Reviewed: March 20, 2004
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Ignition Entertainment Limited

Developer
Awesome Studios

Released: April, 2004
Genre: Sports
Players: 2
ESRB: Everyone

9
7
8
9
8.8

Supported Features

  • Analog
  • Memory Card (33 Blocks)

    		•
    I may or may not be the right person to be reviewing Pool Paradise, the latest pool game to arrive for next-gen consoles and the first for the GameCube. Whether I was playing in my parents’ basement growing up, or at my apartment complex’s clubhouse, or in my own game room in my first home, I’ve been playing pool for more than 30 years now. And while I’m not consistent enough to go “pro” I am pretty good. There was even a time I was paying the rent by hustling pool.

    I’ve played most of the pool games that have come down the PC and console pipe with the most recent being Q-Ball for the PS2, a game that left me slightly underwhelmed to say the least. My biggest complaint with all of these games has always been with the controls and their inadequacy to recreate an authentic pool-shooting experience.

    Even though Pool Paradise is still lacking a bit in the controls, it does manage to offer the most realistic representation of the sport of billiards to date and tosses in a metric ton of special features and bonus games that will keep you glued to your Cube for months to come.

    Just check out this impressive list of features:

    • Latest pool game physics and AI from the highly successful Archer MacLean series.
    • Highest quality pool game in the world.
    • 30 different computer controlled opponents, including a guest appearance by Jimmy White.
    • Unique and highly detailed animated hands that express their feelings by their ‘gestures’!
    • 11 different main rules types (including 6/8/9/10 ball, 14:1, Rotation, Killer and more).
    • 5 modes of play; Practice, Championship, Tournament, Trick Shots and various sub-games.
    • 10 different tournament ladders.
    • 11 different table sizes and shapes both indoors and out on the beach.
    • 8 camera modes from close-in chase-cam to static overhead.
    • Play darts on the beach, Dropzone arcade game on the beach pontoon, blast coconuts with a loose cannon and throw pool balls up a Skeepool ramp behind the Championship Hut!
    • Innovative analogue control for responsive cueing of pool shots and Darts throwing.
    • Visit the Beach Shop to purchase game aids or unusual items to customize your play experience.
    • Different baizes to customize your tables.
    • Hidden features to be discovered.
    • Rewards for high achievers.
    • Its not all over if you lose everything – visit the Loan Shark to lend you more, but don’t visit him too often!
    • Full day/night cycle - watch as the sun drops gently past the horizon and the moon comes out.
    • Single load game – no more annoying waits between levels.
    • Specially commissioned ambient music to accompany your pool paradise experience.
    • So realistic you don’t need a real pool table any more, or to go to any paradise islands!
    To borrow an example from the Xbox, Pool Paradise is setup much like DOA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, both with its interactive menus built into an island themed atmosphere, and the ability to do much, much more than just play the game listed on the cover of the box.

    You start off on the beach, shipwrecked and totally broke. Rather than going on a quest for fire or making friends with Wilson, the volleyball you decide to investigate the various huts and pool tables scattered about this lush tropical paradise. Lucky for you there are about 30 other characters stranded on the same island, all loaded with cash and all eager to wager it on your skills at playing them at pool.

    After a quick dip in the ocean and an underwater visit with the Loan Shark (who just so happens to be a real shark) you get a $200 cash advance for stake money and it’s off to the velvety tables. You’ll probably want to familiarize yourself with the interface and the controls on the outdoor practice tables before heading into the Tiki Bar for some competitive wagering.

    The controls and interface are a bit confusing at first until you learn the several modes that compromise the entire shot process. Each mode redefines the gamepad buttons ever so slightly, but after one or two games the entire process becomes second nature. The B button cycles the modes allowing you to “place” the ball when allowed, or “aim” your shot by pivoting your cue around the cueball. You also have a “view” mode but the C-Stick also allows you to spin the camera around the cueball. The final mode is the “nominate” where you pick your ball and the pocket it will be going in.

    Nominating, or what most pool players will know as “calling your shots” is handled very nicely in Pool Paradise. Most of the time the game will intuitively guess your desired pocket when you aim at the target ball. Sometimes it is wrong and it always seems to favor the cut shot over the bank, so if you want to do a one or two rail kicker you are going to need to manually call the pocket.

    Most of the game variations in Pool Paradise require calling your shots; something I was brought up to do anyway. There was no “slop pool” allowed in my house and even in games like Rotation where you can legally score off accidental shots, still stir pangs of guilt. I was pleased to find that this game does accurately call the shots for you about 95% of the time taking one step out of the shooting process.

    Pool can be summed up as the combination of physics and geometry and Pool Paradise replicates both of these sciences to perfection. Using the D-pad prior to each shot you can move the impact location on the cue ball effectively putting English (or spin) on the ball allowing it to curve or even retreat after impact with another ball or the cushion. This becomes increasingly important on the trick shots.

