Controlling the cue is the most important feature of the game and Blade Interactive have created a control that is simple to use but with enough depth to make it hard to master. When taking a shot you are provided with some handy arrows to assist you in your aiming. The yellow arrows show the path that the shot will take, and the blue ones show were the cue ball will go when it connects. The path arrows can be influenced by power and spin. There's both the option for a power bar that you set with the A button and analogue control much like say, swinging your club in Tiger Woods. Personally, I think that using the power bar is the more wise decision as it allows for much more accuracy when controlling the power of your shots, but at least the option is there for both control types unlike in last years version. Spin can be added to the ball via the B button, X controls the height of your cue tip and the L trigger allows for slower, fine tuning when lining up your angles.
The main single player section of the game is the Tour mode. Here, you will compete in all the major tournaments such as the British Open and World Championships. Before starting as season, you must select the length of each match, be it a one frame win to a full-length game that is 35 frames (in the final). By winning games you accumulate points which are then added to your world ranking. As in reality, if you don't have a high world ranking, you must partake in a qualifying match before playing against a first round opponent and in some tournaments, if you are not good enough, you cannot even enter. While the LG Tour is the main meat of the game there's more on offer.
With a Break like that it's going to go down to the wire.
Pool, both 8 and 9-ball, is also included in WSC2005 which is always inviting to play after long sessions of Snooker. While the game mechanics doesn't quite suit Pool as well as in dedicated pool games like Pool Paradise, it plays well enough. As with 2004's version, World Snooker Championship 2005 features more Trickshots than ever before. John Virgo's Trickshot mode has Virgo himself taking you through each shot before you try it yourself. The Trickshots mode is unlocked from the start and once the first trick is completed, subsequent Trickshots are unlocked by completing the previous shot. A demonstration can be selected that will take you through any of the shots incase you're not quite doing things right. Overall, it’s another decent bonus addition which does offer the occasional deviation from the standard snooker and pool games.
Graphically just about everything you could expect to see in a real live match has been impressively recreated and at brief glances it’s hard if it's a game or you're watching it on TV. All the big names from the professional circuit have been included in the game from the likes of Ronnie O' Sullivan to the past masters of Steve Davies and beyond. Each player looks very much like the real thing thanks to perfectly motion captured player models and animations (although Higgin's hair appears to be red for some reason, I'm not quite sure why). As well as the players, the top snooker arenas have been recreated well with all the details you'd expect adding extra authenticity to the game. The table can be seen from a variety of camera angles, from a first person perspective to an overhead view, which can be especially handy when lining up your shot. Replays are shown automatically if the shot was very good or you can view the last eight shots manually. The physics on the balls are practically faultless and everything move realistically when struck. Other little details, like the referee re-spotting balls which you have potted and all the little player animations really show the polish gone into the presentation. While these animations can slow down play a little, there is the option to turn them off which is a great addition.
Unfortunately, the commentary provided by John Virgo isn't of the same high quality. Throughout every much his tone of voice just sounds totally uninterested in what's happening on screen. Thankfully, Virgo has now been joined with John Parrot and Steve Davis to give the impression of a far more realistic atmosphere, though they are all guilty of calling things that don't match what is happening on screen. Other areas of the sound is equally authentic. From the coughs, claps and the occasional mobile phone ringing in game to the proper music used for the TV coverage in the menus and the referee counting up the score during matches, the developers have recreated the feel and atmosphere of Snooker very well. The in-game music on the other hand, is hideous, so the custom soundtrack support is a godsend.
Just one of the many Trickshots on offer...
Sounds like the ultimate Snooker game doesn't it? Well, it would have been if it wasn't for one problem - the difficulty settings. The easy setting caters well for beginners offering large arrows for both potting and the movement of the cueball after the shot connects. Once you're used to the game it becomes too much of a help and you find yourself missing very few shots. Unfortunately the next harder setting up from that takes too much away leaving you left with very short guide arrows thus shooting the difficulty right up so those playing on beginner wanting more of a challenge face a tough uphill struggle. A middle-ground between the 2 settings or some adjustable length settings would have been perfect. The AI too can be pretty ruthless at times, especially as you cannot set any difficulty level for the Tour Mode. Once you start getting to the more important games, the CPU can be at the table for ages.
My other niggles with the game are mainly on the online aspect of it. While they have thankfully allowed Pool to be played online and you can play doubles with 4 players, the stats are easily cheated meaning the leaderboards mean nothing. There's not a huge amount of people playing it online either, and while that's not really a fault of the game, it really is a game more intended for friends to play together I feel rather than going online to find some random human opposition any time you feel like it. The custom player editor is a bit of a letdown too. It’s extremely basic when you compare it to what the likes of Tiger Woods or Tony Hawks Underground have on offer. Given how Snooker is, it's understandable that it's limited the way it is, but when you can't even make female players it's maybe a little too limited.
The biggest problem facing Snooker games in general is the fact that it's a genre with so very little competition. While the likes of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer are battling each other every year in an attempt to make their game a better game than the oppositions, the World Snooker Championship games do not have anything to compete with, at least not on consoles. It has nothing to measure itself against and nothing to 'steal' ideas from, so what we're left with is something that is practically the same as what we had last year, and the year before that. But at the end of the day, Snooker is Snooker. Plain and simple, if you don’t like the actual sport, than you are not going to like this game but if you play snooker, or are a keen watcher of it on TV, then World Snooker Championship 2005 is worth your time. It has its problems, but it plays well. While there's lots to do for the single player it's for multiplayer that I would recommend this game for. Plus, with the inclusion of online play for up to 4 players, it gives Xbox Live a bit of variety in amongst all the FPS's and Racing games.
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