Snooker 19

THIS LIKEABLE, ULTRA-SERIOUS SIM TAKES ITS POT AT THE BIG TIME

- Dave Meikleham

For a sport that revolves around the po-faced precision placement of billiard balls, snooker can be brilliantly bonkers. Mark Williams doing a press conference in nothing but his boxers after winning the World Championship. Ronnie O’Sullivan getting knocked out by an amateur at the same event this year. Dennis Taylor wearing specs with frames so large, you could spot them from orbit. Sadly, Lab42’s sim isn’t quite as madcap.

Though Snooker 19 plays it straight with the pedestrian presentation, this cueing champ remains a quietly impressive simulation. Is it a bit light on modes? Sure. The barebones campaign, which lets you compete in a variety of licensed tournaments with either a top-tier pro or a plucky upstart amateur, has zero pizzazz. Still, at least it serves up quite the billiard banquet when it comes to players and venues. All 128 pros from the World Snooker Tour appear – even if many of them look like dead-eyed, waxy White Walkers – while official arenas from all recognized 26 tournaments also feature. If you’re a snooker obsessive, the exhaustive use of the Tour license will get your rest purring.

Doctor cue

Cueing is also very good and, crucially, reliable. When you misjudge a pot and watch in horror as that key red pings away from the pocket because you misjudged the angle, you know it’s on your own poor judgment, not wayward physics. Following an easy-to-understand three-tier structure, shooting in Snooker 19 is both responsive and rewarding… as long as you get your angles right.