The Wii’s controllers seem perfectly suited for pool, and since the console’s debut, lots of developers have taken a shot at getting the sport just right. Aside from the billiards game in Wii Play, however, few pool games have seen a whole lot of success or recognition. Pool Hall Pro is the latest attempt to break this trend, and in a lot of ways it does. It’s far from the definitive Wii pool game, but it’s certainly a playable and fun title with a lot going for it.
Of course, with any Wii sports game, the most important thing is the control scheme. Pool Hall Pro offers two: standard and advanced. With either, you use the D-pad to rotate your view of the board, the A button to set the cue’s angle of elevation, and the pointer to select a place on the ball to hit. The 1 button switches between a first-person view and an overhead view. In the advanced setup, you hold down the B button and move the Wii-mote like you would a real cue to hit the ball. In the basic setup, the most noticeable difference is that a power meter comes up when you draw the cue back, and you hit the ball by releasing the B button rather than thrusting the Wii-mote forward. We didn’t find the advanced setup considerably more difficult to use, and most players should start with it. The game’s other aid, a visual representation of the path the cue ball will travel until it first hits something, is much more helpful.
This setup gives players a good sense of control. Without too much trouble, you can view the table from any angle and hit the ball however you’d like; in this regard, the only complaint we had was that in the first-person view, it would have been nice to be able to adjust our peripheral vision without also adjusting the angle we were shooting at. Also, with the basic setup, winding up can feel a bit exaggerated at times (you have to move the Wii-mote back much farther than most players would move a real pool cue), but we got used to it fairly quickly, and the advanced setup helps with this problem (by allowing you to control power not only by drawing the cue back, but also by thrusting it forward more or less gently).
In Pool Hall Pro, the emphasis is on the pool table itself. The balls and table are well-depicted and easy to see, the physics engine creates realistic interactions between the objects (caveat: we’re not advanced pool players, so there may be subtle problems we missed), and the sound effects are very realistic. The opponent A.I. is, for the most part, handled well; the skill level is adjustable, and easier opponents tend to miss the tricky shots more often. The “rookie” opponents are great for beginners, and tougher opponents will give experienced pool players a run for their money. In our time with the game, our opponents did take a couple of outright weird shots, but then again, even human pool players can be hard to scrutinize when they go for a long shot and/or miss spectacularly.
Other aspects of the presentation don’t fare as well, unfortunately. Once you hit a ball, the camera can be quite herky-jerky as it tries to follow the action. The cheesy, lifeless blues-rock music grates in a hurry, and while you can customize a character and his “crib,” the other people shown here don’t have much in the way of personality. The various venues (bars, etc.) lack detail and seem a bit sterile. For most casual players, pool goes hand-in-hand with raucous rock ’n’ roll tunes, friendship, beer, and cigarette smoke, so it’s a shame that a game so well-done in other ways could fail to evoke this atmosphere. The minor typographical errors prevalent in the text, including backwards quotation marks (one character’s nickname is presented as ”Wirlwind”), are a more minor problem.
For those who were disappointed by Wii Play’s lack of billiards options, Pool Hall Pro offers loads of possibility. There’s a career mode where you enter tournaments, an arcade mode where you face a series of foes, a simple exhibition option, and multiplayer. The games on offer are U.S. 8-ball, U.K. 8-ball, 6-ball, 9-ball, 10-ball, 15-ball, pub, Snooker, 6-ball Snooker, 10-ball Snooker, and basic pocket billiards. It’s a great variety for those familiar with pool, and a great way for newcomers to learn the ropes of games they’ve never heard of.
Overall, this is a decent game; it has a lot of positive qualities and options galore, and while there are quite a few flaws, none ruin the whole experience. Video game pool will probably never be quite as fun as the real deal, and future games will hopefully get closer than Pool Hall Pro does, but for now, it’s a reasonable approximation at a reasonable cost. Given the mounds of shovelware that various developers and publishers have heaped on the Wii lately, we’re happy with that.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.0 Graphics
On the pool table itself, they’re fine, but the surrounding people and places look drab. 4.7 Control
A very usable scheme. 3.2 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
A mixed bag. The music is awful, but the sound effects are very realistic. 3.8
Play Value
Most people won’t get addicted, but it’s fun to play alone or with friends, and there are tons of options.
3.6 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
Game Features: