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 tournament at the Crucible in Sheffield, and of the three players appearing on the front cover, at the point of the review going online, Tuesday 26th April, with just a week left to go, Ronnie O'Sullivan very nearly went out in the first round after a dodgy ball and a bit of a sleepy start, but he pulled his game back at the last second, while Steve Davis was nearly wiped out in Round 2 against Mark Holt, having had to fight back 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 him the 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 of snooker as well as up and coming players. It features all the real locations from the 2004/2005 tour, all accurately modelled, including the Preston Guild Hall, Wembley Conference Centre and the aforementioned Crucible Theatre, home of the World Championships. The tournament structures are modelled exactly on their real-life equivalents and players can take part in every event on the 2004/2005 tour including the British Open, UK Championship, The Masters and the World 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 locations on the snooker books, in which to take part, as well as be able to view video footage of classic snooker clips, 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 it on the telly, although these can be turned off to save some time and just see the cueball heading off towards its destiny. I went for the latter since, while they're fun at first, shortly afterwards they become 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 balls go into the pockets and the total racked up in each one. Even the graphics for the scoreboard are also the same as the BBC's. On top of this, there's running commentary from past masters John Virgo and John Parrott, as well as the forever-ongoing Steve Davis, and I like the way they assess the state of play with regards to the points remaining and required. Surprisingly, or perhaps it's just because I enjoy the game a great deal, the commentary doesn't feel like it repeats itself adversely - a common fault amongst sporting games. (Yes, I don't like to watch many, but playing the console versions is still an 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 went on so long that the cameras were able to find the culprit and get him onscreen before he skulked back into the shadows! It's also a point worth making that the audience are animated during their applause, which makes a great change 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 need to go back and forth across the exact spot you want. I also wanted to be able to zoom from the cueball to the target ball and check the angle I should hit it from there. As it stands, I have to press the black button 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 far away, or stuck in the pocket waiting to receive the ball, and I'd rather have the ability to select the angle myself 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 little distracting but not a deal-breaker.

Outside of the main snooker game, go for the trickshots. There's ten here to try, including one or two that seem to defy the laws of physics, which you have to complete in succession - and this isn't always easy despite having a demonstration on hand to tell you how to play it. You can also play music during this 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 for a quick match or one that agrees with your opitmum settings. Alternatively, create a match and wait for someone to join. Overall, there's so much to take in here, and with all the venues, players and tournaments that you'd expect to see on the box throughout 2005, for a snooker buff like me, this is going to be one title that I'll be lucky to have even half-completed by the time the 2006 Championship comes round to the Crucible in Sheffield, a venue that, only just after this game was released, was confirmed to continue hosting this particular tournament until 2010 at the earliest, although 2005 is the last year of Embassy's sponsorship. 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 anyone who's a big snooker fan, but I am bloody useless when it comes to playing the real-life game!

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2005.