Things I hate about WSC 2005 (PC version)

[Smersh]

There's quite a few things I don't like about this game and I'm hoping that Real 2009 for the PC (which I might buy, not sure yet) doesn't have any of the following features ...

* No option to move camera around the table to see if a ball passes other balls etc.

* Really annoying sound effect that plays every time a menu item is clicked on - no option to shut the sound down. ("Sound Effect" option affects ball sounds as well and cannot just shut down the annoying sound effect and still keep the ball sounds.)

* AI is too easy. Opposite to WCS 2004 where I though AI was too hard (particularly top level players.) It should be set somewhere between 2004 and 2005, imo. An even better idea would be to have a "slider" so that AI overall skill levels in Tour Mode can be moved up or down by the user at the beginning of the Tour Career.

* In Tour Mode, EVERY tournament has to be qualified for, even if your player is in top 16. Unlike real life.

* World Championship in Tour Mode only has 4 rounds - unlike real tourney where there are 5 rounds.

* No good practice options in Free Table mode. Cannot take a "mulligan" on a shot, so that balls can be reset to previous postion before shot was taken.

* Aiming aid in Free Table practice mode is full only. Cannot change to medium or short.

* Free Table practice mode enforces rules as though it's a tourney frame with foul shots etc. It's not a free table at all really and not much use for practice.

Having said all that, I'm still addicted to the game but it could have been so much better! (and my first gripe about not being able to move the camera around the table is absolutely ridiculous I feel - especially as you could move it around on earlier versions like 2003 and 2004.)

Should I buy 2009, PC version, anyone think? Cheers!

[snookerfan92]

The aiming aid for the 2004 version has arrows which are longer than the 2005 version, hence the 2004 version has easier aiming aids. But, the 2004 version has pockets which are tighter than the 2005 version, so balls are a lot trickier to pot, in the 2004 version, if you use a bit too much side. Also, in the 2005 version, the table is a little too big for my liking, whereas in the 2004 version, the table is not too big and not too small, just ideal. Many people have had problems with the new WSC real game out, just look at the reviews on amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/WSC-Real-09-...3368883&sr=8-3

I don't have the wsc real game.

[Smersh]

Thanks for the info about Real 2009. Sounds from that review like the game has some bugs which Blade will need to get sorted with a patch. A guy said he was potting the colours in a tourney frame, potted the yellow and the green, then potted the brown but didn't notice the program had wrongly respotted the green and it was called as a foul shot because he "hit the wrong ball," resulting in the AI player winning the frame ...

I played 2004 a lot as well and I think it was overall much, much better than 2005. The pockets were smaller I agree but I think probably about the correct size for average snooker tables. The only thing better in 2005 in my opinion is the ball physics - everything else is inferior to 2004 and even 2003. I just cannot understand why Blade have to start from scratch every time they bring out a new version and not keep all the good features from previous versions.

Another poor feature about 2005 is the billiards game. Billiards is an excellent game to practice for any snooker player to help find your way around the table, but the PC version has a bug that causes the AI player never to take a shot - it is always the human player's turn ...

Oh well ...