''Jimmy White's Cueball World'' is a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

published by

Virgin Interactive Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

as the sequel to '' Jimmy White's 2: Cueball'', itself a sequel to ''

Jimmy White's 'Whirlwind' Snooker ''Jimmy White's 'Whirlwind' Snooker'' is a video game designed and produced by Archer Maclean, released by Virgin Games in 1991 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC compatibles (later for the Mega Drive). A port for the Atari Lynx was planned but ...

''. The development team once again being led by

Archer Maclean Archer Donald Maclean (28 January 1962 – 17 December 2022) was a British video game programmer. He was the author of '' Dropzone'' which he developed for the Atari 8-bit computers and was ported to other systems. Maclean also developed the Com ...

, who designed the other two ''Jimmy White'' titles. The game was released in December 2001 in Europe, with a North American release was planned to be released a year later by

Titus Software Titus Interactive SA,Contact
. Titus Interactiv ...

under a budget range using the Virgin Interactive brand name.

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

versions were planned, but were later cancelled.

Gameplay

As well as featuring realistic snooker and pool, there are other minigames featured in ''Cueball World''. Darts returns from the previous title, and alongside darts are new minigames like ball-in-a-maze, and thumb wrestling. Unlike the previous title, where

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

only appeared in the marketing and not in the game itself, ''Cueball World'' has Jimmy White appearing in live-action cut scenes that play throughout the game, guiding the player between locations. The game is played on many themed snooker tables across many areas, such as a traditional Snooker hall, a desert area in the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

or an outside area stylized over

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

. As with other entries into the series, the game features "floating hands" that play against the player as the opponent, and also act as the game's referee. These hands will toss for the game's start, and return and the cue ball to the table if potted. The game features online and LAN multiplayer. Featuring three different gamemodes, players can play

Pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

in the variants

9-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of e ...

, US 8-ball, UK 8-ball and 14.1 Continuous;

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

and

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the UK and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team uses a diffe ...

. The game can be played in either top-down and first-person. Shots are made manually, by dragging the

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

in a straight line, similar to games in the Virtual Pool series. More precise control is possible through a number of icons, allowing the player to set power, spin, and cue tilt. Manually chalking is necessary to avoid miscues. A training mode and a trick shot editor are available. The main single player mode consists of consecutive matches against a number of opponents. Beating them unlocks new levels and several sub-games.

Reception

''Jimmy White's Cueball World'' received generally average to positive reception from critics. PC Zone UK gave the game a 76/100, and the German review in

PC Games ''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany. History ''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the ...

scored 84% saying "If snooker legend Jimmy "Whirlwind" White gives his good name for a game, then you can expect a lot." Germany's

GameStar ''GameStar'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine in Germany. It is the best-selling German-language magazine focused on PC gaming and it also hosts the largest video gaming-related portal in the German-speaking internet. ''GameStar.de'' i ...

scored the game highly at 78% saying "''Cueball World'' plays like the little naughty brother of genre master '' Virtual Pool 3''. The same talent (perfect ball physics), not yet fully grown (less billiard variants, no career mode), but a much younger look and always good for a surprise (billiard basketball)." PC Invasion declined to score the game, however stated "The idea of knocking balls round some baize stretched across a flat table is back and Mr. White and ''Cueball World'' certainly delivers," however, they did cite the game's poor flow saying "The biggest complaint has to be the AI speed, it really could have been cranked up a few gears to keep the game zipping along." German magazine ''4players'' scored the game highly at 83%, saying "The game modes offer plenty of choice, the ball physics is outstanding, the locations are atmospheric and the mini-games offer enough variety from the precise daily routine of cue."

Sequels

Originally announced at E3 in 2001, announcing PC,

and

releases. ''Cueball World'' would be the last entry for the ''Jimmy White Cueball'' series. Jimmy White would later put his name to

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

video game '' Pool Paradise''. And ''Jimmy White's Snooker Legend'', in 2008.

References

{{Snooker Video Games 2001 video games Cancelled PlayStation 2 games Cancelled Xbox games Cue sports video games

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Europe-exclusive video games Jimmy White Snooker games Multiplayer and single-player video games Snooker video games Video games based on real people Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Frédéric Motte Virgin Interactive games Windows games Windows-only games