Bankshot Billiards 2 - Xbox Live Arcade review

There's a little pool hustler in everyone, and now you can take your game to the world via Xbox Live with Bankshot Billiards 2. Whether you're an 8-ball player or a trick-shot master, this little Live download lets you run the table for hours, days or weeks, depending on the depth of your Friends list and the severity of your own personal obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Bankshot Billiards 2 defaults to an overhead view of the table, but you can change your camera angle to zoom in for a proper 3D view of the felt. Also, the game manages to deliver some surprisingly realistic physics for such a cheapo download (well, it's pricey by Arcade standards - 1200 points equals $15). You control the angle, speed and spin of every shot with three basic cue controls, allowing for an infinite variety of shots without requiring too much thought. Those who fear a challenge can use the in-game aiming aid, which supports three levels of visual targeting. At level 1, it just gives you a helpful line of trajectory for the cue ball, which comes in handy considering you can't actually look down your cue stick at it. Level 2 adds a trajectory for the ball you're hitting, and level 3 adds the final trajectory for the cue ball after it hits its target. That makes it pretty easy to set up follow-up shots, but it's useful for gamers still learning how to play - and might improve your real-life game.