Well what's there to say? It's Pool. Or Billiards as some people call it. Just takes me back to the PC days when I played Virtual Pool 2. I can't play Virtual Pool anymore thanks to Windows upgrading. So I guess it's a nice thing to return to nostalgia wise. It plays very much like that game as well...well not really.
When you first start the game you're immediately thrown into a tutorial that explains the controls. There's nothing that explains the skills on playing the game. Some may say, "Well there's nothing to learn. Just put the ball in the holes." But there's a lot to learn. And this game doesn't teach it.
So you have different styles of playing Pool in 2 player modes. And solo.
- US 8-Ball (Wait there's a different 8-Ball?)
- 9-Ball
- Blackball (What?)
- Killer (Huh?)
- Accumulator (Say wha?)
Besides 8-Ball and 9-Ball I have no idea how the others really work. So I just gave it a shot.
Blackball feels a lot more like 9-Ball only difference is more balls and instead of Solids and Stripes you get Red and Yellow. There seems to be slightly different rules involved but again the game doesn't tell me and I'm just playing it by ear.
Killer is where you must pocket a ball on every shot. If you do not then you lose a life. Lose 3 lives and you lose.
Accumulator - You and your opponent gain points based on the balls pocketed. However you most pocket the balls in order or your opponent gains the points instead.
Then there's challenges.
- Speed Pot - Pot (Sink) all the balls into the pockets as fast as you can.
- Checkpoint - Sink as many balls as you can but you're timed
- Perfect Potter - Sink a ball into pockets without messing up.
- Royal Rumble - Sink every ball into pockets every 30 seconds a ball is added somewhere randomly.
Well I guess I should talk about the gameplay. Controls are meh for a PS4 controller. Left stick is used to generally aim. You can fine tune your aim and try to apply spin. The problem arises when you shoot your cue. Trying to apply power is a major issue. You use the right stick to shoot and apply power. It's so easy to put in too much power. There's never the perfect amount for this. So often times my ball is launched off the table. I wonder if I hit anyone during play.
There are different skill levels of AI so you can see the AI land some rather amazing shots. But honestly it feels a lot like Dead or Alive's AI. Where the AI just decides to be hard and randomly mess up. Honestly I would call this human, but the shots they screw up are just easy shots heck as if the AI is giving me pity.
I doubt anyone is playing online. This game is pretty much 6 years old. If anyone is playing it's that one player that's insanely godlike at the game. I also noticed while the soundtrack is decent elevator music. You can't turn it off. So you're just stuck listening to the same music tracks unless you brought your own music.
That's it for this game. Wish I had more to say. But it was like $3.
Summary
Good
-It's Pool/Billiards
-Different skill levels
Bad
-What are these rules
-No real explanation of rules
-AI is either sandbagging or incredibly godlike and will not let you play
-Doubt anyone is playing this online.
-No feel on controls for power (Analog Stick)
Other
-What's the point of changing your Pool Cue?
-Can't Turn off music
-Can't really practice.
