|| REVIEW || Pool Nation (PS4)
Developed By : Cherry Pop Games Published By : Cherry Pop Games
Category : Sports, Simulation Release Date : July 9th, 2019
Pool has always been a favorite past time of mine, ever since I was a little kid. My mom worked at a country-western bar when I was growing up so I was always around pool tables, always learning to play. As a kid, when I discovered that there were pool video games it was something that blew me away completely, but today I know full well that there are a lot of these titles that flood the gaming market. All the ones I've played, they're always good, but they're never great. So it was my hope that chalking up the cue to play Pool Nation that I'd finally find the pool game that was hard to turn off.
As soon as I got into the game, I was instantly blown away by how much there was to offer. A plethora of exhibition modes, on and offline play, as well as a career mode that could be played in a focus of either 8- or 9-Ball. With so many options, I wasn't really sure where to get started, so I just jumped right into an 8-Ball career.
The career spans six events in six locations, and each are organized the same way. There is a preliminary round where you must face a sampling of other players entered in the tournament. This first round, it doesn't matter if you win or lose your games, since all this is really doing is setting the bracket for the actual tournament itself. Initially you'll be playing rounds that consist of winning a single frame (game) of pool, but once you make it to the later rounds you'll be playing a best-of-nine series to win.
Winning nets you experience in the form of PND (PoolNation Dollars), and this is how you'll purchase customizations such as variations on the pool venues, the set of balls on the table, sticks, and more to let you put your own little flavor into things. These were fun to unlock and use because all the option re-skins for the balls were visually stunning and felt different from each other instead of just slight tweaks from one to the next.
As for the rest of the game with the exhibition modes, this is the area where getting lost is going to be extremely easy to do. There are a ton of different modes of pool to play, from conventional ones to others that might be a little lesser known. Naturally, the same 8- and 9-Ball are included here, you'll also get to play Snooker, and British 8-Ball.
Standard pool where each pocketed ball counts as a single point, and the winner is the first to thirty points. There is 3-Ball where you'll be given three balls on the table and have to pocket them in as few shots as possible. Golf gives you one ball, forcing you to make it into each pocket in turn around the table, with the trick being that you and your opponent share the cue so where it stops for your opponent's shot is where you'll shoot from.
As fun as the career mode was, when I started to mess around with these exhibition modes was when I started losing lots of time and finding myself playing until 3AM. I remember being in school and getting addicted to a snooker flash game, so being able to play it in this brought back nostalgia for me. It's a great mixture of different pool games so the game never feels stale, giving you plenty of ways to shuffle things around.
However, the one mode that I got the most addicted to was one that is sitting on the main menu, and that's the endurance mode. Here, you'll be on a table all by yourself with a number of pool balls on the table. Every so often, a new ball will spawn on the table, and if you reach a total of twenty-four, you lose. You'll need to continuously shoot to try and keep ahead of the flow, with the challenge being how long you can survive on the table for. You can chain together a streak of made shots based on whether or not they were combos, or shot from far away, and this will trigger a small timer during which the pool pockets will be on fire. This segment is your chance to try and get ahead of things.
As of right now, these are all the modes offered in Pool Nation. There are some additions in the work such as an entire area dedicated to Trick Shots, including playing ones built into the game, and if the PC version on Steam is any indication, you'll be able to create your own custom shots and download/play other people's shots as well. This update will be coming as a free expansion to the game, and can be expected...
Even without this Trick Shot expansion though, this is an amazing game. Graphically it's absolutely beautiful. The tables, the sticks, each ball on the table looks amazingly crisp and the light reflections made my jaw drop the first time I fired it up. If I wasn't blunt enough about it in this review, this is a hard game to put down. The first time I turned it on I expected to just play a game or two, turn it off and go to bed. However, hours passed and I found myself still playing at almost 4am.
If you enjoy playing pool simulation games, this is the next one you want to play because it will be the last pool simulator you play.No matter which platform you pick this one up on it will surely be a favorite to jump into.
Game Rating : 9/10
Game Played On : PS4
Also Available On : PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One,PC (Steam)
Let it be known the other versions offer less options for game styles and ruleset customizations
