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Professional Snooker Simulator |
Copyright/Publisher: Codemasters, Coded by: Arcana Software Design, Sound By:
David Whittaker,
Release Year: 1988, Genre: Snooker/Pool, Number Of Players: 1 or 2
Budding Jimmy Whites who lack the necessary dexterity with a cue (or, indeed, the
fancy suit) can now take to the baize via their 64 with Code Master's latest simulation.
All the necessart rudiments of snooker are included, such as spins, fouling
rules and ball nominations, together with demo and practice modes. The view is
the standard overhead angle usually emploted in games of the type.
All moves are controlled from the keyboard, commencing with the aiming of the
cue: a 'shadow' cueball at the top of the screen shows the 'impact' position of the
ball currently in play (ie. how the cueball will strike the object ball), and
any spin that is added after the initial aim. When a red is potted, a colour
must be selected by pressing 0 (white) - 7 (black) before shooting.
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M.E. |
When I heard about this simulation, I thought, 'What else can be done in a snooker
game?' Apparently the answer is 'Not much.' It's true that just about all the rules
are included, but Code Masters could have done something more with the presentation,
perhaps a different viewpoint or a more innovative cueing system. The idea of
including a view from the cueball is a new one, but is let down by the awkward
cue positioning system, which makes aiming overly difficult. As it stands, PSS
is just another in a line of average snooker games, but if you like the odd frame
or two then you could do worse than shell out two quid for this.
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Gordon Houghton |
There have been several snooker games for the 64, but none as good as Steve Davis'
Snooker, with successive games failing to oust it. Now snooker gets the Code Masters
Simulator treatment, and develops a very interesting new feature of an object ball
in addition to the standard spin on an enlarged cue ball.
This display aids general sighting, then proficiency allows finely tuned shots
to be played. Ball inertia is someties dodgy and affects play to a limited but
niggling degree, but it's little things like that which can spoil games.
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