The Evolution of My Favourite Sport Game Series
by user Alex Holowczak
Inspired by seeing Madden evolve, I thought I'd do the same for my own favourite game, and a popular bestseller in Britain - the World Championship Snooker series.
2000
Codemasters
made the first ever World Championship Snooker game, and it is a gaming classic. It was the first game that offered aiming aids, that could help any duffer become World Champion. After a Round Robin qualification, you were entered into a 16-player World Championship. The matches were only 3 or 5 in the qualifiers, up to no more than 11 in the Final in long mode. The game was very unrealistic. Shots along a cushion were easy, as were long blues to corner pockets (although often the CPU used to screw the white into the middle pockets!). It was easy to play. On this game, I was World Champion many times over, and made many 147 maximum breaks. It had very few of the top players on. It had
Stephen Hendry,
Mark Williams and
Ken Doherty, but there was no
John Higgins (1998 World Champion). Still, the game was a success, if unrealistic. The graphics and physics were brilliant, even if every break off led to the same result. The music was great too.
2002
On
the back of unexpected success, Codemasters released a new version in 2002. It was very similar to before in all facets of gameplay, but included more players. It had a full tour mode, including other tournaments, not just the World Championship. It still had the problem of unrealism, and a lack of professional players. The graphics improved slightly. This game was not such a success, as it differed very little from the original.
2003
Codemasters
improved the gameplay with 8 and 9 Ball Pool now an option. The music and graphics improved from 2002, but the problem of unrealism reached a low. Codemasters improved it, so that humans could not play the same unrealistic shots as before with the same success. However, the CPU still could! As a result, it was difficult to get anywhere on it. The tour mode was still there, and there were increased players. The positional play was impossible to master. Still no improvement on the 2000.
2004
Another
try from Codemasters. They focused on the history of snooker, with a Past Champions Trophy, and a picture to unlock of each player. The problem, was that the unrealism remained. The CPU was still dominant over the human, and only a cheat to control your opponent could help you. Whilst you could complete the game in this way, it was very unsatisfying. It was difficult to control the cueball. It seemed the series would peter out.
2005
Codemasters
sold the gaming rights to Sega. They made adjustments to the title - moving it from World Championship Snooker to World Snooker Championship. Gameplay improved. The tour still existed, and now every single professional player was on the game, apart from
Jimmy White. The problem of realism was vastly improved - no longer did the CPU have the advantage. Getting to World Number 1 was now a possibility, and every game seemed to be fair in that respect. The graphics were improved, and all other game formats remained. Doubles, Billiards (albeit with wrong rules) and Bar Billiards were included, along with Snooker Plus. It featured awful commentary and music however. The presentation was the same as the BBC production, giving it increased realism. It's major downfall was the cueball control. Any bad luck possible seemed to happen to a Human controller. The game was a nevertheless a success, and Sony looked to continue the game.
2007
The 2007 version broke the tradition of being released in May after the World Championship. Whereas WSC was released in May 2005, the 2007 version was released in Autumn 2006, timed for the start of the snooker season. The game offered increased realism, and many pool tournaments in a bid to sell in both the USA and Europe. The Mosconi Cup was now available, as well as a World Trickshot Cup, an improvement on the random trickshot mode of before. The create a player was improved, a Golden Cue improvement came, where you can now play pool and snooker in the same match! There was a cueball control tool, that allowed you to control the white with better accuracy than ever before. There are still question marks about the commentary. Time will tell if this game is a success.
The game has seen many changes over the years, and 2005 was the best version since the original in 2000. The new version looks set to be an improvement on that, so I hope that this will become the best version ever.
Knowing You're Interested In This Sort Of Thing - WCS Covermen
- 2000 Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Ken Doherty
- 2002 Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ken Doherty, John Higgins
- 2003 Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark King, John Higgins
- 2004 Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Steve Davis, Ronnie O'Sullivan
- 2005 Paul Hunter, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis
- 2007 Unknown
As far as I can tell, there isn't a curse of any sort.
Date
Tue 10/03/06, 8:53 am EST
