Alex Higgins World Snooker

Copyright : Amsoft | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Another of the Amsoft free games that was packaged with some of the machines here in the UK (software number 978 to be exact) is Alex Higgins World Snooker.

Yes set back in the day when this man was considered a legend, now he?s just "that Snooker player that smoked a lot" Gem Software decided to create a video game of this sporting/pub classic and attach Alex?s name to the title - it?s worked in the past so why not?
Anyway on with the review....

Graphics

Gem Software did the correct thing and ditched the very badly done 3D approach to Snooker games which most big names decided to use (Firebird is just one of them) and opted for the top-down approach to the game. As you can expect from this style of game there isn?t many things that can go wrong with the graphics and we must say that we were more than impressed with the representation of the snooker table, the only thing missing that was shown in newer Snooker games (Team 17?s arcade game for example) is the snooker que which has been replaced by questions and visual aids - not bad but we do prefer the que.

Sound

In terms of sound Gem have done what so many other developers did and simply added a title track to the start of the game before turning off the sound all together - it?s not a bad thing because it helps you concentrate but you do miss the sound of balls hitting each other (snooker balls I mean).

Gameplay

The game itself is pretty simple to play, all you have to do is place the que ball, then set the direction you would like to hit the ball, set the spin and let if go. For anyone that doesn?t know the rules of Snooker we would advise that you either search the net for information OR just play the game anyway and learn by your mistakes, after all that?s how most of us got playing down the local pub.

As with all Snooker sims you?ll miss your pint of lager and seeing the occasional leggy girl walk past with all your mates whistling while you choke on your pint but if you can set all that up in your bedroom or better still your living room without getting any hastle from your mrs then you?ll never know the difference.

Alex Higgins World Snooker is a great game indeed any perhaps one of the best in this genre on the Amstrad plus it came free to most gamers with your CPC - good old Amsoft eh.