This shall be my second review for a simulation of cue sports. Colloquially refered to as “billiards”, we can all agree that it’s an activity which still poses great interest even after more than five centuries since its invention. There may be at least a dozen online alternatives to Cue Club 2, yet few offer as much customization as the title I’m reviewing today. It is Bulldog Interactive’s Steam debut and their project has certainly improved substantially over time. You might be wandering about Cue Club 1 at this point. This particular developer has focused on cue sport simulations since 2000, which is almost as long as I’ve been gaming on PC. Cue Club 2 saw an initial retail release in 2014 and it has graced the Steam Store since 2016. If you’re good at something, never stop improving it. Or do it for free, since I’m certain that you’ve stumbled across plenty of F2Ps featuring billiards and snooker. They were rather thin on content, am I right?

Now, I could bore you with more historical details about cue sports, but I shall obviously avoid that path. Cue Club 2 has no story mode per se, yet the Bar Challenge can be considered a solo campaign designed specifically for players which do not wish to sink their teeth too deep into multiplayer that's ranging from championships to casual matches. Before discussing the Challenge, let me share my own experience with billiard simulations. Long before I enjoyed the activity in real life, I developed a taste for it in it’s digital format on PCs. There may have been several self-standing games based on pool, which I played earlier to some extent but quite surprisingly, it would be the Grand Theft Auto series (San Andreas, precisely) which managed to prove how fun and lucrative this activity can be. A visit to the Ten Green Bottles would both relax and allow for a friendly wager (crucial funds during a fresh start).

The sheer versatility of cue sports cemented their reputation as a favorite pastime of both blue and white collars. From watering holes in the middle of nowhere to pretentious social clubs, billiards receive the appreciation they deserve. Cue Club 2’s Bar Challenge is divided into three sections of gradually increasing difficulty: Basement, Cocktail and Penthouse. Three bars filled to the brim with worthy opponents. We get the usual assortment of skilled female and male players, but also more exotic rivals such a talented ape and a robot. Let no one claim that pool titles can’t mix some humor into the already established formula. In fact, the AI of your opponents will ensure that the Bar Challenge lives up to its name. It won’t be easy and it proves to be the perfect tutorial/warm up for the subsequent modes. As good a replacement for a story as you could hope for, given the gameplay. No cheesy cutscenes in Cue Club 2.

I couldn’t find any information about the graphics engine, so we’ll proceed with the default assumption that it is proprietary to the developer. A hybrid 2D/3D perspective is a feature that we’ve all come to expect from contemporary cue sports simulations. Cue Club 2 does not disappoint on this front whatsoever. Depending on your preferences, you can enjoy the game in either 2D top-down view or fully rendered in 3D and far closer to the real life experience. I’m obviously a fan of the latter, since the former can make the game somewhat easier than intended. We’re not cheating on the Bar Challenge, fellas. Speaking of which, ball trajectory estimations will fully cater to new players. You don’t have to fear being left completely helpless, if your pool skills are rusty or non-existent.

As far as performance was concerned, I have no complaints. Everything scaled perfectly to 4K resolution and the frame rate never dropped below 60fps at any given moment. The aforementioned rich customization options come into play during the breaks between matches (not during ongoing championships though). I strongly suggest you fiddle with the settings menu and discover for yourselves, exactly how much you can tweak the experience. From changing the appearance of tables, cues and ball sets, to modifying the rules which shall govern the matches and ultimately ensure or hinder victory. European Pool doesn’t have to be much more complicated than the streamlined American version, which is also my personal favorite. Don’t even get me started about Snooker!

Indeed, there’s no voice acting in Cue Club 2 but the soundtrack manages to compensate that, while text boxes represent the only interaction between players and the rivals you’ll have to defeat during your playthrough. Song diversity is balanced. It never got too close to repetitiveness since I was more focused on the game than on the sounds. You can always opt for listening to your own tracks of choice, so no cause of concern over acoustical inadequacies.

The bread and butter of any cue sport simulation will always be represented by the versatility of its various modes. It would have been far too simplistic to slap a US, Euro or Snooker label and call it a day. Bulldog Interactive offers some much needed variations: Killer Pool, Red Snooker and the “rapid fire” 6 Ball Pool which I compare to Blitz Chess in terms of duration and challenge. The standard pool game on both sides of the Atlantic, contains 15 balls (stripes and solids/spots) and a cue ball that’s usually blank or featuring a dot pattern. Snooker on the other hand, uses 22 colored balls along with a cue ball and can drag on for longer than I’m comfortable with. It’s always a matter of preference and Cue Club 2 offers either the standard or tailored versions which may speed up the process to a certain extent. Cutting corners quite literally, since table customization enables several pocket designs.

