by: John Olin

November 17, 2005

Bankshot Billiards is the first and only billiards/pool game available on Xbox Live Arcade at the launch of Xbox 360. At a whooping 12000 points ($15.00) you would think this would be the cream of the crop of billiards right? Well it isn’t. The simple fact is, you can play many different kinds of billiards such as 8-Ball, 9-Ball, Trickshots and so on, but the game’s physics and how it works is to lose. Don’t get me wrong, I love billiards, in fact it is one of my favorite hobbies besides playing videogames, but this game just doesn’t make the cut. When you are shooting the ball it feels as if though the balls are on green fuzzy ice, moving to fast and loose. You can’t position your ball in any fancy shots, and so you continuously shoot the ball simply by lining up a shot and pressing A.

The game’s presentation is pretty bare bones, showing only the table from above, and the pool cue. No other angles included. The music in and sounds in the game are pretty standard affair as well. The only saving grace of the game is the leader boards, the ability to play with another player on your system, or online. Still, it is a pretty boring proposition and most billiards fans will probably get rather annoyed by the game. Considering the game is also basically fifteen dollars, it is a total rip-off. What is even worse is this game is otherwise free on MSN Gamezone.

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I recommend you do not buy this game, that is all there is to it. There are plenty other Xbox Live Arcade titles worth your time.

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