My father is not a video gamer, but he is an avid pool player. When I got my Wii, I picked up a copy of Wii Play for the extra remote, then invited my dad down to give virtual billiards a chance. He loved it immediately; the realistic physics coupled with the incredibly intuitive, natural controls allowed him to jump in, having never played a video game before, and beat me in a best-of-3 match. His only problem was that there was only one pool variant available — he wanted to be able to play 8-ball, 9-ball, and so on. Of course, as soon as I got Pool Party, I invited him over to try it out. Sadly, we were both disappointed.

It all starts off well enough. The main menu offers plenty of customization; after choosing one of the 13 available pool variants (from common ones like 8-ball and straight pool, to more obscure ones like full snooker and blackjack), you can adjust the specific details of your game to your heart’s content. You can alter your character, cue, table style, table location, music, and much more. Unfortunately, these choices are strictly cosmetic, and do not affect gameplay in any way. Once you’ve set up your options, you’re into the game proper.

 
The shot power meter is ungainly and complicated.

And that’s when the problems start. Whereas Wii Play’s billiards game uses elegant, simple, streamlined controls, Pool Party’s controls seem deliberately more complex than necessary. Simply aiming at the desired location is convoluted and difficult — you aim your shot by either a) holding down A and then pointing the remote, which is far too sensitive to perform accurately, or b) using the analog stick on the nunchuck, which is also overly sensitive. This doesn’t even take into account if you want to aim for a specific spot on the ball (for adding spin or english to the ball) — then you’ve got to hold down the 1 button while aiming the remote. Once you’ve got your shot lined up, holding down B brings up an on-screen power meter, which allows you to adjust the strength of the shot — a feature that is arbitrary, difficult to fine-tune, and just plain unnecessary, since the Wii’s motion controls would have been much more natural, realistic, and fun. Actually taking your shot is done with a simple forward movement of the remote, but since your movement’s strength, timing, and speed doesn’t affect gameplay, this is a pointless use of movement controls; the action could have just as easily been mapped to a button press. Camera controls are equally worthless and needlessly convoluted; you can switch between six set camera angles with C, or you can hold down Z then use the analog to slightly alter the angle of the camera. Only a couple of the camera angles are ever useful, and even those frequently distance themselves from or obscure the action.

 
Wow, that’s such a useful view of the action!

Excepting the overly complex controls, unnecessary power meter, and the oftentimes useless camera, Pool Party’s not bad. As I said before, it’s got a ton of customization options, including unlockable tables, characters, cues, and so on. Its physics system is reasonably realistic — certainly realistic enough to pull off all kinds of complex trick shots. Graphics aren’t bad, but they’re not really attempting anything super-ambitious graphically. The game’s music and voice-overs are atrocious and repetitive, but can be disabled through the menu. In single-player, the AI opponents vary from very good to very stupid, often within seconds, but overall they provide a decent but manageable challenge.

At the end of the day, though, this is a decent pool game that’s been ruined by poor presentation. While there is some fun to be found here, there are so many problems standing between you and anything resembling a good time that it’s hard to recommend attending this party.

Gameplay: 3.7
Decent pool gameplay is obscured by unwieldy controls, a difficult camera, and underutilized motion controls.

Graphics: 5.7
The graphics might be simple, but they get the job done. Character portraits are ugly, but the environments, tables, and so on look Ok.

Sound: 4.2
Really bad techno loops constantly, the voice-overs are incredibly grating, and the sound effects are merely serviceable. This game is the poster child for your TV’s mute button.

Difficulty: Medium
Most of the difficulty you’ll have with this game will be related to how difficult it is to see or control. The actual challenge is moderate, but not extraordinary.

Concept: 4.3
Using the Wii’s motion controls for a pool game is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, this game didn’t do that.

Overall: 4.0
The Wii is the ideal system for a pool video game. Pool Party, though, with its obfuscated control scheme, obscuring camera angles, and generally unfriendly interface, leaves a lot to be desired. Those looking for the ideal pool video game should keep looking.