Review | Brunswick Pro Billiards

LifeisXbox’s Brunswick Pro Billiards Review | Welcome to the intense, precise, immersive, and exciting world of billiards in this title, Brunswick Pro Billiards. Developed and published by FarSight Studios, Brunswick Pro Billiards presents us with a rather dashing and visually satisfying zone in which you will be competing either against AI, online players, or friends to see who is truly the king of the table. There is a little more to the game than what immediately draws your attention so let us get into everything Brunswick Pro Billiards has, or hasn’t, got to offer. In the UK, I always refer to this as pool and I’ll probably use this reference in places. I am just giving an early heads up so there isn’t too much confusion from anyone.

This is a short review, our usual the good, mixed and the bad was difficult because of the nature of this game.

Reviewed on Xbox One S | Review code provided by PR/publisher. This review is the personal opinion from the writer.

Let me start by talking about the presentation and actualisation of Brunswick Pro Billiards. Now, I know there aren’t many elements to talk about in pool but I have to say, everything looks pretty damn nice to be around. The table itself, different cues that can be obtained, colourful balls, and the room you find yourself competing in; all have been made to look realistic and pleasant for our eyes and gaming purpose. However, when it comes to audio, I have to bring up positives and negatives regarding this point. You need some kind of atmosphere when in a competitive environment and there was literally none. There was an emptiness about when playing that lowered the fun factor. Of course, there was the sound of potting and knocking balls into each other that was always satisfying, just as it should be. Unfortunately, I was not a massive fan of the music/soundtrack as it was a little too in your face. Reminded me of a wrestling game if anything. I expected things to be much more toned down when it came to this element.

Brunswick Pro Billiards does include three modes – 8 Ball, 9 Ball (which both have online, local, and practice options), and challenges. To my disappointment, there was no single-player mode and this shocked me, due to the extreme lack of a player base for an online lobby. It was bad enough to the point where I was waiting on ‘searching’ for a good ten minutes with no luck. This then only left me the option to play local or practice. As I’m sure you can imagine, having no friends or family to play with makes this mode also completely useless. If you have, great! It means the only way to play is in practice and that really should not be the case in my opinion. This leaves you with one final option – challenge mode. The only way to play solo; even then you’re not playing the base game of pool. Instead, you’re forced to face challenges – Time attack, 9 ball solitaire, or shot caller. It is a real shame that no AI option has been presented to play against.

You will also find from the main menu there is a shop category. This is where you will be spending your ‘Brunswick Bucks’ to purchase better cues (as these all have stats), different colours of cloth for your tables, and ball sets should you want to customise things a little for your game and perhaps gain the upper hand against your opponents. Considering most of the achievements come from owning the different tables, there is more to them than just appearance.

45%

I can’t say I’m overly impressed with Brunswick Pro Billiards considering the lack of ability to play due to the online player base being non-existent. The gameplay itself looks and works as it should but does lack in atmosphere. If you have a friend to play against, either local or online, you will probably enjoy this. Otherwise, you only have an AI to compete within challenge or practice mode and I think multiple people will agree with me when I say the AI in these types of games tend to be difficult to go against.
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