American Pool

Written by Tom Clare in PSOne Game Reviews, Monday 17 May, 2004

The Shallow End Of The Pool...

It's never a nice feeling to wander into your local game shop and discover that you have played or owned almost all of it's stocked titles. Somewhat alarmingly, this is now happening to me on a regular basis, as I come across the same old PlayStation games sitting on the shelves collecting dust. So in more recent times, I have been forced towards the often suspicious 'Budget' section of ASDA; once a breeding ground for pap kiddie 'edutainment', but lately a home to some hidden gems at very respectable prices...

...And that's my excuse for buying American Pool, current holder of the 'least ambitiously named game ever' award. At a measly £4.97 brand new, it's understandable that a sim based on the third most popular pub sport (behind darts and drinking) won't push the PSOne to new technological highs, but to be fair, American Pool is well worth the admission fee and proves to be an enjoyable distraction from some of the more heavyweight titles currently doing the rounds.

It's relatively simple stuff - the action is viewed in the first-person; you see directly down the cue and behind the cueball, so as to minimise problems lining up shots. In addition to the obvious tasks of judging angles and the power with which you wish to hit the cueball with, there are some extra options to consider once you've got into the swing of things. You can tinker with top and back spin, both very useful attributes and, if you're feeling really ambitious, sidespin and cue angles can be adjusted. The complexity of the matches generally depends on the style of player you are, but they are usually fairly brief duels.

What you get here are three main modes of play - training, pocket game and pool contest. Training is actually a rather misleading name as it's levels are more trickshot-based. There are twenty or so shots to attempt, with the added bonus of them all being available from the start, so you'll never be stuck on one individual level. Pocket Game allows you to take on a friend or the computer in five different styles of pool, such as Rotation, Basic and good old 8-ball. The innovative mode however is the Pool Contest.

The Pool Contest is a knockout tornament whereby you and 31 other players are placed into a draw, with the aim being to win five consecutive matches to take the title. This could have been a truly superb mode - the more you play, the more you are rewarded with experience points and 'level ups' (anyone who has played a role-playing game in the last ten years should be familar with this). Novelly, when you reach certain levels of experience, you are gifted some kind of new ability - lines to show how balls will react upon hitting a cushion and more accurate power bars amongst them. The big problem lies not in the design of the game, but the fact that you have to play 9-ball rules.

For anybody unfamilar with this form of pool, basically there are nine balls placed on a table each with a number between one and nine, and they must be potted in order. The really annoying thing is, whoever pots the decisive 9th ball wins, regardless of what went before. So, feasibly it is quite possible to lose a game despite potting eight of the nine balls. Where is the fairness in that? As time passes, you wish you could just scrap the first eight balls as they are effectively pointless, and winning is much more down to luck than skill.

In terms of the actual gameplay mechanics though, I have very few gripes - controls are easy enough to master, computer 'thinking' time is minimal and the pockets are pleasingly large (!). In-game dials are a little bare though, and it would have been nice to be rewarded with something a little more satisfying than a lame cheer after winning a match. Oh well, it is a budget game remember.

Unsurprisingly, it's not the prettiest game to grace the PlayStation, though the functional presentation and visuals do their jobs just fine. There is an okay selection of tables to admire, and the balls are vivid and distinct, though there are no actual player animations.

There's nothing special in the sound department. The music is good although quickly gets repetitive, and is accompanied by some fairly dull effects. Snore.

It's suitable for all ages, though is only recommended to fans of the rather niche genre. If you hate pool with a passion, then you are unlikely to enjoy this too much, but I'm sure you guessed that already!

It's good value for the tiny price, and should provide you with a week or two of solid fun, easily. Of course, this is unlikely to appeal to you if you own a next-generation console as it doesn't feature any snazzy graphics or world-beating innovations; it simply does what it says on the box.

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