Snooker 2005 - PSP First Impressions

[MikeRox]

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.

The original Virtual Pool really helped my game, it basically taught me what sort of angles I need to hit the balls at to get them to come back into pockets, if I get a PSP I reckon I'm gonna give this a spin as I do like my snooker/pool games

[$h@d0w]

I had a quick game of this, it's bloody excellent!

The player models could use a few more polygons but that's the only graphical flaw I can see, everything else is great.

Commentary is cool. Virgo delivers his lines than Steve Davis.

Control system is intuitive although my analog skills aren't up to scratch. Ended up blasting the ball or falling short of the target ball a lot of the time :-P

[Sega Ages]

I've had a chance to spend time with a few other game modes;

Played some Doubles Pool, two human players on a team versus two CPU A.I.s on a team, all playing on a single PSP (not wifi). This wasn't so impressive, as the game seemed to freeze for 1-2 seconds at a time during play while it kept having to load something from the UMD as we rotated the camera angle, or even - gasp - in the middle of trying to take a shot. Had trouble enjoying this mode, so we switched to traditional human versus human Pool and that was great. And I think I already mentioned how great the straight (not Doubles) human versus AI Pool mode is. So maybe some issues with doubles play there, if that's important to you.

We also tried Billiards and Doubles Billiards but couldn't figure out how to invite an A.I. to that game mode, I only tried navigating the menus for a few minutes, not sure if you can even play this mode against the CPU though.

Also got stuck into the flagship single-player Snooker Challenge mode proper now - and it's wonderful - commentary is great, computer opponent's play is entertaining, can't wait to unlock new play arenas and snooker items for my player

[spikecast]

So does this have a true online mode or require software?

[$h@d0w]

It has a mode called "Online" but it's only actually adhoc.

[Magic Daps]

So whats everyones highest break so far. I have managed a 56 and a 45.

I dont think I will ever get a century though, I run out of position to often.

[mattyduk]

So whats everyones highest break so far. I have managed a 56 and a 45.

I dont think I will ever get a century though, I run out of position to often.

well, I played a game against the "EASY" CPU player at the weekend. I missed a tricky red, then I just got 1 minute of looking at "Generating Break", as the CPU racked up a 135 break. Nice

Great game though

[JamesS]

well, I played a game against the "EASY" CPU player at the weekend. I missed a tricky red, then I just got 1 minute of looking at "Generating Break", as the CPU racked up a 135 break. Nice

It does seem a bit hard. Has anybody got anywhere with the challenge mode? You only have to miss a couple of shots and you're screwed as the CPU clears the table. I don't think I've actually won a game yet.

[mattyduk]

It does seem a bit hard. Has anybody got anywhere with the challenge mode? You only have to miss a couple of shots and you're screwed as the CPU clears the table. I don't think I've actually won a game yet.

I'd say it was lacking in abit of balance, rather that outright hard Sometimes the CPU completely mucks up shots and can't hit a ball in for love nor money. Yet sometimes it plays like RS himself !!

I want a challenge, but I want it to be fair !

[Bassman]

I saw the review in Games Master which gave the game a good score (if memory serves me correctly). My cousin's husband was asking about it, though that was before reading this topic. Sounds like a game to watch out for. If it is as popular as has been implied then it ought to be at sale price within a few weeks (good excuse to save some money).

[Magic Daps]

I have won a couple of tourneys in Challenge mode. So far I have beaten Quentin Hann, Mark King and Anthony Hamilton. When you beat at top player it unlocks a challenge e.g. pot two colours and two reds within one minute.

You can not take any risks against the good players, if you get into trouble its pointless going for a risky pot because even if you do pot it you will probably be horribly out of position. I tend to play safe until I get a chance, knock in a 30 odd break then when I run out of position lay a tricky snooker or just run the cue ball up to baulk. If you let someone like Hann in he will just clear up.

[VictoryRoad]

Highest break after 2 days = 70, but I had to resort to using the Digtal power meter almost all the time, save for special shots where loads of power was needed, like splitting the reds, length of the table screw shots etc

So how on earth does the analogue control work? Perhaps it just needs more practice but its not like you have the freedom of movement you would get on a PS2 controller. And its on the left, thus your left thumb is used.

Ok so people say its "tricky", but has anyone really mastered this yet? If you try to "tap" the ball by delivering the stick through more gently, mostly the game just ignores you and does nothing....like it decides that you didn't mean it, what's all that about?

In fact the only way I could find to hit the balls softly (with any sortof consistency) was to pull back on the stick *ever so slightly*, so it was showing a soft shot, and then really *ram* the thing home so as not to underhit - but that defeats the purpose of the analouge control.

A reviewer has mentioned about using the "fine tune control in conjuction"... I'll try that next.

For all its niggles and faults, it really is a very fine game indeed - I've not been able to put it down, and I don't even PLAY games much anymore...!