Snooker 2005 - PSP First Impressions

[cavalcade]

Well, a half an hour blast on the game absolutely nobody is talking about (check Google and see if *you* can find a review) has left me wth an extremely positive impression of a game that it looks like absolutely nobody is going to buy.

Graphically it's superb, though char models are a little texture light, the whole effect is very impressive. Sound is a little irritating. But the strength is the gameplay - it adops a Tiger Woods analogue style control on the cue, and this works especially well. Presentation is top notch, loads of modes, create a player mode, lots of tournaments...

In fact, having played a huge number of PSP games I have to say this, in many respects, is one of the most credible attempts to produce what looks very much like a PS2 game, but without the crippling load times of something like Midnight Club 3. OK, it's not a speedy loader like Hot Shots, but it's certainly not geological in the time periods you spend looking at an hourglass like Mercury.

My only early concerns are.... well, either the low battery on my PSP at the time was playing havoc with the game, but it seemed a little buggy. Changes in options not being saved, occasional hangs and pauses for no real reason. I will investigate this further.

Any questions - please send - but my overall impression is this isn't a game to be missed off the launch lineup - especially if you have already imported a vast majority of the other titles.

PS: Anyone with Colin McRae 2005 PSP - can you post impressions?

[Dazzla]

I'm really tempted to pick this up. I've only ever played Jimmy White and love it, no idea how something like this would compare.


Ditto on the CMR impressions as well, that's another of my maybes.

[cavalcade]

Snooker reminded me mainly of a sort of sombre Pool Paradise (by Archer as well), which is the only other snooker game I've played recently with similar analogue controls (no doubt the PS2 vesion of this game features this as well). It's quite straight laced, but you can't argue with the mechanics of a snooker/pool game for mobile gaming. Popular on virtually every device, this just has the addictive qualities of any snooker game (which shine through in even a little Java applet for your Nokia) but with a lot of visual flair.

As I say though I'll give it a long test over the next few days and post any thoughts.

Interested to hear if anyone else has bought it, or is thinking of buying it. I appreciate it's not exactly the sort of game I can imagine many people on these forums being attracted to (in fact, I'm not even sure why I bought it - though I'm glad I did) but I'm sure there must be a few people with import PSP's that noticed it on the shelves and took a punt.

Cheers for the TOCA 2 impressions Dazzla - again, the coverage for some of the launch titles has been very patchy, and I was glad to read a few impressions - it's also on my "maybe" list!

[JamesS]

I've only played it for around 45 minutes, but it certainly seems quite promising. Random first impressions:

The character models are a bit ropey, I thought, but better than they look in screenshots. Otherwise, it's graphically rather nice. Generally running at 30fps, it seems, sometimes going up to 60 when there's not much on screen. The 2D interface bits are quite horizontally stretched in places, though, as if they weren't built for a widescreen display. Presentation is decent otherwise.

Sound is solid, and the commentary hasn't annoyed me yet. The music is awful, but can be turned off (though it took a few attempts to get it to actually accept the setting for some reason).

It doesn't half access the UMD and Memory Stick a lot during the game. It seems to load from the UMD for every shot (I think it's loading animations or character models, as the load vanishes if you turn the characters off), and the Memory Stick access light flashing all the time. I think it's saving replays, and I can't see an obvious way to stop it. The various loading and saving doesn't actually take much time, but it does seem to stutter a bit while it's doing it. There's some kind of battery-saving mode which might help this. I'll have to read the manual or something to see what it does.

Good range of game modes, including some non-snooker modes like pool and billiards and so on. A fair few things seem to be initially locked, so I'm guessing you need to play challenge mode a bit to open stuff up.

Definitely seems to be a good handheld type game. Something to play in short bursts. Just the sort of thing I've been after for the PSP. I think this'll get a fair bit of play on the daily commute.

For people with import PSPs, it runs fine on 1.50 firmware.

[John Beaulieu]

hows the game's physics hold up - does it move like real balls should?

[Magic Daps]

This is my fav game on the psp. I was finiding it hard last night but I had one last game before bed on challenge mode. I breezed through the first match, but in the second match which I had been finding hard all night everything clicked. I made a break of 56 and secured the frame, it felt awesome. Its a fantastic game. Getting my arse kicked by Quentin Hann now though. I make one mistake and he clears up. </FONT>

[$h@d0w]

Can I ask more about the quick game modes in this game? What games are available apart from the main snooker part?

