The one thing you can guarantee about snooker players is that they’re pretty damned good at pool as well. I mean, look at Steve Davis for example. Sure, he may be getting on a bit compared to some of the “kids in waistcoats” but he has been known to take part in some of the major tournaments of the 8-ball and 9-ball variety. It’s just a good job for the rest of us that we can get some practice in with the help of Sony’s latest downloadable cue game, Hustle Kings.
I may as well get this part out of the way quickly; this looks stunning for a PSN title. Everything is really crisp and stylish in hi-res and really sets your eyes off on a trip of delirium as they see the bright and varied locales, with some of these fancy bars even having water features, most probably stolen from Alan Titchmarch’s back garden, but just don’t tell anyone. Even the balls and tables have a reassuring gloss and sharpness that is pleasing to see, and this gets even more luxurious when you begin to unlock other stuff, like neon lit pool balls. Ok, perhaps Premiership footballers and Peter Stringfellow may have them for real, but it’s a cool thing for us normal people. It is a really impressive title, visually. It may not have the crowd or players of something like the WSC series, but when all you’re there to do is pot hard, small spherical objects into 6 equally shaped pockets, you’re not really all that bothered. I know I’m not.
There is a heck of a lot of choice on offer in Hustle Kings, it has to be said. The offline mode offers all the different types as their own option, but these are all contained in the career. We have US 8-ball, 9-ball from Europe, as well as trick shots, and the clean up sections, being timed and shot limited, with you having to clear the table in both ways respectively. Other modes include Cut-throat, which has you compete against 2 other players with the objective being to pot their balls before all of yours are. Survivor has you having to make pots every shot, with no fouls or incorrect shots, or else it’s all over. You begin to unlock more different gameplay models as you progress though the career, including a cool little idea called, for reasons unknown to me, simultaneous 14 – 1. In this you play against a set number of opponents and the task is simply to pot 30 balls first, but the pressure can build as the finishing line gets ever closer, especially on the higher difficulty.
As the settings get ever harder, Hustle Kings comes into its own, as the guiding line that makes a lot of the first few games ever so easy begins to shrink, you start to see yourself getting your eye in, which is a damned sight harder in the snooker games than it is here. I never feel comfy playing the green baize titles on anything harder than easy, mainly because when you take that line of salvation away, a feeling of uselessness creeps in until you switch it off. Here it is a little bit different, as you still believe you have a chance of getting a decent break going, which is a great plus point. What may also contribute to this is the control system, which allows for the analogue stick to be used as the cue with your power and striking accuracy defined by one fluid movement. You can keep the traditional X button press at the right moment method active, but I feel this new approach works really well and is a very skillful, yet simple way of getting through the frames.
I really don’t know where the music comes from though; suffice to say there’s never been a more varied mix of tunes in a game for some time. There isn’t a huge range to choose from, don’t get me wrong, but what is there is certainly novel. Rap music gives you that cool, modern feel as you get started and then from there it changes into more eclectic, easy listening stuff, but not the sort you’d find in a dodgy department store as you head to the Tupperware, with the occasional funk ridden organ jobs thrust in the mix to spice it up a bit. You WILL find yourself occasionally tapping your feet and wishing you could stop.
There are some gripes I have with the game though, which although minor, are worthy of mention. Now, I know EA have started allowing people to buy items from their in-game stores using real currency instead of the credits they’ve won, but 20p for a square of chalk just seems a bit silly. It’s all that is there just now, but I can only imagine what else is possible further down the line. We pay enough for games in the first place without having to fork out any more. The fine tune button doesn’t really allow you to manipulate the guide line anywhere near as much as you wish. You can see yourself trying to slowly adjust it to get things just right, only for it to fly off past where you want it to be. A little bit of tweaking or even a patch would make all the difference here. If I had to be REALLY picky (which most readers will know I usually am) I’d have to say that the avatars just don’t seem to fit in with the cosmetics of the rest of the game. It looks like someone has cut out pictures from a paper and stuck them on my telly. You spend all that time creating something this nice to do that? Just doesn’t quite fit.
Hustle Kings is a very good pool game. It does what you want it to do and in a very simple, yet elegant manner. It looks like it has the bling to warrant the rap-style feel and it contains a very well made control system to have you play for minutes or hours and not get bored or frustrated.
That boy Davis had better watch out…
VideogameUK verdict: 8/10
