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Dom Robinson reviews
Sega
- Price: £29.99
- Players: 1
- Widescreen: Yes
- 60Hz: No
- Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
- Xbox Live-enabled: Yes
I hate most sport with a passion, but Snooker is one thing I enjoy hugely.
World Snooker Championship 2005 was released just before this year’s Embassy tournamentat the Crucible in Sheffield, and of the three players appearing on the front cover, at the point ofthe review going online, Tuesday 26th April, with just a week left to go, Ronnie O’Sullivan very nearlywent out in the first round after a dodgy ball and a bit of a sleepy start, but he pulled his game backat the last second, while Steve Davis was nearly wiped out in Round 2 against Mark Holt, having had to fightback from 8-2 down, and coming back 13-10.
Sadly, Paul Hunter, who was diagnosed with cancer shortly before the games began, went out in Round 1.As this review goes online, he starts his treatment and all of us at DVDfever.co.uk wish himthe greatest of success with the tough times ahead.
As the game loads up, the first thing you hear is the classic BBC snooker theme. Once in from there,you can create and customise your player to your heart’s content in terms of looks and player preferences.
Getting some of the basics out of the way, this game includes top professionals from the current world ofsnooker as well as up and coming players. It features all the real locations from the 2004/2005 tour, allaccurately modelled, including the Preston Guild Hall, Wembley Conference Centre and the aforementionedCrucible Theatre, home of the World Championships.
The tournament structures are modelled exactly on their real-life equivalents and players can take partin every event on the 2004/2005 tour including the British Open, UK Championship, The Masters and theWorld Championship. There’s also a brand new “League of Champions” unlockable mode that allows players,upon winning the world championship, to battle every major world champion since the tournament commenced in 1927.
That’s not the only thing you can unlock, since along the way, you’ll progress to all the different locationson the snooker books, in which to take part, as well as be able to view video footage of classic snookerclips, such as a plant from Peter Ebdon.
Now for some cool stuff. The individual player animations make this title play out just like you’d see iton the telly, although these can be turned off to save some time and just see the cueball heading offtowards its destiny. I went for the latter since, while they’re fun at first, shortly afterwards theybecome a bit irritating as the characters look a little wooden.
The variety of camera angles, including those in-pocket shots, are here too, as well as seeing the ballsgo into the pockets and the total racked up in each one. Even the graphics for the scoreboard are alsothe same as the BBC’s. On top of this, there’s running commentary from past masters John Virgo andJohn Parrott, as well as the forever-ongoing Steve Davis, and I like the way they assess the state ofplay with regards to the points remaining and required. Surprisingly, or perhaps it’s just because Ienjoy the game a great deal, the commentary doesn’t feel like it repeats itself adversely – a commonfault amongst sporting games. (Yes, I don’t like to watch many, but playing the console versions is stillan amusing pasttime.)
Soundwise, what you hear creates the perfect ambience, right down to the occasional, individual coughing.No-one’s yet had a mobile phone go off, though, although they have at the Crucible this year. One wenton so long that the cameras were able to find the culprit and get him onscreen before he skulked backinto the shadows!
It’s also a point worth making that the audience are animated during their applause, which makes a greatchange from most games where you expect to see members of the public on the sidelines.
On the downside, it’s not particularly easy to move the joystick and get the right shot quickly – you needto go back and forth across the exact spot you want. I also wanted to be able to zoom from the cueball tothe target ball and check the angle I should hit it from there. As it stands, I have to press the blackbutton for the view of the target ball and twist the right joystick so cycles round to find the angle.Sadly, if I cut back to the cueball at this point before going back to the target ball, my original angle is lost.
Also, the choice of angle being shown as the shot is actually taken isn’t often the best one. It can be too faraway, or stuck in the pocket waiting to receive the ball, and I’d rather have the ability to select the anglemyself as well as being able to view from directly above, so I can see exactly where everything goes.
In addition, the commentary sometimes cuts in just a little too quickly – as soon as each shot is taken,so if it’s a long pot you might be told the outcome before it’s actually happened. This is a littledistracting but not a deal-breaker.
Outside of the main snooker game, go for the trickshots. There’s ten here to try, including one or twothat seem to defy the laws of physics, which you have to complete in succession – and this isn’t alwayseasy despite having a demonstration on hand to tell you how to play it. You can also play music duringthis section, be it the main theme or any of your own CDs that you’ve put on the Xbox’s hard disc.
In addition to this, there’s extra games you can play including billiards, bar billiards, doubles and,another of my favourites even though I’m a bit crap at it, pool.
If that’s not enough, this edition has Xbox Live play available, with the usual options to look fora quick match or one that agrees with your opitmum settings. Alternatively, create a match and waitfor someone to join.
Overall, there’s so much to take in here, and with all the venues, players and tournaments that you’d expect tosee on the box throughout 2005, for a snooker buff like me, this is going to be one title that I’llbe lucky to have even half-completed by the time the 2006 Championship comes round to the Cruciblein Sheffield, a venue that, only just after this game was released, was confirmed to continue hostingthis particular tournament until 2010 at the earliest, although 2005 is the last year of Embassy’ssponsorship. Maybe they’ll get something more healthy to sponsor it next year…
Despite the faults mentioned earlier, this is still an enjoyable game and a worthy purchase for anyonewho’s a big snooker fan, but I am bloody useless when it comes to playing the real-life game!
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.