Written by: Mark

 

 

 

Cue sports games may not appeal to the mass market however I have always found them to be quite entertaining particularly in multiplayer games and with this in mind I have always bought games in the genre, whether this being full retail games or downloadable titles.

 

The latest cue sport title to become available is the eagerly anticipated "Hustle Kings" on the Playstation Network.

 

In this review we take a look at the game and see how well it shapes up amongst the impressive line up of PSN titles.

 

 

Lets start with what is the first noticeable thing about Hustle Kings and that is the eye wateringly stunning graphics which have been presented in a very shiny, crisp and high res manner which easily sets it apart from a vast array of PSN titles. In fact I will go as far to say that graphically the game competes with any previous full retail cue sports title. This highlights the care which has gone in to making the game a thing of real beauty and is made even more amazing when you consider how cheap the game is.

 

At this point readers of this review may be puzzled as to why I am raving about how good a game featuring a one coloured table and a set of balls looks but let me tell you that this is one title which has to be seen to appreciate it’s quality.

 

 

Sound wise it was never going to be amazing due to the nature of the sport however ball sounds are represented well and the game is backed by a pretty good soundtrack which offers a fair amount of variety from different genres and for the most part accompanies the pace of the game well although it must be said after a while can become a little annoying.

 

 

For a measly £6.29 you may think that the game will simply contain one or two different game modes however what you actually get is an excellent amount of content which in my eyes makes the price seem a bargain.

 

On offer are all of the more popular pool games including 8 ball, US 8 ball, 9 ball and trick shots in addition to modes such as cut throat, 14-1 continuous, survivor and time and shot limited clean up games.

 

All of these modes are available in the pretty good career mode which sees the player aiming to work their way through varying scenarios in order to become the greatest pool player. On the way various opponents are met each challenging you to different modes either to play for a set prize money or through a gamble. In addition single player challenges need to be completed in order to progress.

 

 

Along the way prize money can be used to purchase new cues, balls and even chalk which helps to make you a better player. Interestingly however this can also be bypassed by purchasing these items as additional content via the Playstation store. This to me is one of the only flaws with the game and personally I do not really like the idea of buying blocks of virtual chalk just to make the game the little easier.

 

If the already mentioned content does not sound impressive enough the game also contains a multiplayer mode to simply add more value to what is already an excellent amount of content for the price, but more of that later.