The billiards subgenre of games has never really been short of video game candidates, but in the last couple of years Sega's World Championship franchise has managed to take hold of the current console market better than any other. This year's title combines the snooker circuit with a respectable range of pool options in a bid to transfix the transatlantic market, and we took some time with the game's final code to see how the Xbox 360 version plays out.

The first thing that you notice about World Championship is that the presentation standards are particularly high. From the slick, futuristic intro screen to the extensive character customisation options, the game sets the bar high. That's something that's carried right on over into the venues, with a range of locations based on real-life events, nicely re-created real-life licensed players, and ball physics that you simply can't fault.

Everything about the look and feel of the game smacks of high production values and a love of detail. The premise is simple--set up your shots with the angle and amount of power to bring yourself on to the next ball, until you've potted them all and won the game. In practice, it's not so simple, and the snooker matches--like the real thing--can drag on for a long time. Happily, the game is simple to get into, so even if you've never stepped up to a real-life table, you should find it accessible. That said, to compete at the highest level in the game will require a decent amount of time spent practising.

Each time you line up a shot, coloured arrows onscreen represent the direction the cue ball and target ball will take, as well as some sense of where the cue ball will end up (as long as it doesn't strike any other balls). You can adjust the angle, spin, and power of the shot down to very small degrees, and with a basic knowledge of the game, you can begin building breaks pretty soon after you start playing.

When you first create a character you already have all of your basic skills, but as you win matches, you're given points to allocate to them. The specialisations include potting, position, tools, pressure, swerve, power, and spin, and while your character is capable in all of these to begin with, you can spend up to 100 points in each category over time.

What's great is that, while it can at first be tough going to estimate angles--even with the arrows to help you--as you spend more points you will find that the different areas of the game become easier. For example, spend points in the potting category and by the time you've reached 25 or so, the arrows representing the path of the target ball will have become noticeably longer, which therefore makes it possible to play with more accuracy.

It can take some time to get there, as you'll only win two or three points with each match, but it's worth persevering to beat the decidedly hard opposition--they play as they would in real life, right out of the box. There's no forgiving easy mode, and if you have the misfortune to come up against the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, be prepared to sit back and watch a pro in action. We played a best-of-three match and took only two shots, neither of which was particularly poor, but we were punished all the same.

Adding to the nice visuals is some well-put-together commentary from the BBC Sport crew in the UK: ex-players John Virgo and John Parrot, plus the legendary Steve Davis. While they can offer some good advice at times and genuinely do add to the realism of the game, they can get a little annoying--especially early on, when they'll have a go at you for taking too long to execute your shots.

You can play the game in several different modes. There are straightforward quick-play options, which drop you right into the action, and tour modes in which you compete over a number of seasons, building up money and ranking points as you go. Each of the major tournaments is playable, although you'll have to get through the qualifiers first, and some will be inaccessible until you've managed to raise your ranking to the required entry level.

As you go through the game you'll also unlock new cues to play with, although quite what feat must be completed in order to do so was a little unclear. There are also special game modes to play, golden cue and trick shot, although these too require you to unlock them by playing through the various championships with a degree of success.

If snooker's a little on the slow side for your liking, you can head over to the quicker, flashier discipline of pool and play a faster game instead. World Championship includes all of the same options for pool as for snooker, including 10 major tournaments, although the season is far quicker to get through just by virtue of the fact that a game of pool is much shorter than a frame of snooker.

Once again, winning games gives you points to spend on your attributes, although you get fewer points for pool, and you'll play both eight- and nine-ball variations during a season. There's also the option, if you like to get the best of both worlds, to play a hybrid season, and you can choose which events from each calendar to compete in. You can also sample a little billiards, or bar billiards, for a completely different experience again.

In terms of multiplayer action, you can play matches against somebody else on the same console, and connect via Xbox Live to play ranked or friendly matches across the Internet. It's worth making sure that you have the time to play a full game before you start, however, as multiplayer games tend to take a fair bit longer than single-player games, by virtue of the fact that you can't skip through your opponent's shots.

Overall, World Championship Snooker 2007 is a highly polished and extensive game that seems to make the most of the licenses available. It's available now in the UK, but a release hasn't been announced for the US territory as yet, where it will ship under the name World Pool Championship 2007--although it will feature all of the same content as the UK edition.