    Even though you will be spending most of your time playing pool there are plenty of other activities to distract you when you get tired of knocking balls into pockets. Wandering the island you will eventually come to the Shop where you can buy all sorts of things, some pool related and others, merely collectibles for the sake of spending all that gambling booty. You can buy new cues, customize your tables, unlock crazy tables, or spend your cash to unlock a bevy of mini games like Skeeball, Darts, and some other surprises.

    Again, none of this has anything to do with pool, but they all serve to enhance the “pastime” nature of this title by giving you lots of additional things to do. What is perhaps the most surprising is that all of these peripheral games are quite well done, especially the darts, and while there are no advanced games like Cricket or Baseball you do get traditional 301 and 501 games with double-out rules.

    Of course if you want to explore all the subtleties Pool Paradise has to offer you are going to need cash and a whole lot of it. To earn the big bucks you will need to head to the competition area and challenge the various professionals. There are more than 30 waiting for you and each character has a set of games you can play including a big challenge for increasing dollar amounts. During the games the computer will even sense when you have a difficult shot and encourage you to wager side bets on making those shots, a nice way to make a little extra scratch.

    When you start you will only have access to the bottom of the roster but as you earn more money more characters become available to you. You will also be periodically invited to larger tournaments that span multiple games in a typical tiered tree structure. You’ll need several hundred thousand dollars and a whole lot of free time to unlock everything locked away in Pool Paradise.

    In some ways you could call the graphics in Pool Paradise “excessive”. For most people looking for a pool game you won’t care about the fancy beachfront graphics, day-night cycles with subtle environmental changes, or the panoramic fly-throughs between each menu hotspot. Fortunately, some of the extraneous animations can be toggled off making the game a bit more efficient to play.

    Technically, the visuals are excellent and with the exception of the default purple cloth (about 3 shades lighter than the 4-ball) I have very little to complain about. The game doesn’t seem to support progressive scan which isn’t entirely surprising for a budget title, but there are some aliasing issues that creep into the game screens creating jagged edges on the pool table and the seams where the cloth joins the wood, etc. These only really appear at certain viewing angles.

    My biggest complaint is the lack of any character animation. You have this interesting cast of characters that are shown only in portrait form, but when you actually play the game you only see their hands and the pool cue. I suppose if you are a Kevin Bacon fan (subtle reference to Invisible Man) this might be cool, but I found it distracting and disappointing. I’m playing this cool looking lizard creature but only see his green scaly hands, or a potentially sexy female opponent, but I only see her hands.

    At first I thought my review copy just didn’t have the finished characters included, but “expressive hands” seems to be a touted feature. Admittedly, the hands are very nicely animated, almost to the point of having personality. And while I can possibly see the inherent charm in the design, watching a pair of hands walk around the table analyzing possible shots just gets time consuming after awhile.

    There are many static and dynamic camera angles to choose from. You can play from traditional isometric or overhead views or opt for the 3D tracking angles that include rail view, cue view, and some interesting chase views that can actually inspire a bit of motion sickness. With all of these possible views I was still surprised how hard it was to actually line up some of my shots. Getting that perfect line of sight down the cue and judging crucial angles is quite difficult and I found myself missing shots that I would never miss in real life. There is a “gadget” you can buy that allows you to view the travel lines of the ball (like the cheat lines in computer golf putting), but resorting to that takes all of the skill out of the game.

    The audio package is minimal at best. Despite the creative cast of characters there is no speech, and sound effects, while accurate, are only there to realistically support the visuals. Balls clack together and thud into the pocket. You can even hear them roll down the wood ramp into the collection window.

    What really steals the show is the music, an eclectic mix of excellent island tunes and quality atmospheric melodies reminiscent of Enigma. There are 15 wonderful tracks and even after more than 12 hours of gameplay I can’t be sure if it ever repeated. I’m sure they did, but you just can’t tell, it blends so well into the background.

    Priced at $20, this is just another one of the many great games releasing at bargain basement prices. Even if there was nothing more to this title than the pool variations it would be a steal, but with all of the bonus games and a virtual department store of collectibles to purchase, Pool Paradise is one of those games that you will likely never stop playing.

    There is also support for two players to go head-to-head in all of the same modes you can play against the computer. This makes for an entertaining diversion when you have put all of the computer opponents in their proper place or just looking for some multiplayer action.

    Pool Paradise is the definitive pool simulation for next-gen consoles. While nothing will ever replace the actual art of playing “real” pool, this is as close as it has ever come. The controls are intuitive and the interface is fun and accessible to young and old alike.

    With nearly a dozen game variations, ten tables, ten tournaments, five game modes, and thirty opponents, Pool Paradise is the encyclopedic compilation of all things “pool”. Tack on an enjoyable selection of mini-games and you have one of the most pleasurable pastimes you can partake of on your GameCube.