Snooker 19

[trying]

Amazon have inexplicably cocked up delivering their pre-orders ... now due end of May/ June (how does that even happen??)... so a couple of people I know have cancelled their orders as a result.
From all the reported bugs and criticisms I think they've had a lucky escape!
My copy not here yet

[Csmith]

I’m not defending the AI by any means because it is bad, but it’s always been notoriously difficult to simulate the way a human plays cue sports. I think it’s all done by rate of pot sucess. The better players simply pot more balls, because that’s how it is in real life. Unfortunately AI in this game seems to blind in terms of a shots difficultly. It will take on a ridiculous pot because all it’s seeing is numbers and virtually no ball is unpottable for a computer because it doesn’t take difficulty into account.

I see they've released an update. Apparently, it should address some safety issues. But the long potting is another thing that makes safety such an issue since my opponent shouldn't be taking a long red on where they need to play inch perfect to get position. I'm also having difficulty figuring out which difficulty level to go for in career mode. I started out in the Rising Stars mode in Hard and boy did I experience what it was like to be a new professional.

I got thumped every tournament by top pros and then I made it past the qualifiers only to lose to Luca. So started over and tried medium until I get hang of things and now I've lost 2 frames in three matches. I think the safety issue is the biggest thing that is causing the problem though since I struggle to get good chances on hard more. The AI just knocks in long reds or rolls up to balls.

[Billy]

The AI wasn't that Intelligent for the 2 frames I played. Ridiculous long pots taken when much easier short range pots available. I played a couple of decent safeties also, and it was pointless, because both times AI potted crazy thin long pots, no professional would ever attempt.

Will report back once I've put in another few hours.

I’m not defending the AI by any means because it is bad, but it’s always been notoriously difficult to simulate the way a human plays cue sports. I think it’s all done by rate of pot sucess. The better players simply pot more balls, because that’s how it is in real life. Unfortunately AI in this game seems to blind in terms of a shots difficultly. It will take on a ridiculous pot because all it’s seeing is numbers and virtually no ball is unpottable for a computer because it doesn’t take difficulty into account.

[Mark187187]

The AI wasn't that Intelligent for the 2 frames I played. Ridiculous long pots taken when much easier short range pots available. I played a couple of decent safeties also, and it was pointless, because both times AI potted crazy thin long pots, no professional would ever attempt.

Will report back once I've put in another few hours.

[Billy]

Well, the toys are back in the pram and I've given the game another chance, and while I'm still gutted you can't create a character (or at least choose from a few generic models and name them as you see fit), I was in a better mental state this time to give the gameplay itself more of a workout. Having got more of a feel for playing positional shots, I have to say it feels very satisfying to pot a red and finish perfect on your chosen colour. The TV cameras views look, at times, uncannily realistic, and the switching between overhead and floor cameras has been captured very well.

The method for shooting, however, feels completely counter-intuitive to me.

Spotted a few bugs, which I shall double up in the appropriate thread.

• I got called for a foul after playing away from a touching ball (the ref does declare these so it certainly wasn't a mistake on my part).

• The path marker for the object ball appears to be slightly off when compared to the same marker when viewed in 'cuecam'

• Sometimes the buttons when scrolling through menus don't work, i.e. 'X' for Advance and 'O' for Back, and need to be pressed two or three times before they respond.

[Billy]

Lol..........

I know I'm sounding like a smacked arse, but I don't care. I'm going to sulk and I'm going to moan and whinge for a few days now.

I forced myself to start a career, and I felt about as involved in proceedings as... something that doesn't feel involved in proceedings. And it's not just that I had to assume the identity of an already existing player, the gameplay felt off, too. The AI is laughable (Murphy pots a long red, perfect on the black... and pots a dead-weight yellow off its spot instead). It was a qualifier, so no crowd there, but still applause for good shots. There's also a stupid and totally unnecessary flashy edit transition after every shot.

It pains me to say it, but I can't see me going back to this again. I've had the game installed for less than 30 minutes and I'm finished with it

[trying]

Comedy central that huge numbers of pre-orders haven't been delivered and looking like being delayed until the end of May

[jrc750]

Lol..........

[Billy]

The game’s ruined before I’ve even started. I’m genuinely gutted. One of my main fears is there - no ability to create your own player (at least not one I can find). I cannot believe you’re forced to play as an existing player!!! How the feck are you supposed to feel involved... become immersed, when you’re playing as someone else???

[Billy]

You’ve no idea how hard I had to resist reading the post above, but I flatly refuse to until I’ve played it. Unfortunately that’s not going to be until late tomorrow night because as soon as I’ve picked it up tomorrow morning I’m going to be out till late evening.

[Csmith]

Oddly, it was available for me to download on PSN this morning. That was a nice surprise. I got a couple of frames in and I have to say I enjoy it. I would definitely recommend the harder aiming aids, especially if you have spent any time playing the pure pool/snooker series. The graphics were not all that bad, the table and area directly surrounding the players look good enough. The players look ok, not great but ok. They at least look better than the models from WSC 11. The game can actually look quite good at times. The table is a bit quick, but I don't think it's too much quicker than a star with brand new cloth.

I have two main gripes so far. First, the big one, the AI doesn't play proper safeties, It just rolls up to balls and plays negative safeties. I'm hoping that is a glitch that can get patched out since even WSC 11 would play standard safeties off the pack. The second is a very minor complaint/wish for the career mode. I would have preferred having my first matches being in Qschool and getting to qualify for the tour. I really enjoy the feeling of progression in sports career modes where you feel your character progressing from the low levels up to the big stage. A great example of this is MLB the Show where your first games are on AA teams playing in very small venues. For snooker, I would prefer starting in Qschool and essentially playing on the outside tables unless I go up against a top player and eventually earn the right to play on tv tables regularly. Again it's a very small thing, and doesn't really impact the enjoyment of the game.

[Billy]

Called in at Game on my way home from work and they confirmed my pre-order has arrived. Buggers wouldn’t let me take it, though, because it’s not officially released until tomorrow. Damn red tape!!

[Billy]

Guess it just the way the pre-orders work as midnight will be the 17th so they have to go by the 17th I guess

That’s my whole point. Midnight on Tuesday (I.e. tonight) will be the 17th. Midnight on Wednesday will be the 18th. Maybe this is a conversation lost in translation. Where I come from, midnight on Tuesday is still Tuesday, even though it’s technically Wednesday.

[NUT]

Guess it just the way the pre-orders work as midnight will be the 17th so they have to go by the 17th I guess

[Billy]

My store pre-order all downloaded and ready to go..................Just a pity I can't play to midnight wednesday

Why midnight? The release date is 17th (Wednesday). I'd have thought that would mean you can play midnight Tuesday.

I thought about buying it digitally, just to make sure I could get it on the DoR, but then realised that if my console goes bump for any reason, I've lost the game.