Hustle Kings PS Vita Review

Publisher – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe – Developer – VooFoo Studios – Genre – Sports – Players – 1-4 – Age Rating – 3+ – Other console/handheld formats – PS3

Hustle Kings is made with a wide audience in mind, offering several control schemes that encompasses traditional button and stick controls, and this will please those familiar with the PS3 game (you’ll get this version free when you purchase the Vita version) that just want more of the same. The touch capabilities of the system aren’t ignored either, granting a scheme that even the greenest of gamers could easily pick up.

The balls roll about the table in an authentic manner and, like most games of the genre, there’s helpful guidance lines that displays the direction that both your cue ball and any balls that you hit will travel in. Once you feel that you are able to judge your shots without these aids, you are then able to turn them off.

In terms of modes, there’s all the usual US 8-Ball, 9-Ball and Black-Ball. There’s also a tournament as well as a reasonably substantial career mode. As you can see, it’s delightfully rich in its options.

Success in the career mode through clever trick shots and victories earns you Hustle King Currency, essentially virtual money that you can use to purchase new balls and cues, or to enter tournaments.

As is too often the case, the AI can be cheap to the point of frustration, clearing the table in a round and such and, as always with such games, it’s the multiplayer options where the true appeal of the game lies. In a welcome touch, you’re able to even play people with the PS3 version.

Hustle Kings is still abundant in its options and is still the same deep and well crafted game of pool that the PS3 version was, but it makes good use of Vita’s own capabilities and makes some refinements to a two year old game, resulting in the definitive version of what was already an accomplished game.

8/10