Cheap Jimmy White Cue Ball World (Software) (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me) Price

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Customer Reviews of Jimmy White Cue Ball World

Firstly the graphics. All in all, they're pretty impressive, with the tables looking beautiful, as well as some rather interesting backgrounds, meaning that you've got more to look at than simply the balls. Your computer opponent, instead of being a fully animated, virtual player, appears in the form of a pair of hands and a cue. This works quite well in allowing you, the player, too see everything that's happening, even if the camera is placed behind him. Generally the graphics fit the genre well, being pretty at the same time as practical.

No one should have any particular problem with the controls as they can be set however you prefer them from the user-friendly options screen. I fid it easiest to use the mouse for most of the aiming and shooting, but you may disagree. The only problem I have encountered with the controls is that, generally, if you push the mouse too far forward on a shot, to give the cue ball a great whack, it often doesn't touch the ball at all, meaning that you have to slow down your mouse movement.

Now onto the most important part, the games play itself. Although this game does boast having "advanced physics and superbly accurate ball kinetics" there do seem to be some problems with the realism within the game which can range from barely noticeable, to downright frustrating. One of these is the break off. Often for seemingly no reason the ball will travel off of the triangle and straight into the bottom pocket. Now, I play quite a bit of snooker, and know that this is incredibly difficult to do, even if you are aiming for it yet is seems to be a regular occurrence in the game. Another problem is the cue chalk. The game requires you to chalk your own cue when required, which is fair enough, but this "requirement" seems to be just about every shot. Forget to chalk your cue even once, and you can expect the shot to miscue, even without hardly any spin. Aside from the actual physics of the game, there are some problems with the computer opponents in the single player matches. One issue, which becomes more frustrating as the games progress is the speed of the CPU player. He travels around the table as fast as a paralysed slug and often stands still, as if he's fallen asleep when it's his shot. There really should be an option to speed him up somewhere. Also, sometimes when you lining up to take a shot, he'll all of a sudden just decide to chalk his cue right in front of you, or just put his hands on the table, where you're cueing...you know, just like the professionals do on the television. However, the most annoying point about the computer player has to be the blatant inconsistency of their skills. For example, some of the medium ranked players will do numerous amazing shots until all of a sudden, they realise that they are playing out of their rank, and so make the most stupid shot in the world to give you a chance. This is just basic bad programming, and shouldn't happen in any game.

Altogether, Jimmy White's Cueball World is a pretty enjoyable experience, if you can get over some of the niggles of the game. This game is definitely best played in two player, with a friend, as it just seems to be much fairer that way, unless you're a die hard Snooker (or Jimmy White) fan, then you might want to buy it for the single player alone.