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Playstation > PlayStation Game Cheats > PlayStation Reviews > Staff Review | |
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| Setting
the Scene: It won't take a lot of savvy to realize that this is a video simulation of the bar rooms favorite pastime, pool. What is slightly puzzling to me is why so many of these types of games are released at the same time. In the past few weeks we have received copies of Jimmy White's Cueball 2, World Championship Snooker and now Pool Academy. Am I missing something? Is it the start of the pool season? In fact does pool have a season to start? Maybe it's just to cash in on the interest in the snooker competition recently held at the Crucible. Regardless, J.W's Cueball 2 has already been judged through the system and to be totally honest I am so addicted to Codemasters brilliant World Snooker Championship that I am struggling to find the time to put my thoughts down on line. Well, that will have to wait until later in the week while I ponder over Ubi Soft's Pool Academy. Cue tips chalked up? Okay I'll break first! Sound and Vision: Glancing at a pool table you could be fooled into thinking that copying the reactions of a few colored balls onto a plain, flat background would be child's play. Especially when you consider the standard reached by many other genres. Surely eight highly detailed cars jockeying for position on a realistic racing circuit would be a more worthy challenge. Common sense would say so. But we are not dealing with the obvious here... it's all to do with physics. Imagine if a vehicle in Gran Turismo had to be bounced off a barrier, a brick wall and then a tree trunk... before being steered perfectly through a narrow tunnel barely wider than the cars width... Don't say it's easy because we know how many of you struggled with some of the driving tests to get an 'A' license. So with physics in mind lets see how the game looks. Following a low-key intro and a basic front end, play begins with the rotating view of a solitary pool table. This is situated in a darkened room, with no furniture and not a soul in sight. As you prepare to lag off for break the background music becomes obvious by its inauspicious style. Elevator music at it's worst. With such a sparse atmosphere this could hardly be considered the best of starts to any game. Still... we must soldier on. Okay, let's run through the basics. The playing surface is fine and doesn't pose any of those visual problems usually associated with pool games. The lighting is good, the jaws of the pockets are clearly angled and the baize that runs up the sides, and slightly over the edge of the table doesn't blend in with the flat playing surface (a common flaw, that one). The balls seem perfectly round (it has been known) and the colors clearly defined. Each shot may be viewed from a top down, or first person viewing angle. Virtually every camera position is catered for with the inclusion of a pair of zoom buttons offering almost total camera control to the player. The only excuse you could have for a poor shot would be through the inability to wander aimlessly around the table when checking out your angles. Click HERE To read more of this Review... |