Gameplay - Good Graphics - Good Sound - Bad Overall - Worth playing for cue sport enthusiasts.
In the sound department I cant hear any difference between this game and the 2007 version, which is very disappointing. When you consider there have also been a couple of more recent versions of the game since 2007, its ridiculous that the sounds haven't been updated. The commentary is just stupid drivvle with no reference to the match you are playing at all. The crowd over react to quite insignificant shots which is off putting. The sound of the shots being taken are all the same whether the ball is hit hard or soft.
The gameplay is good once your in a match. The aiming system is very helpful for beginners and in general its fun to play snooker and 8 ball pool. Unfortunately they have left out 9 ball pool. There should be a 9 ball season to go along with the snooker season and 8 ball season. The snooker season is quite good as it has all the real tournaments and a world ranking system and several types of stats relating to your general play on the table. The 8 ball season on the other hand seems to be just one tournament, as far as I can see, and there is no mention of quarter finals, semi finals or final, just round 1, round 2 etc. This is not realistic and doesn't help with building a sense of climax towards the end of the tournament. I won the 8 ball tournament on the first go so now Ive no reason to go back to it. A season with one tournament cannot be called a season. Correct me if I'm wrong about this please.
My general feeling after playing this game and the 2007 version is that they've just taken the 2007 game and shined some things up a bit, but a lot of the things that were wrong with the 2007 game are still wrong with this one. The sound is the same, the ranking system is exactly the same including your starting rank (52) and the amount of points you start on (39,650 I think) and they've even taken out the pool ranking! This type of thing just makes it blatantly obvious that the makers haven't put enough effort into it. Another thing, after you line up your shot and press x your character then proceeds to take the shot, which is fine, but no matter what type of spin you put on the cue ball he always lines up aiming right at the top of the cue ball. This is inaccurate and off putting. Of the game makers, it seems like there were some people involved who knew just a little about the world of cue sports, but they didn't know a lot about what gamers expect when it comes to the menus and options part of a sports game. Check out the Tiger Woods golf games, there are tonnes of options and the menus flow a lot better.
I was disappointed overall but gave it 6/10 because of the graphics upgrade and it would be decent for newcomers who haven't played the previous versions, but it does seem half assed.