Pool Challenge
by AIM
Productions, Price: $9.99
Reviewed May 2004 by Tony Peak
I'm certainly no pool buff, but like many
people I've played my fair share of online and offline pool.
Pool titles these days all seem to follow a rather similar
arcade mold, and I must admit that's exactly what I had Pool
Challenge pegged as when I went into this review. A few quick
rounds of play quickly proved however that this isn't your
run of the mill pool clone, but rather a unique pool simulation
seeking to challenge and innovate.
In Pool Challenge, gameplay is all about
the simulation. If you're used to online arcade pool physics,
the switch may take some getting used to. Because this is
a simulation, the pool balls feel heavier, with more mass
and more weight. The balls break harder, transfer less force
between each other, and take more skill to maneuver around
the table. One might mistake this for bad physics, but after
a few rounds it becomes clear the physics are simply more
realistic. Just think of it as a realistic 3d pool sim played
from the top down. There's a single player practice mode,
two players, and a very good (but not cheatingly so) AI opponent
with adjustable difficulty to keep you company.
One of the most innovative and perhaps
risky moves in this game is the control scheme. Keeping to
the realistic pool sim feel, Pool Challenge does away with
the standard power meters and instead uses a method more
often seen in 3d pool sims. To strike the cue ball, you must
strike it using the motion of your stylus as if it were a
cue. The angle you strike the ball and the speed of which
you hit it will determine the course and power. A straight
white dotted line shows the path the cue ball will travel.
Note that this doesn't calculate ball trajectory, it simply
simulates line of sight. It'd be nice to be able to turn
it off for a little added challenge to pros, and possibly
to make it calculate ball paths for a little extra help to
novices, but overall it works quite well.
The game suggests using your stylus as
a real pool cue, but I'm not so sure about that. It's awful
hard to do on a flat surface and with a screen that has limited
display angle. Real pool balls have depth and stand off the
table surface, and so it doesn't require you to 'scrape'
the table. Worth a try, but I'd recommend simply holding
the stylus like a pen as usual. That said, it's great to
be able to simply rotate the Pocket PC in your hand to simulate
moving around the table in real life.
The graphics have a lot of subtle detail
that one might miss at first glace. The pool balls all spin
very smoothly as the roll across the table. Perhaps the nicest
touch is how the ball shadows actually shift around the ball
correctly based on position. Rather than just a flat table,
everything carries a sense of height and depth missing from
many 2d pool titles. Sound is very realistic, right down
to the clank of the balls. I was very pleased with the way
the sound effects were implemented and the music is quite
good as well.
Pool Challenge does have a few flaws in
this otherwise solid package, but nothing that's a deal breaker.
The physics are mostly on target but my only real gripe would
be the way the balls bounce off the pockets. The angled edges
by the pockets seem to do nothing much to change the ball's
path. If you don't score a direct hit it seems to me that
it will simply bounce off. My last complaint would be that
you must wait for the ball to stop rolling before play continues,
and sometimes this can take longer than it should. I once
sat and watched when the computer hit the ball forward clean
across the table full force, and it bounced back and forth
seemingly a good half dozen to a dozen times, slowly.
In the end, it all comes down to what you're
looking for. If you're looking for a arcade title like the
online pool games, this may be too slow and strategic for
your tastes, though I'd still recommend giving it a try.
If however a good 3d quality pool sim in a 2d package sounds
interesting to you, than this is for you. I've found myself
playing it just about everywhere and the challenge has kept
me coming back for more. |
