Tom Baines Writes:
" Everybody knows that looks aren't everything. We also know that we're not to judge a book by its cover. This are very good philosophies and excellent values to be teaching the younger folk in society, yet however hard we try not to, every now and again we do it automatically. I did it with Pool Party - and I'm not proud of myself for that.
Pool Party arrived in a small brown Jiffy bag, as is standard for a review game. Excitedly, I ripped the packet open and slipped the contents out onto my desk, finding it all to be a bit of a blur. First I switched the light on to see if that was the issue. That didn't help, so I popped off my glasses and gave them a bit of a wipe. Something still wasn't right and, short of suddenly developing cataracts, I decided that the issue wasn't with me but with the front cover of Pool Party. It's out of focus, in simple terms. There's photograph - a group shot of three friends playing a game of pool - and while it looks at first glance as though one section of the photo is out of focus to draw emphasis to another, upon closer inspection, I found no in-focus area at all."
"The Novato-based (CA, the US) indie games publisher Mindscape and Geneva-based (Switzerland) indie games developer Lakeview Games, are today very happy and excited to announce that their chaotic physics-based party game collection "Pool Party", is coming to PC (via Steam) and consoles (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch) in 2024." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
gameSlave writes: " This is one of those of those reference moments. A single point in time against which we will compare all others yet to come, and one which we add to the scope of our experience to better understand our past. This is the game that when myself and my colleagues here, for the foreseeable future, say that we've 'played worse games', or point out that a title 'isn't the most cynically produced around': this is that game that we're referring to. Pool Party is hands down the worst game I can currently recall playing or even seeing.
I'm prepared to admit a certain amount of this reaction might be due to the experience still being fresh in my mind, like a sticky shameful stain on my short term memory. After a little more reflection I might actually recall a worse title, but just now this is all I can think of."
Good stuff
* Nothing
Not so good stuff
* Absolutely everything
N-Europe reports:
''Heard of Pool Party for the Wii? Chances are if you're reading this, you haven't and this may be the first time you've heard it. It's a game that completely went under the radar and will likely be continuously overlooked. The title was first released over in the US last September and released early last month over in Europe. With very little text to translate it makes you wonder what took so long. Perhaps there was some debate as to whether the game should be inflicted on gamers here...
Pool Party unfortunately does very little to impress the casual gamer, which is the market the game is trying to appeal too. When loading up the game you get a few options to choose from, naturally single or multi-player. Once in the Single player section you can select from a variety of modes to play such as Pool 8/9/10/15 balls, straight pool, rotation pool, black jack, full snooker, short snooker and finally killer. That's pretty much what the game has to offer. Of course you do have a few options to customize things such as the environment, table, ball sets, cues, characters, songs and table speeds. That's the entire game summarised meaning this review will be rather short compared to others since the game can be summed in a matter of sentences. With the basics over now it's time for the controls.''