One key aspect I always seek out when analyzing cue sport simulations, is the Artificial Intelligence’s capabilities even on lower difficulty settings. Multiplayer matches and human minds are more difficult to predict and mistakes are rarely made on a consistent basis if you’re playing with someone skilled enough. How about the AI in a pool game? I judge their competence or the lack thereof, by observing the involuntary early pocketing of the 8-ball. That is the “cardinal sin” of any cue sport afterall. It spells “game over” and an easy, albeit somewhat undeserved victory for an opponent that might have fared badly in terms of pocketed balls. Out of turn pocketing is more lenient for stripes & solids but not for the “dreaded” eight-ball. Cue Club 2 surprised me by how rarely would the AI commit such an error. The Bar Challenge proved to be a worthy experience and I had my share of defeats against an AI which calculated both the approach angle and strike strength with alarming alacrity.

Overall, Cue Club 2 distances itself from its competition by giving players some much needed freedom for the rule sets as well. Custom profiles that transcend mere chromatic choices, offer flexibility to an otherwise rigid sport and pastime activity. It was only natural to allow billiards their chance of adapting to the audience, since the real life version has managed that quite admirably. Whether you play pool in a roadside bar or in a downtown club, the game depends on more than just a steady hand and a clear mind. It takes plenty of creativity and patience. Enjoy a cold pint and only pocket the 8-ball at its right time!

+ Steam Achievements.
+ Adequate challenge scaling.
+ Pleasant graphics and soundtrack.
+ Excellent simulation with replay value.

- Inherent repetitiveness of the gameplay.
- No Steam Trading Cards.

Rating 80/100

This review was submitted for Imperial Reviews through the generous contribution of the game’s developer and the Steam Curator Connect program.

