Jimmy White's Cueball 2, PC CD-Rom, £29.99Jimmy White is probably the world's most popular snooker player. His uninhibited playing style and misfortune in never winning the world championship, despite several appearances in the final, have endeared him to millions. In the same way that White is a master of the table, Archer Maclean's name is synonymous with snooker simulations and his previous titles have also been endorsed by the "Whirlwind".
The latest Cueball 2 includes darts, slot machines, draughts and the video game classic Dropzone as well as snooker and pool. The draughts and the darts games are useful additions, but DropZone and the slot machine games seem unnecessary, as is the "BeeCam" mode, which gives a guided tour of the snooker and pool rooms, where clicking on items gives a closer look. Who needs a guided tour of a snooker table?
Once past all the eye candy to a real game of snooker or pool, Cueball 2 doesn't disappoint - it is realistic to a fault. For instance, a player who forgets to chalk the cue for a few shots increases the chances of a miscue, but alas cannot rip the cloth. The game supports Internet, network and serial connections for multi-player games, while in single-player mode, the goal is to play and beat White himself.
As in real life, that will take some doing. There are aids, such as the white line which indicates the direction of the cueball, and the power meter which shows how hard the ball will be struck.
Setting up a shot can be tedious it will take nigh on an hour to clear the table. That said, there is no better simulation of the game around.
[Req: Pentium 166 MMX/32MB/ Win 9x]
Ridge Racer Type 4, Sony PlayStation, £39.99
Gran Turismo is the benchmark for all motor racing games, deservedly, because of its realism and playability, but fantasy can be more fun than playing at driving cars of the real world at real speeds.
Ridge Racer Type 4, on the other hand, allows a player to run riot in outlandish cars. This is arcade-style racing at its best - fast, fun and furious.
In grand prix mode there are four levels of difficulty and success is often rewarded with a new car. Although the cars don't look quite as good as in Gran Turismo, the taillight blurring from vehicles ahead is impressive. The intro sequence is extremely well polished, as is almost everything in Ridge Racer Type 4. Those who just want to put the pedal to the floor and be immersed in high-speed should find it just what they need.
While Sony pursues a restraining order against Connectix, maker of the Virtual Game Station for the Mac, another company has launched a PlayStation emulator for PCs. Bleem! is a remarkably small executable (340KB) which emulates the PlayStation and claims support for 3D cards and joysticks.
The demo version, available from www.bleem.com, has some features disabled, including sound and memory card simulation, but it runs most PlayStation CDs with ease. Games can be run in a small window, but full-screen they look as good as the real thing. Games tested successfully include Ridge Racer Type 4, Crash Bandicoot 3, NHL Faceoff '99 and Everybody's Golf. It looks like Sony has another battle on its hands.
games@irish-times.ie