Real Pool Hands-On

At first glance, Real Pool seems to embody all the aspects of pool that make the game so appealing: challenging gameplay, strategy, and luck. The game offers a carom table, a pocket billiards table, a puzzle mode, a tournament mode, and an in-depth instruction tutorial.

The carom games are a nice change of pace from the games of pool most of us are familiar with. The pocket billiards table offers the tried-and-true favorites eight ball, nine ball, and basic pool, along with some interesting deviations. The puzzle mode in particular is well designed and visually appealing, though not terribly challenging.

Real Pool makes excellent use of the Dual Shock controller. The left and right sticks control the position of the cue and the point of contact on the ball. The buttons control striking force, camera distance from the table, and just about anything else you'd like to do in the game. The controls are a bit difficult at first, in particular the control of the camera angles. The physics in Real Pool are right on. The balls react as they would in real life, and you'll rarely leave a game with a feeling of being cheated by its physics

Graphically, Real Pool seems to be lacking something. With the resources available, it is surprising to see that the flow from one camera angle to another between shots is constantly choppy. Expecting better from the PlayStation 2 just seems natural. The computer-controlled tournament mode opponents, while well drawn, are typical Japanese anime fare and are far from awe inspiring. 3D players with actual recorded voices would have been far more impressive.

The distinctive sound of the balls knocking into each other and falling into the pockets is realistic and gratifying. You might have to fight the compulsion to turn the music off, as the game's jukebox doesn't feature a wide variety of songs at this point. Listening to good music while shooting pool is essential, though, so hopefully this lack of variety will be remedied by release.

Real Pool's in-game instructions might be the best part of the entire experience. Basic techniques and expert-level tricks are explained in an excellently translated, easy-to-understand tutorial. The option to set up your balls on a practice table is welcome, and learning the tricky jump shots and curved shots is quite fulfilling. After playing Real Pool, you might find that your real-life pool game has improved by a notch or two.

Real Pool's many modes of play offer lots of variation, adding to its overall value. While Real Pool is adequate in most regards, better use of the system's hardware could have been made across the board. A broader soundtrack, smoother graphics, and additional tables or locales are desperately needed. If these areas don't see improvement before release, Real Pool seems destined to fall quite short of current PS2 standards.