Game Review: On Cue (Commodore 16 and Plus/4, Mastertronic)

As with the Commodore 64 release, On Cue for the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 has both the main cue sports games on one cassette – with one side having pool first, and then snooker afterwards, reversed on the second side with snooker first.  The title screens for each show Pool 87 and Snooker 87 respectively, with potentially the game being touted to other software companies and being re-titled by Mastertronic on the cassette cover.  The game has various options from the title screen – either to change the players with F1, being player 1 or 2 against the computer, or a two-player game.  Here there is no setting of the table, due to memory limitations, so instead F2 changes the computer difficulty level, and F3 starts the game.

Up The Pool

In pool, there are the fifteen balls, represented by seven yellow (the solids) and seven which are yellow with crosses (the stripes).  Whoever pots a ball first then goes with that chosen colour, and then pots the black once all seven are potted.  At the start, you are supposed to position the cue ball inside the D, and then the shots are taken from there.  However, here on this version, you can position the cue ball anywhere you like on the table, which defeats the object of the break off shot.  For both pool and snooker, taking a shot involves three main phases – positioning the cross on the screen where you wish to hit the ball, then pressing fire, and then pushing the joystick in the direction you wish to have any spin – so for example down for backspin.  The direction must be held and then fire pressed to carry on, which is then moving left or right to adjust the power meter for you shot, and pressing fire then takes the shot.

I’m Gonna Be Snookering You Tonight

When you take the shot, the cue ball heads off in the direction you specified the cross, and then contacts the balls and hits them, hopefully in the right direction.  Unlike the Commodore 64 version, there is less slowdown here when the balls do move around the table, although one thing will become apparent – colour clash.  When two balls move over each other or over the lines or the D, the clashing is horrendous, and although the D and line is reset after the shot in pool, it looks unsightly.  Once the balls have come to rest, if you have potted a ball, it is still your go, but if not, the opponent has their go.  Thankfully, the computer opponent on lower levels plays their shots quickly, but on difficult levels the thinking time can drag on, but again does seem a little quicker to respond in this version.

Pool of Radiance

As you play pool, it is noticeable that you cannot line up the cross perfectly on the balls due to the small size of both.  You also cannot go right to the top and bottom of the table which is not good if you need to run a ball along a cushion and aim accordingly.  Hit and hope does seem a better tactic, and he computer opponent would sometimes fluke a ball into the corner pocket if bashed around enough.  Also, if a foul is committed, the turn passes to the opponent, but there is only one shot played, not two shots or carry or anything like that, another instance of the rules not being implemented properly – so fouls are unpunished.

It’s Only a Game So, Put Up a Real Good Fight

Moving on to snooker, this at least did have all the balls (the fifteen reds, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black) represented.   When you break off into the reds, you again can position the white outside the D, which is again a disregard for the rules. When playing your shots it is hit a red in, and then nominate a colour.  For that, the shot has four phases with the first being to select the colour with your cross as to which ball to nominate, then play the shot with the cross positioning, spin, and power.  If you do foul on the colour, four or the higher colour value is the foul – so if I went for the pink and the cue ball went in, that is a six-point foul.   Again, no free ball rule in use either and in addition to that, whoever goes in off, your opponent can then position the ball wherever they like instead of inside the D.

We’re All Snooker Loopy

The colour clash that was present in the pool version is even worse here.  When the balls are being hit, balls change colour, and sometimes do not change back, so unless you are following all the balls around, or if two balls are white that are close together, it may be the incorrect white that you are targeting from.  The lines and D do not even reset after all shots, so the lines there become a mess of colour clash which really does detract from the gameplay too.  The balls also tend to go less accurately at the angle you hit it, sometimes stopping dead when contacting another ball.  There is also no automatic win when the pink is potted and the opponent is more than seven points behind either, the black gets potted no matter what which again does seem somewhat confusing.  And when the final black is potted, you must use the RUN/STOP key to exit back to the title screen instead of it being automatic.

Party For Two

Two player mode, like the Commodore 64 version, does at least mean it is a bit of a leveller as you both must face the same issues when aiming with the cross, and indeed the colour clash, especially in snooker, when the shots are being played.  The speed of the shot itself does at least mean the game flows a little faster overall.  Both players on this version use port 1, and it would have been nice if you could have selected the joystick port for each player so both players could use their own joystick if they were able.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in On Cue are functional but not very good.  The screen is in high resolution mode with the balls of various colours in snooker depicted okay, and the yellow solids and stripes in pool relatively easy to spot.  The sound is almost non-existent apart from a few white noise sound effects when a ball is striking another ball, which turns into a clatter when breaking off for example.  However, the colour clash is dreadful – it really does look a mess after you have broken off in snooker especially, and does not show easily on the eye during play either.  It feels as if not enough attention was paid to work out a way to at least make the clash less noticeable.

Final Thoughts

On Cue was bad for the Commodore 64 – but here on the Commodore 16 and Plus/4, it is even worse.  Whilst there may at least be some cutbacks for memory, such as not being able to set the table, the playability suffers badly due to not being able to position the cross exactly where you want at the edges of the table when taking a shot, a disregard for the rules in that you can move the cue ball wherever you like after a foul where the cue ball has gone in off, and the colour clash which makes a number of the balls indistinguishable, especially during the snooker.  The game seems to have been somewhat rushed during conversion, and more thought needed to go into it.  There are better snooker and pool games out there, and this never should have been a MAD release.

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