World Snooker Championship 2007 (Xbox 360)

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Although it’s hard to make snooker seem terribly sexy (Sega try their best by making everyone on the box cover scowl like they’re in a Steven Segal movie) the fact is it has an enormous fan base and it actually works really well as a video game. As with any yearly update this isn’t massively different to the last game in the series: it features plenty of celebrity snooker players, (rubbish) commentary from John Parrot and John Virgo, plenty of game modes and online play on the Xbox. Although there is a tutorial mode, the game is intuitive enough for you to pick and play from the off, especially if you start the career mode and begin to slowly work your way up the ranks with your own custom character.

The biggest challenge in the game though is having the will power to turn off all the control assists which initially help to make the game so easy to play. A new cue ball position zone marker makes things a lot easier than previous games, as does helpful aiming arrows indicating when and how hard you should hit a ball. Lining up shots still isn’t quite as easy as it should be though and altering the strength of the shot on the right analogue stick also feels less accurate than it should do. There are a few bugs and glitches too, particularly around foul balls. Graphically the game won’t win any awards, with poor animation and zombie like players, but that’s really not what the game is about. Until next year at least this is the best, and only, next gen snooker game around.
HARRISON DENT

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Customer reviews

review by: PJessett date: 2007-10-25 rating:
Very Good game, but with one very frustrating fault.
I really enjoy this game, by far the best snooker game ever released. The positional aid is excellent and the variety of different games you can play is also top notch. Career mode also very good.
However! And this i'm afraid is quite a big however. Maybe i'm the only one who thinks this ruins the game. But when you progress through a tournament and begin to meet the higher ranked players understandbly the game gets a lot harder. But when you meet really high ranked player eg top 16, the amount of one visit centuries becomes totally unrealistic. I was playing in the Northern Ireland semi final, first to 8 against stephen hendry. Now i know he is without doubt the best break builder ever. He beat me 8-5. But what i was annoyed about was the fact that 6 of the 8 frames he won he made centuries in. Including 3 on the bounce and two breaks above 140. In the following tournament I played Steve daivs. Who is a legend of the game but lets be honest his not the biggest break builder anymore. But in a first to 7 match he made 4 centuries including a 145 in one visit.
This really lets the game down. Most of the time you can play an excellent safety but the computer can always find a pot. Even if its hitting a ball all the way down the opposite side cushion and into the corner pocket. ( They do that a lot.) They also tend to snooker you on the break off shot nearly every other time.
It is a fun game and i do enjoy playing it, but it is let down by that.

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review by: date: 2007-07-26 rating:
Well, I like it...
I've had this game for a few months now and I'm still playing it so it can't be all that bad. I've concentrated on the snooker aspect of the game (as opposed to Pool, Billiards etc.) as this is what I've mostly been playing...

I'll get the bad points out the way first.
1) The graphics
Firstly, the main playing area looks like an X-box game than an X-box 360 game in that the graphics are OK but some of the more advanced graphical effects you've come to enjoy in other 360 games aren't present here e.g. the balls on the table have no reflections on them.
Oddly enough, the initial presentation screens and menus are more 360 like but shame more time wasn't spent on the actual game play.

2) The presentation (of the main game play area)
As some previous reviewers have pointed out, the arenas all look the same. Unlike some of the reviewers, I don't think the player models look too bad although the hair colour is questionable. When did Steve Davis get black hair? ... and poor Steven Hendry has gone all grey!

Other niggles are when you win a match you always do the same punch in the air and the opponents always clap in the same manner from the same position in the arena. Maybe there were time constraints on the development team but I don't think it would have taken too much time (or imagination) for the developers to get the player models to do something different once in a while.

Also, the audience tend not to clap often enough. Having played it for a few months now I've managed to pull off one or two absolutely stunning shots in my time not to hear even a murmer from the audience.

I haven't commented on the commentary (as I have switched off) but I've heard it's pretty bad too!

3) It would appear that if you are in the middle of match and you want to stop you have press the green 'X' logo, then press 'Y' to back to the dashboard (exiting the game) if you want your previous games saved! For example, if you're 3 - 0 in a match, say, have finished your previous game and select 'Quit', next time you reload you will start off again at 0 - 0. This seems mad to me and I'm surprised more people haven't picked up on this.

4) Sometimes when lining up the shots the guiding arrows are different between the top down view and the normal view when looking from the players perspective. The latter view is the one to use I've since found out.

5) I've been playing for several weeks, winning most games and am still only ranked 32nd in the world. My earnings are way above even the world champions. How so?


OK, the good points...

1) On the whole it plays like a proper game of snooker. I'm no expert but the ball physics seem plausible to me. Only niggle I have is that in my opinion the balls are quicker on a competitive table in real life.

2) It's additive! I should point out you really need to be a fan of snooker in the first place otherwise you'll probably get bored. It amazes me the amount of people who have slated this game because it didn't have enough action in it. It's snooker! ... what did you expect?

Over time, I've managed to get a 147 break. This is using the guiding arrows etc. This is a bit of a cheat but without them I'd be playing like I play in real life i.e. not that great, so wouldn't be much fun playing world class players.

3) You can skip through the other players shots. This is a very good feature for those who don't have the patience to sit through your opponents shots, like me. Unfortunately, you can only skip one shot a time so it is still a little bit time consuming. Would be better if there was a button to skip all shots so I can play immediately.


I can't really comment on the X-box live part as I haven't tried it and I can't say I've got any inclination to do so. You would have to sit through all your opponents shots for one thing!

So, to sum up I'd say buy this if you already have an interest in snooker and snooker simulations and just want to play some fairly realistic snooker. However, as an overall game it probably doesn't come up to scratch due to some niggly bugs, poor presentation for a 360 game etc. so some might argue whether it should justify the £40 price tag.

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review by: keef date: 2007-06-15 rating:
absolute rubbish
This is just the pits ! Please don't pay good money for this rubbish.
Poor graphics (unless you have a telescope).
Week gameface creation (unless you like looking like a police photofit)
The ps2 snooker is much better in all ways.
Biggest load of rubbish I have bought so far for the xbox 360

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review by: paulclemo date: 2007-04-26 rating:
Excellent addictive game
I think that this is a really good game. Playing the career mode in snooker, it's quite tough. It's fairly addictive because it takes time to build your way up the ranking. The gameplay is realistic, and I think that the graphics are pretty good.

A good feature is that you can hold down a button whilst the computer is compiling a break, and it skips extremely quickly through their shots. Therefore, when playing a top player who rattles in a century, it only takes about a minute of your time. Because of this, I've playing the tournaments in full length. A best of 9 doesn't take too long at all.

Only downside I can see is that the pool is a bit poor. So if you bought the game for this reason, then I wouldn't recommend it. It's too hard to see which colour is which, and the rules are a bit strange. However, if it's snooker you like, then it's a definate purchase.


review by: S.J.L date: 2007-04-11 rating:
Floated into BOREDOM!!

This was ourdone by far by the ps3!
No action really
and the graphics
were a bit shabby!!

I didn't have fun either!

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