Snooker Blitz

Genre: Sports (Snooker)

Players: 1-8 Competitive Tournament (Online)

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS AND LOOTBOXES, AND USES WAIT MECHANICS

Snooker Blitz, released in 2024 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and then in 2025 ported to Nintendo Switch, is a videogame version of, well, Snooker, a cue sport game that most players would compare to Pool, which is played in a similar manner, but Snooker has a larger table and is played by alternating between hitting red balls into pockets and then hitting various other colored balls into pockets. For all intents and purposes, the uninitiated can simply view this as a variant of pool (though no doubt snooker fans would be quick to point out how that description is technically inaccurate).

It seems odd that a game would focus solely on this less-popular cue sport when it wouldn’t have been difficult to add a traditional pool mode as well, but since this is a free-to-play game, I suppose I can’t complain too much, only wonder at an odd omission that will really limit this game’s appeal.

The presentation here is good, making use of 3D visuals that work well enough for the gameplay, even if they’re nothing special. These are joined by decent but forgettable lounge music, along with some really good crowd sounds, with a hushed murmur during the game, applause when you make a good shot, and gasps when you make a mistake

When it comes to the gameplay, this is a pretty solid take on Snooker, with good controls (though no motion controls) and some decent gameplay and camera options… well… sort of.

See, here’s where I have to talk about the monetization, and in Snooker Blitz that monetization is pretty gross. Firstly, there’s the lootboxes, which contain various items including new cue upgrades that can change your stats. You can open new chests through regular play, but these are tied to a wait mechanic that you can skip by plunking down money. You can choose not to do this, but then you’re playing with more limited stats, meaning this is literally pay-to-win.

It gets worse. Through the course of normal play, you have “abilities” that enable you to have more camera options, or see a shot preview of where your cue ball is predicted to end up after your shot… but you only get this while you have “energy” that’s tied to yet another wait mechanic… again, unless you pay money. So this game is pay-to-win in two different ways.

With these gross pay-to-win issues, now we need to talk about the elephant in the room: Pure Pool. While it’s not free and will cost you $15 to buy it, Pure Pool is visually gorgeous, has far more options, and it does include Snooker along with 8-Ball and 9-Ball. And it also has local multiplayer play and importantly, no microtransactions.

I suppose if you really want to play Snooker without spending any money, Snooker Blitz will get you that, but the disgusting monetization really does hold this back from being a better game. I would strongly recommend that players spend the money to get Pure Pool, which includes Snooker and is all-around better.

tl;dr – Snooker Blitz is a version of Snooker with core gameplay that’s pretty good, the monetization, pay-to-win and wait mechanics really suck the fun out of this game. I strongly recommend you get Pure Pool instead – it may not be free, but it includes Snooker and is just all-around a far better game. Unless you absolutely refuse to spend money, skip this game.

Grade: C

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