Steve Davis Snooker

Copyright : Blue Ribbon | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

The most famous Snooker player on the planet takes to the Amstrad table to shoot it out. One or Two player snooker simulator.

Choose to play a full UK game of snooker with 15 red balls or the shorter version with only the 10.

Given away on the covertape of Amstrad Action #90, Steve Davis Snooker was the first sportsman licensed game on the Amstrad fact fans!

Graphics

Viewed from above, Steve Davis Snooker is much like every other 8-bit snooker game and there is little here to differentiate it at all. The red borders around the baize of the table are a strange choice considering the majority of the balls are red but it doesn?t really detract from the game at all.

Wisely, CDS have provided an option allowing green screen users to have numbered balls. This option can help those unfamiliar with the rules of snooker too and provide a simple cheat sheet if you will!

Menu layouts are clear and the loading screen is high quality as well with a good pixelated version of The Nugget himself.

Colours aren?t quite what they could be though as the brown ball looks a little orange and the pink is more purple but at least you can?t confuse them with the others. A small gripe perhaps but this is a snooker game after all!

Sound

Arghh!!! The cursor makes a noise and it?s horrifyingly grating! Thankfully there?s an option to turn this sonic atrocity off. Sadly, there?s nothing else of note though. Some clinks when balls hit off one another and a little tone to indicate a ball potted.

Gameplay

Similar to a real game of snooker in as much as it?ll take a number of games before you can hope to master the game, Steve Davis Snooker?s physics engine is very good and unlike Amsoft?s Alex Higgins game, you won?t find yourself scratching your head as to how you were able to pull off that shot.

Steve Davis Snooker allows you to play a one or two player game. The only difference with the one player game is that your foul shots are totted up and it also keeps track of how many trips to the table you required. It?s an unusual inclusion and nowhere near as good as a proper one player game against a computerised opponent

Another factor hampering the game is the poor cursor control system that doesn?t accept diagonal commands meaning you have to move along the X-axis and Y-axis separately which can become terribly frustrating. It might not affect the way the game plays but it?s still a major irritant especially if you forget to turn off that cursor noise!

Not as charming as Alex Higgins World Snooker, even if it is a more accurate game, Steve Davis Snooker now comes across as a dated effort with too many flaws to be worth bothering with. Play Yahoo Pool instead!