Review: Virtual Pool Mobile
Score:
90%
Version Reviewed: 1.30
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Computer pool is perennially popular and for good reason. It's quick to pick up and play, pitting your wits against the program, and your real world pool skills can be extremely helpful. And vice-versa. As with flight-sims, getting really good at virtual pool will help you at the real thing. Pool, by the way, is in this case one of the American variants. The trial version limits you to 6-ball, in which you have to knock in the 6 balls in the right order, ending with the six ball. Or getting the six ball in early by whacking it with the ball you're supposed to be aiming at. You do have to remember the colour sequence, but with only six object balls this is fairly easy. (The full version gives you 8, 9 and 10-ball variants, along with access to more pool halls.)
There's a proper linear structure to the game, with the main 'career' mode seeing you beating no-hope opponents in back street halls, then beating the best they have to offer, as you move up to bigger and better venues and, gradually, better opponents. A video sequence right at the start sets the tone and atmosphere of the game and then it's straight into the first pool hall ('The Garage') to start challenging opponents. Each hall is properly texture mapped and you can see the table and its surroundings from any angle, thanks to the comprehensive keypad shortcuts to control everything from view angle to cue tip position. The shortcuts take a little getting used to, but there's a helpful graphical cheat-sheet supplied with the game, that can be printed out.
The two big questions you're going to want to ask are: how good's the physics, and how hard's the gameplay? The physics are incredible, as you'd expect from a game that's been perfected over years on other PDA platforms. You'll be playing exactly the same shots in Virtual Pool Mobile as you would on a real table, with the balls responding in the same way. Apply backspin or topspin and watch the way the cue ball moves, this is impressive stuff. After cueing each shot, the presentation changes to the TV-like table view shown here, giving you an excellent overview of where all the balls are and what's happening.
When starting out, the AI of each computer opponent is fairly weak and if you've any talent whatsoever you'll soon find yourself playing and beating the 'boss' of The Garage. But as you progress to higher and higher value matches, the AI improves and, by the time you're playing 'Curly' at his beach-house, you'll find that any mistake is punished severely and that he's almost impossible to beat. At its cleverest, the computer AI looks ahead and plays pots with the same subtlety and forethought that you'd use yourself.
If you get frustrated by the slow AI ramp in career mode, there's also a 'quick play' mode, in which you get to play any opponent in any location at any pool variant. By picking a decent player, you should get a challenging game immediately. The way each opponent is carefully profiled, with photo and notes, is a bit gratuitous in terms of the gameplay, but it certainly adds atmosphere. Similarly with the extra video sequence after beating each boss - with memory card disk space now cheap as chips, the 1.5MB needed for the video isn't a problem.
Once you're used to the controls and are confident zooming in or out, standing up (pressing 'C' for a table overview) and getting down again, etc., the keypad interface is certainly powerful and you'll be cueing and moving around intuitively. Virtual Pool Mobile is a terrifically addictive game that you'll find stimulating and challenging.
After six months of regular play with Virtual Pool Mobile, I'm still returning to it each day. In every game you feel as if you're playing against a real opponent and there's the same adrenaline rush when things are going well and sinking disappointment when you miss a sitter and the other guy clears up.
This is by far the best pool simulation I've ever played on a mobile device, possibly the best game - period, thanks to the realistic physics and crystal clear graphics on the landscape display.
Steve Litchfield
PS. Note that the game plays in portrait mode on most S60 3rd Edition smartphones - but don't worry, it's still just as good!
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at