Oh joy, I thought as I watched Mario leap up repeatedly to that third coin block, signifying that my download was just about complete. Another total waste of 800 points on a pointless mobile phone conversion from GameLoft. Yet, as with TV Show King, said developer has proven that it knows what it’s doing when it comes to the Wii - this is a surprisingly great pool sim with plenty of character and is well worth the paltry 800 points it costs to download.

For some strange reason the game features a Southern US theme - all its venues have the feel of vaguely sleazy bars you’d do your best not to offend anyone in, lest they rip your teeth out with a pair of rusty pliers. Yet all the competitors - ranging from a redneck cop to a country-rock star - are more than happy to challenge you to a match inside. There’s a standard Arcade mode, and a strange story mode, which has very little story to speak of as you jet around the various venues, the stakes and the difficulty level rising with each match you complete. After each game you’ll get the opportunity to try a trick shot challenge, with the rewards reducing the more times you fail. US and UK 8-ball variants as well as the 9-ball game are included, and you can turn the aiming line assist on or off, as well as choosing whether you want remote speaker sounds or rumble as you take your shot.

The motion controls are generally fairly sensible - you jab the cue ball forward to take your shot once you’ve lined it up with the d-pad, with the only bit of awkwardness coming when you have to reach down to press the 1 button to fine-tune your aim. Here you adjust the angle of cue to table with the remote, and use the pointer to pick the exact spot where you want the cue to strike the ball. You can even pull off those clever jump shots this way, while the ball physics and the effects of spin seem spot on.

Throw in some useful tutorials, plenty of unlockable characters and new venues, and you’ve got a game that’s terrific value for money. It might not be earth-shatteringly brilliant, but it’s easily better than the pool game on Wii Play, and if you enjoyed that, then you’ll likely have a great time with this. Shame about the lack of online play, but if you’ve got a friend round, you could do a whole lot worse than spend an hour or two playing a spot of Midnight Pool.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 2:45 pm by Chris Schilling
Reviews, WiiWare.