not effect gaming much at all. Great snooker for fans and much better than the previously released versions.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great if you love Snooker
Comment: Just to point out that if you pot more than one red in one shot then this is NOT a foul, and you do get the points like in the game, however only when you pot a red and a colour in the same shot does it become a foul.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good game but with a flaw
Comment: This is a good, if a touch difficult game, the AI players are good, and the game gets more difficult as you progress, moving onto better AI players, however, the game does have one flaw, if you happen to pot more than one red in one shot, you get the points, when actually, this should be a foul, maybe this was just overlooked by the developers? Another thing I've noticed occasionally (but not often) in the game is that AI players are able to manage impossible shots.
The coaching sessions, in which your coach is Dennis Taylor, are good if you've never played snooker before on a computer, but as the last reviewer said, don't rely on it too much, the best thing to do is to experiment.
The commentry, by Steve Davis, John Virgo, John Parrot and Dennis Taylor is good to start with, but soon becomes tiresome. There are good bonus games that can also be played, such as billiard games, snooker plus and more. Overall, this is a good game, especially for fans of snooker, certainly better than previously released snooker games, the graphics are great and the emotions of the AI's are very good too.
Despite the obvious flaw and the AI's seeming to manage impossible shots, I would still recommend this game, but I'd also recommend practising before you start a tournament!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A century break if not a 147.
Comment: If you love snooker you will definitely enjoy this game. If not, there is still a good chance you will. However, if you are new to snooker then you may find it to be frustratingly difficult at first. The main part of this game is the `career' mode snooker game. You start off by creating your own character. A nice touch; you can decide what your player looks like. It's not amazing, but you can have a go at approximating yourself and/or friends.
You also get to customize your player's abilities. You may feel that changing the settings from their defaults is cheating to an extent. However, this is useful for creating characters to play against in a custom match. Many of the attribute levels you can set are designed for this purpose.
You are then thrust into the world of the professional snooker player. You have to qualify for every tournament. For the first few matches you can usually expect to have at least a couple of chances a frame to win, but as the opponents get better you regularly lose with few or no mistakes! This is realistic and whilst frustrating, encourages you to take the game seriously and concentrate so it is you who is clearing up in one visit.
There is a tutorial mode where Dennis Taylor takes you through positional play. This is useful but I wouldn't rely on it too much; experiment and find your own way! Luckily, potting is far easier in the game than in reality. You have an aiming aid to help you. This comprises of arrows indicating where the object and cue ball will go. These arrows are an indication and are not completely accurate. You have to gain experience before you can always know the exact path the cue ball will take. This adds to the realism and skill required to do well in the game.
On the easy level, you can see a useful overhead view of the table (still showing the aiming arrows). You decide what spin you want to apply to the cue ball, how much power to use, and whether you want to raise the butt of your cue. Doing this might take you a while at first, but as you improve it doesn't really take that long. You may find when you are losing matches, that there is more watching than playing going on. You can speed this part up if you want to.
The in-game commentary seems good at first; however its limitations soon became apparent. If the completely inane comments, and those that are just plain wrong, occurred less frequently it wouldn't be so bad. It can start to grate after a while. You can turn the commentary off and I have chosen not to, so I guess I do feel it adds something to the game; it is as good as the commentary in other games.
The graphics and sounds are decent enough. Whilst I have never played on a professional table with a super fine cloth, I would suggest that you can get a fair bit more ball reaction in the game than in reality. On the whole though I would say the ball physics is quite close to the real thing.
After practise, you will be regularly knocking in centuries and winning tournaments. You need to put a bit of time in to this game to excel. It doesn't take that long to improve with the full aiming aid on, and you will appreciate the effort when you make your first century and can clear up regularly.
Pleasingly, the game tries to simulate form and tension. Sometimes the players are just having a bad day or are in exceptional form. Sometimes they `feel the pressure'. This adds realism and can give you hope. The game tries to simulate the different player's characters. Other games are also available; `Snooker plus', billiards, and pool. You can unlock many extras as a reward for achieving certain things.
However, the game is not perfect. The ranking system employed is nuts and bears no resemblance to real life. It takes ages to get towards the top. There is an infuriating system that operates as you approach the top 16 mark. Perhaps this, and the fact that the top players only seem to regularly do well in the two main tournaments, was introduced to stop the top computer players from advancing their ranking points too far, but even then it is only necessary as a consequence of the idiotic ranking system used.
The AI takes on extremely risky and difficult pots on a regular basis (and usually gets them), and this encourages you to play more aggressively too. Safety isn't usually a good option. You aren't penalised enough for leaving the white close to the cushion or another ball and the AI does this regularly. The computer sometimes makes you use a bridge for shots that you would not use a bridge for in reality. Looks a bit silly but doesn't really impact much though.
The AI can act quite strangely in some situations such as when the game is tight and he needs a snooker to win. The AI can make bizarre decisions occasionally. The miss rule is rarely played and so your good safety play is not rewarded as well as it should be. You can't always see the `complete picture' of the table well enough. Simply allowing the player to have some sort of roaming camera would solve this. And why can't I scroll up and down the `ranking' and `career earnings' lists?
In summary, I would highly recommend the game. The flaws are quite minor and insignificant in the grand scheme of the game. A patch would add 10% to the review score. It's not a perfect simulation but it's pretty good. I would give this game about 80% or 4 stars.
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