Snooker Blitz Review

Snooker is one of the most skillful sports in the world and whilst many find it a bore-fest to watch on the TV, I adore it. Many who know nothing about Snooker probably won’t understand just how much skill is required to even be competent in playing it, let alone becoming a seasoned pro. Unfortunately, Snooker games are very rare on consoles these days and we haven’t seen anything worthy of a mention since Snooker 19. Snooker Blitz is currently available on Xbox and with the game being free to play I was wary of how it would play without an entry cost involved.

The development team of Snooker Blitz have specialised in sports games over the years, with Snooker Nation Championship in 2016, Pool Blitz, Pool Nation/FX and Sports Bar VR. Having played the majority of these, I can see how the quality of games has improved as time has progressed. The question is though, is Snooker Blitz worthy of a download even being free to play? My answer is yes and no, and I’ll explain why.

Pay To Win?

As I have already mentioned Snooker Blitz is free to play and is an online-only game so it is reliant on others playing online. I presume it is cross-platform so pulls players in that way. You have a set number of coins to start with, a basic cue and away you go. Playing matches have an entry cost of coins and winning receives more than you bet. You also climb leagues depending on your performance from match to match. If you want to get competitive there are also weekly tournaments with qualifiers and further matches if you perform well. Top prizes will see you raking in the rewards so it is worth playing these.

Each cue has “three charges” and what this means is that whilst you have these in place, you’ll have perks for your cue such as assists for your shots. You’ll be able to see which direction your ball will go and also where the cue ball will end up after the shot. If your cue isn’t charged at all then you lose access to these perks unless you spend money on gems to recharge the cue or spend the gems you accumulate in chests. Ultimately though you’ll feel tempted to spend real money as free gems don’t come often enough.

How Does It Play

With the assists switched on the game plays fine but without it is a real challenge. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give you the option to match opponents without charged cues, so if you go in without assists you’re instantly on the back foot. Mechanically the game is sound and functions exactly how you’d expect Snooker to play out. The game performs really well on Xbox Series X with no hiccups whatsoever and matching opponents never seemed to be a problem even in the early hours. There is a paid battle pass system that is around £9.99 if you want to bring in some rewards, there is also a free tier to this with lesser rewards.

Unlocking cues is a real grind and you have to collect cards that come in chests, or you can buy these with gems with real cash. There is then a cost to unlock the cue with coins. You can see where I am headed here, it is insanely difficult to unlock gear without shelling out some form of money. Whilst I don’t expect to play the game for no cost at all, there doesn’t seem to be any worthy investment if you have to keep buying gems to have a chance at competing on the table. The entire structure of monetisation is frankly ridiculous and I’d go as far as to say it drives players away rather than keeps them.

Visuals & Audio

Cherrypopgames have done an exceptional job at recreating the visuals of a Snooker arena and how the table looks and feels. From the reflection of light off the balls to the sound of them clinking as shots are taken is spot on. You don’t see any real-life players during the game and that is understandable as there is probably a whole logistical minefield to include players. Instead, you’ll just see the cues in use with an avatar face that can be customised, obviously with heavy monetisation there are several cue designs as well.

Menus, UI and everything else throughout the game have been well-designed and easy to navigate. Hearing the official snooker anthem ring out whilst it loads is a nice touch and the commentator announcing the score every time you pot a ball is authentic and true to life.

Final Thoughts

Snooker Blitz frustrates me really as the gameplay mechanics and everything about the game itself is everything I want from a snooker game. Unfortunately, the way the microtransactions are laid out puts players at a huge disadvantage. I understand that with a game that is free to play, the revenue must come from somewhere. With most games of this nature, this is done via battle passes and cosmetics which Snooker Blitz has. The experience here is rendered almost unplayable once you run out of “Gems” that you can only accumulate from free chests that take hours to unlock or by purchasing from the store.

I’d happily have paid a small fee per month to keep fully recharged cues or invested in the battle pass if it meant that I could keep them charged for the entirety of the season. This is monetized to the same extent as you’d see mobile games encourage you to consistently spend money and that is when it starts to leave a sour taste for me. It is a shame because actually, they have built probably one of the most mechanically solid and true-to-life Snooker games I’ve ever played. But I am not willing to keep buying gems over and over again to keep playing. If they can make an affordable one-off payment for unlimited recharges or make it easier to keep investing time, my score would easily be 90%.