When I was growing up, most of the time I should have spent at college, part time job and, later, university was spent playing snooker and pool. There was a particularly nice arrangement in my local pool hall when I was at uni where table time was a pound an hour between midnight and six in the morning, which was about all I could afford. This may have had some input on me dropping out of uni, but as many previous employers have told me it was time very much well spent. I therefore feel qualified to provide expert opinion on Pure Pool, the latest release from VooFoo Studios on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Initially I struggled to think of anything to write that would actually constitute a review beyond “it’s a pool game what else do you need to know?” This would be fairly dismissive of the effort that has gone into putting the game together, so I’m going to break this down into nice small chunks, covering off all the elements that a pool game should have

Gameplay

Obviously, the most important thing you need to know is whether Pure Pool is any fun to play. The answer to this question is yes – of the many many pool and snooker games I have played this is one of the best. The ball physics are very accurate, the playing mechanics are simple and intuitive, and the realism modelling is done to a very high level. There’s no arcadey feel to the gameplay; as weird as this sounds to say it feels like playing a virtual version of a real world game of pool. If you hit the ball too hard it rattles in the jaws and comes out again when it has no right to, if you put too much backspin on the cue ball it shoots off the table and into somebody’s pint; from a physics point of view its eerily similar to real life. A true testament to this is that I found myself basing my playing style and shot selection on my own genuine style, not the one that I normally adopt for virtual pool.

Game Modes

You obviously have the choice of eight ball (correct) and nine ball (yawn), but as far as the game of pool goes that’s pretty much as far as variety goes. Fortunately there are a variety of one off challenges to keep things interesting; games like Killer (a take a turn each until you miss a pot), break building and speed potting all add depth.

As it would be a glaring omission otherwise there is of course an online option, and as with all online gameplay your enjoyment is measured only by the type of person you’re playing against. Offline you will find a career mode and various other one off events, and in absence of any sort of context to your career it does tend to feel like just one game after another. It may seem unreasonable to expect something like this from what is essentially focussing on a parlour game, but compared to some of the world championship snooker games where you have tournaments and win earnings, it does feel overall a little bit shallow. This is a shame, but in reality it’s the online play where you’re likely to focus your attention so doesn’t detract from the experience as a whole.

Aesthetics

Pure Pool is very much and aesthetic game of two halves, one being very good and the other not so much. The good half is that graphically Pure Pool is a very attractive creature; deep rich colours and detailed textures wrap every surface, frame rate is smooth and fluid and the environments, whilst limited to what you would expect to see in any pool hall, are non-distracting from the task at hand. It’s a warming experience to play and, due to my lack of university education, the best description I can come up with is that it ’feels nice’ to play a few frames in.

The second half however, is not so good. Both the soundtrack and the sound effects are a let down for me, as they really add nothing to the experience. One of the most aurally satisfying experiences of playing pool is the sound of the balls hitting each other, however as far as I can tell there is only one sound effect used regardless of how hard or soft you strike the ball. It really takes the fun out of smacking a shot into the corner pocket when the sound doesn’t reflect it, and can break the immersion in the experience.

The soft jazz soundtrack is also quite disappointing. I kind of get what is trying to be achieved; creating an American pool hall themed environment obviously makes sense but it grows a bit boring after a while. The ability to customise your soundtrack with some of your own tunes would be a really useful feature in that regard, and hopefully it’ll come in with a future update.

Customisability

Back to saying nice things, pure pool does give a surprising amount of customisability to your gaming experience. You unlock different cues as you go, you have the choice of a rainbow full of colours for the cloth type and then the choice of pattern you want over laid on top of it. It’s a nice touch compared to just being told that it’s blue and to shut up or take your 50p somewhere else.

 

Taking everything into consideration, I like Pure Pool. I also like the fact that its £6.99, flying in the face of Xbox Live’s ridiculous prices for downloadable games. You can easily pay twice as much for games half as good as this one, so if you’re looking for something different it’s definitely worth a purchase.

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