Playing full frames of snooker puts me off a little (I'm usually **** at these games so I take ages just to clear up), but the mini games and pool sound quite cool.

[MikeRox]

this is gonna sound daft, but does it have Pool in it as well? Or are companies now forcing you to buy 2 seperate games if u want both? Pool Paradise is mint such a relaxing game (really helped when I cudn't sleep much in the exam period) so this could well be goin on my to get list when I get a PSP.

[Fat_Bob]

Can't believe the lack of marketing for this game. It's not even listed on gamerankings. We did the animation for the players and even got to meet the legend that is Steve Davis. It was released on the PS2 about 6 months ago with similar muted reception but it's a very solid snooker game.

[JamesS]

this is gonna sound daft, but does it have Pool in it as well? Or are companies now forcing you to buy 2 seperate games if u want both? Pool Paradise is mint such a relaxing game (really helped when I cudn't sleep much in the exam period) so this could well be goin on my to get list when I get a PSP.

Yes, there's 8 and 9 ball pool included.

[Mr Ono]

Anyone managed to play this online yet?

[cavalcade]

Anyone managed to play this online yet?

Not yet - wasn't even aware you could.... but lets face it, because of the review and advertising embargo, whose going to actually be playing it online anyway...

JamesS comments echo my own findings really. The character models are a tiny bit ropey, but the animation is superb. The UMD access I find fairly unobtrusive, it certainly thrashes the disk during the game, so I can imagine it not lasting too long on the move.

The in game music is terrible, and I too took a good few attempts to switch it off (must be a bug). If you switch off all extraneous animations, and also get it to simulate the AI go, it moves along at a fair pace. Never belts along of course - but it is snooker.

The ball physics are perfect. Totally believable. But special note has to go to the incredible tutorial mode. Talk about Ghost in the Machine - there's no handholding the tutorial adapts to how you pot/fail to pot balls on the table - it's an incredible bit of programming, commentary and screen legends adapting to any ball placement, and offering genuinely useful advice. I was impressed.

The pool variants are excellent - and without getting too over the top it's actually genuinely a decent training tool - I can see it benefiting your real world game.

Only other concern is that judging long shots due to the small screen can be tricky, and the AI opposition can be absolutely ruthless. But overall, continued play suggests this is a great game, blighted by a complete baffling lack of press, and no promotion....

[Sega Ages]

This Sega-published game is great, I got it yesterday the same day as Coded Arms... and I've ended up playing the Pool mode in this title more than that FPS so far. This game is a must-have, imo.

I loved Side Pocket on the Megadrive and this is like a super 21st century uber-version of that with incredible coaching tutorials and A.I. opponents.

The in game music is terrible, and I too took a good few attempts to switch it off (must be a bug).

Here's the solution, I think -

I figured out to change the audio volume of the BGM compared to sound effects, you have to quit your game and use the audio balance settings in the Options screen in the Main Title Menu. (If you try to use the audio balance settings in the Options screen in the mid-game Pause menu it won't work.) It's not a problem at all once you realise this.

it's actually genuinely a decent training tool - I can see it benefiting your real world game.

yep, probably.

Has anyone figured out how to completely disable the flashing "assist" arrows that show up in 3D view when lining up your shot?

When I set the difficulty assist of my own human character to the hardest setting ("Short" assist), it removes the flashing assist arrows from the 2D top view, but they still show up (albeit shortened somewhat) in the 3D view when I am aiming. The thing is, on hardest assist setting I don't want any assist arrows at all. Although the guide arrows are good in practical terms, sometimes I'd like to turn them off and judge shots by instinct using the fine tune button (like Luke turning off his targeting computer).

Well, in all a great game... another grade A title for the lineup

[shock33]

How the shot controlled? Is it like Virual Snooker where you use the mouse (i.e nub) or is it a "set the power and direction and press button" method?

[Sega Ages]

How the shot controlled? Is it like Virual Snooker where you use the mouse (i.e nub) or is it a "set the power and direction and press button" method?

You set direction first via the camera, then you can choose either new era analog-swing style control for the shot power (feels great), or old-school power meter and push button method. In both cases you pre-apply any advanced effects like spin (if you want them) using a pop-up window interface.