Pure Pool

Over the years sports have gotten fair, quantitative treatment in the gaming industry.  While maybe not as visible on the radar, pool hasn’t been forgotten by developers either.  And it’s true that sometimes you may want to play pool without leaving your house. In this respect, VooFoo Studios have decided to try and please the crowd by bringing Pure Pool, initially released for the PS4, to the PC.

The first thing you'll notice when launching Pure Pool is the backdrop. Where other pool games don’t go out of their way to provide a detailed backdrop, VooFoo offers a lively-enough bar - the hum of the crowd and silhouettes of people included. A blur effect does a good job of maintaining the impression of an actual pool hall without diverting your attention as you focus on your game of pool. The table can be customized with a selection of different baize colors, logos and themes. The balls have a nice shine to them, and winning shots are preceded by a short cinematic scene showing the cue hitting the ball. Add to this a smooth soundtrack comprised of catchy jazz and blues songs, and you’ve got a solid visual/audio combo that provides a warming welcome to the title.

Pure Pool’s user interface is simplistic and a bit clunky to navigate through using mouse and keyboard. However, once you get used to it you’ll find it provides enough information for your needs. Player stats, rankings and leaderboards are detailed in separate windows. The game even offers help to those new to the sport by including rules to the available game modes in an entirely separate section. You can organize leagues with other online players, checking your overall status, levels, accolades and unlockables along the way. The few control mechanics you need to learn are shown on the bottom of the screen. Thus, after half an hour of tinkering in the free play mode that acts as a replacement for the classical menu screen, you’ll have gotten a feel of the weight and physics of the game.

After the introductory hour, however, Pure Pool’s issues tend to surface. The elephant in the room is represented by the ongoing server connectivity issues. Since release, we haven’t been able to play one single game against an online opponent. This, of course, makes for a trickle-down effect, making nearly half of the game inaccessible. Leagues are rendered useless. The rankings and leaderboards become unreliable. The AI offers challenges with its three difficulty levels, but the fun you can get playing exclusively offline is limited. While progressing to a higher local tournament does require some feats of skill besides winning the game, you’ll eventually want to play with a human opponent.

In this respect, Pure Pool comes forth with a system where it analyzes the player's playstyle, creating DNA that’s available for download and for use in offline games. We managed to download a couple of DNA samples, however, this early on it’s difficult to say just how organic they are. The DNA players are more inclined to make mistakes and attempt fewer flashy plays, but in order for the system to reach its true potential time is required.

Pure pool offers four game modes from the get go. You’ve got US 8-ball, 9-ball, Accumulator and Killer. For a starting lineup, it’s not shoddy at all. It’s worth noting, though, that rule sets cannot be altered in any way. The 8 and 9-ball modes are missing some rules like calling the black ball or push-out mechanics. Besides these, players can try their hand with different challenges that require them to make a show of their precision and speed by potting balls in a row and making accurate shots while being pressured by time.

Pure Pool offers a single table-level camera. The only option for viewing the entire table from further out is by pressing and holding “D”, however, you can't aim in this mode. The game comes with aim indicators which as of now can't be disabled in any way. A nice touch regarding these indicators is that the further away you are from your target ball or the trickier the shot, the less aid you’re going to get. Thus, you get the chance to apply more finesse with close shots, while making sure a level of challenge and uncertainty is kept with shots aiming for targets further away.

At this moment Pure Pool’s purchase potential is surrounded by a lot of “Ifs”. It does cost only ten dollars, however, acquiring the title now would only give you half a game. There’s a good foundation, however, the rest of the game is filled with holes. It’s hard to recommend buying it right away. Although, should they keep their word and provide support in fixing the many issues popping up on the forums, Pure Pool could turn into a great way of spending time on a Sunday or would be a simple, satisfying way to fill one’s pool-related needs without having to leave the house.

MateÈ™ Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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