World Championship Snooker 2003, Electronic Games

With a successful series of year-on-year updates, Codemasters has a reputation for bringing the best and most realistic snooker games to home console. That trend is destined to continue in 2003 with the updated version, amazingly named World Championship Snooker 2003. Before we get into gameplay, let's stress that presentation and authenticity play a very important part in these games. To some, recreating the atmosphere and tension is as important as realistic ball physics, and in this respect, Codemasters has outdone itself. The environments themselves are nice to look at, if a little bland, but it's the character likenesses and movements that make all the difference. Armed with 9,000-15,000 polygons, each character looks how he should and even boasts believable facial expressions and mannerisms. Good stuff. But the proof of the pudding is, as some would have it, in the cueing, and again, like in previous versions, Codemasters has crushed the competition. Whether you just tap the ball, smash it, add topspin, backspin or sidespin, the cue ball reacts exactly like you would expect it to, and consequently, so does every other ball on the table. But with realism comes a mighty challenge. Those who have had the pleasure of playing a real game of snooker will agree that snooker is a mighty hard game to play, and to an extent, this trait is still present in World Championship Snooker 2003. It's undeniably a game of skill, but one that is rewarding, especially when your opponents are your friends. And should you get bored with the main game, Codemasters has even included two games of pool. World Championship Snooker 2003 is undoubtedly the best in the series. We look forward to next year's instalment.

Buy World Championship Snooker 2003 for 7.99 GBP

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