Game Review: On Cue (Atari, Mastertronic)

Sports games have been around on computers and consoles since the industry began with Atari’s Pong, so its no surprise that almost every sport has had one or more games dedicated to it. In the case of Mastertronic’s On Cue, they went one better and covered not just one but two with both Snooker and Pool featured in a single release…

On Cue – A Game Of Two Halves…

Okay, we’re not talking about football here, but the first thing you notice about On Cue is that the game is split into two separate loads – one for Snooker and one for Pool. Considering the fact that this was written for the 800XL, XE and 130XE systems, there was no need to split it into two separate files and surely it could have been run as one file with a menu option to choose which game at the start as they’re essentially running on the same core game engine?

The Games

On Cue offers the option to play a traditional game of snooker or 8-ball pool, both with 1 or two players with a third option to watch a CPU vs CPU match. Once you’ve set the match type, you hace a choice of CPU difficulty settings then it’s on to the match itself. In both games you only get to play a single frame so there’s no opportunity to play a series of matches or tournaments against multiple CPU opponents.

Controls are simple enough, with everything done with the joystick from positioning the cursor to targe your shot, setting spin on the cue ball, and setting the power of your shot.

Playability

When it comes to the games themselves, each plays reasonably well and will offer you a decent amount of replayability thanks to the varying difficulty settings and the unpredicatble nature of the games themselves. The only thing that does let them down is the accuracy of the aiming and angles of shots aren’t as perfect as you would hope.  Not only that but the CPU – even on the lowest setting – seems to be a much better player and can get shots that seem impossible to the player so it does add to unnecessary frustration.

For Those Of You Watching In Black And White, The Pink Is Next To The Green…

Sadly On Cue isn’t without its flaws. The speed of the cue ball seems inconsistent and this really impacts on the gameplay. You can set a shot to maximum power and it will fly around the table, then do the same for your next shot and it will barely reach from corner to corner. I also experienced times when the ball accelerated for no reason near to the pockets.

Those were relatively minor issues though. The worst offender was a game-breaking glitch that I encountered during a game of Pool when two balls slowly approached each other. As they got closer they slowed down and ended up occupying the same space as they collided. The sound effect of them hitting played repeatedly in a never-ending loop and the game locked up and wouldn’t progress onto the next move, leaving me with no option but to reset the game. Fortunately I only encountered this once but it was still frustrating to see.

Graphics And Sound

Visually Sean du Bray has managed to quite a good job here using an 8 colour palette to get everything working well on screen. Movement of the balls is quite smooth although there is some slowdown when a large number are in motion at once but the most important thing here is that each colour is easy to distinguish in both games and that works extremely well and I would say that was down to the decision to use black for the table rather than green to help everything stand out.

Sound, on the other hand, is something of a let down. There is nothing more than blips as balls make contact with each other and no other effects and no music whatsoever. I wasn’t expecting any sort of stunning effects but something a little more give On Cue a little more life.

Overall

I really did enjoy playing On Cue and despite the reservations some have had playing the other versions of the game, I definitely found the Atari version to be a fun diversion for a few hours and for a budget game that’s all that matters. Is it the best budget game ever? No, but it’s not an awful snooker game either and certainly worth the money and a great game to run alongside their Atari conversion of 180. One worth taking a look at.

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