[h1]Introduction[/h1] This shall be my second review for a simulation of cue sports. Colloquially refered to as “billiards”, we can all agree that it’s an activity which still poses great interest even after more than five centuries since its invention. There may be at least a dozen online alternatives to Cue Club 2, yet few offer as much customization as the title I’m reviewing today. It is Bulldog Interactive’s Steam debut and their project has certainly improved substantially over time. You might be wandering about Cue Club 1 at this point. This particular developer has focused on cue sport simulations since 2000, which is almost as long as I’ve been gaming on PC. Cue Club 2 saw an initial retail release in 2014 and it has graced the Steam Store since 2016. If you’re good at something, never stop improving it. Or do it for free, since I’m certain that you’ve stumbled across plenty of F2Ps featuring billiards and snooker. They were rather thin on content, am I right? [h1]Story[/h1] Now, I could bore you with more historical details about cue sports, but I shall obviously avoid that path. Cue Club 2 has no story mode per se, yet the Bar Challenge can be considered a solo campaign designed specifically for players which do not wish to sink their teeth too deep into multiplayer that's ranging from championships to casual matches. Before discussing the Challenge, let me share my own experience with billiard simulations. Long before I enjoyed the activity in real life, I developed a taste for it in it’s digital format on PCs. There may have been several self-standing games based on pool, which I played earlier to some extent but quite surprisingly, it would be the Grand Theft Auto series (San Andreas, precisely) which managed to prove how fun and lucrative this activity can be. A visit to the Ten Green Bottles would both relax and allow for a friendly wager (crucial funds during a fresh start). The sheer versatility of cue sports cemented their reputation as a favorite pastime of both blue and white collars. From watering holes in the middle of nowhere to pretentious social clubs, billiards receive the appreciation they deserve. Cue Club 2’s Bar Challenge is divided into three sections of gradually increasing difficulty: Basement, Cocktail and Penthouse. Three bars filled to the brim with worthy opponents. We get the usual assortment of skilled female and male players, but also more exotic rivals such a talented ape and a robot. Let no one claim that pool titles can’t mix some humor into the already established formula. In fact, the AI of your opponents will ensure that the Bar Challenge lives up to its name. It won’t be easy and it proves to be the perfect tutorial/warm up for the subsequent modes. As good a replacement for a story as you could hope for, given the gameplay. No cheesy cutscenes in Cue Club 2. [h1]Graphics[/h1] I couldn’t find any information about the graphics engine, so we’ll proceed with the default assumption that it is proprietary to the developer. A hybrid 2D/3D perspective is a feature that we’ve all come to expect from contemporary cue sports simulations. Cue Club 2 does not disappoint on this front whatsoever. Depending on your preferences, you can enjoy the game in either 2D top-down view or fully rendered in 3D and far closer to the real life experience. I’m obviously a fan of the latter, since the former can make the game somewhat easier than intended. We’re not cheating on the Bar Challenge, fellas. Speaking of which, ball trajectory estimations will fully cater to new players. You don’t have to fear being left completely helpless, if your pool skills are rusty or non-existent. As far as performance was concerned, I have no complaints. Everything scaled perfectly to 4K resolution and the frame rate never dropped below 60fps at any given moment. The aforementioned rich customization options come into play during the breaks between matches (not during ongoing championships though). I strongly suggest you fiddle with the settings menu and discover for yourselves, exactly how much you can tweak the experience. From changing the appearance of tables, cues and ball sets, to modifying the rules which shall govern the matches and ultimately ensure or hinder victory. European Pool doesn’t have to be much more complicated than the streamlined American version, which is also my personal favorite. Don’t even get me started about Snooker! [h1]Audio[/h1] Indeed, there’s no voice acting in Cue Club 2 but the soundtrack manages to compensate that, while text boxes represent the only interaction between players and the rivals you’ll have to defeat during your playthrough. Song diversity is balanced. It never got too close to repetitiveness since I was more focused on the game than on the sounds. You can always opt for listening to your own tracks of choice, so no cause of concern over acoustical inadequacies. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] The bread and butter of any cue sport simulation will always be represented by the versatility of its various modes. It would have been far too simplistic to slap a US, Euro or Snooker label and call it a day. Bulldog Interactive offers some much needed variations: Killer Pool, Red Snooker and the “rapid fire” 6 Ball Pool which I compare to Blitz Chess in terms of duration and challenge. The standard pool game on both sides of the Atlantic, contains 15 balls (stripes and solids/spots) and a cue ball that’s usually blank or featuring a dot pattern. Snooker on the other hand, uses 22 colored balls along with a cue ball and can drag on for longer than I’m comfortable with. It’s always a matter of preference and Cue Club 2 offers either the standard or tailored versions which may speed up the process to a certain extent. Cutting corners quite literally, since table customization enables several pocket designs. One key aspect I always seek out when analyzing cue sport simulations, is the Artificial Intelligence’s capabilities even on lower difficulty settings. Multiplayer matches and human minds are more difficult to predict and mistakes are rarely made on a consistent basis if you’re playing with someone skilled enough. How about the AI in a pool game? I judge their competence or the lack thereof, by observing the involuntary early pocketing of the 8-ball. That is the “cardinal sin” of any cue sport afterall. It spells “game over” and an easy, albeit somewhat undeserved victory for an opponent that might have fared badly in terms of pocketed balls. Out of turn pocketing is more lenient for stripes & solids but not for the “dreaded” eight-ball. Cue Club 2 surprised me by how rarely would the AI commit such an error. The Bar Challenge proved to be a worthy experience and I had my share of defeats against an AI which calculated both the approach angle and strike strength with alarming alacrity. [h1]Verdict[/h1] Overall, Cue Club 2 distances itself from its competition by giving players some much needed freedom for the rule sets as well. Custom profiles that transcend mere chromatic choices, offer flexibility to an otherwise rigid sport and pastime activity. It was only natural to allow billiards their chance of adapting to the audience, since the real life version has managed that quite admirably. Whether you play pool in a roadside bar or in a downtown club, the game depends on more than just a steady hand and a clear mind. It takes plenty of creativity and patience. Enjoy a cold pint and only pocket the 8-ball at its right time! [h1]Strong Points[/h1] + Steam Achievements. + Adequate challenge scaling. + Pleasant graphics and soundtrack. + Excellent simulation with replay value. [h1]Weak Points[/h1] - Inherent repetitiveness of the gameplay. - No Steam Trading Cards. [b]Rating 80/100[/b] [quote]This review was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews]Imperial Reviews[/url] through the generous contribution of the game’s developer and the Steam Curator Connect program.[/quote]