With American Pool, publisher Mud Duck brings a budget-priced virtual 3D billiards presentation with three modes of gameplay to the PlayStation. In Training mode, players learn the controls and various pool techniques by solving tasks and problems, while Pocket Game mode offers five types of pool including 9-Ball, 8-Ball, Basic, Rotation and 14-1 Rack. The final mode, Pool Contest, is a 9-Ball bracketed tournament in which players create their own character and level up with special shots and techniques as they advance through the pairings.
Examples of special skills that can be earned include Low Tech (adds a visual line from the cue ball to facilitate aiming), Easy Shot (drops the speed of the power gauge by one-third), and Free Ball (allows the cue ball to be placed in any location). As players reach higher levels of skill, additional abilities are unlocked. Specific conventions used in American Pool include "Texas Express Rules" in 9-Ball games, the requirement to "call your shot" in 8-Ball, and the loser of banking in 14-1 Rack taking the break shot.
It's relatively simple stuff - the action is viewed in the first-person; you see directly down the cue and behind the cueball, so as to minimise problems lining up shots. In addition to the obvious tasks of judging angles and the power with which you wish to hit the cueball with, there are some extra options to consider once you've got into the swing of things. You can tinker with top and back spin, both very useful attributes and, if you're feeling really ambitious, sidespin and cue angles can be adjusted. The complexity of the matches generally depends on the style of player you are, but they are usually fairly brief duels.
What you get here are three main modes of play - training, pocket game and pool contest. Training is actually a rather misleading name as it's levels are more trickshot-based. There are twenty or so shots to attempt, with the added bonus of them all being available from the start, so you'll never be stuck on one individual level. Pocket Game allows you to take on a friend or the computer in five different styles of pool, such as Rotation, Basic and good old 8-ball. The innovative mode however is the Pool Contest.
The Pool Contest is a knockout tornament whereby you and 31 other players are placed into a draw, with the aim being to win five consecutive matches to take the title. This could have been a truly superb mode - the more you play, the more you are rewarded with experience points and 'level ups' (anyone who has played a role-playing game in the last ten years should be familar with this). Novelly, when you reach certain levels of experience, you are gifted some kind of new ability - lines to show how balls will react upon hitting a cushion and more accurate power bars amongst them. The big problem lies not in the design of the game, but the fact that you have to play 9-ball rules.
For anybody unfamilar with this form of pool, basically there are nine balls placed on a table each with a number between one and nine, and they must be potted in order. The really annoying thing is, whoever pots the decisive 9th ball wins, regardless of what went before. So, feasibly it is quite possible to lose a game despite potting eight of the nine balls. Where is the fairness in that? As time passes, you wish you could just scrap the first eight balls as they are effectively pointless, and winning is much more down to luck than skill.
Manufacturer's description:
Give it your best shot!
* Play any one of five billiard games including: 8-ball, 9-ball, and straight pool.
* Run the table with the easy-to-use interface for english, cue position, and shot strength.
* Compete against your friends or computer opponents.
* Stunning 3D graphics and realistic ball physics.
Features:
- First person perspective.
- 3D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Pool theme.
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