Virtual Pool: Tournament Edition £14.99
You'd normally associate a Global Star sports title with the Outlaw Golf and Volleyball games. But there's nothing unorthodox or wacky about Virtual Pool: Tournament Edition. Developed by old school billiard physics hands Celeris, the game shies away from any swanky bells and whistles, instead concentrating on recreating the mechanics of this popular parlour game with absolute accuracy. Start your career in a small time bar, selecting which of 18 different variations of the game you wish to specialise in, including 8-ball, snooker, and 6-ball games, bowliards, Honolulu, cribbage, cowboy, and one pocket. There's also a trick shot mode, where you can show off your skills. Challenge seedy barflies to games for money and use your spoils to upgrade your cues. Controls which take some time to master stop this from being just another point and push game you can walk through. This latest in a long line of Virtual Pool games, usually restricted to PC releases, gives fans of the genre a chance to sit back and enjoy it on their Xbox.