Pool Party for Wii Reviews by Gamers

When I saw that there was a pool game available for the Wii I began to have wonderful flashbacks of Side Pocket for the NES (Arguably one of the best billiards games for any console, Ever!). I imagined playing with realistic motion using the Wiimote as a pool cue, having to line up shots and then motion forward to hit the ball, etc. etc.

Unfortunately the creators of this game did not have the same imagination. This game is horrible in every single category that it could be judged upon, from the lousy soundtrack to the almost unmanageable menu system. I had a hard time just choosing a character for second player (is this even possible?) and don't even ask how to move the ball should you get "Ball in hand", you're better off just leaving it lie.

The Wiimote is about as useful in this game as it would be connected to a PSP or a dishwasher for that matter. Unless of course you consider shaking the Wiimote to shoot the ball a good use of the medium. You can aim your shot using the Wiimote but not without much frustration and not without holding down a button while doing so.

There are just to many problems with this game to list and I would recommend staying away if you have a choice. If you really have an aching to play a billiards game then maybe dusting off the old NES should be your first plan of action.

While I will say that this game might be slightly enjoyable for those who don't really understand pool and just want some innocent family fun, the ball physics in this game are so horrible that they are laughable.

I have been playing real life pool seriously for almost eight years now, and I'm always on the lookout for a pool video game. Usually my disappointment with these games is that I'll miss easy shots that I wouldn't miss in real life, while at the same time making ridiculously thin cuts into the side pocket. In other words, the easy becomes hard and the hard becomes easy.

Pool Party, however, has no such flaw. What it does have, however, is almost no understanding of basic physics. My roommate and I discovered that if you hit a shot as hard as possible, the cue ball will come to a dead stop nearly every time, REGARDLESS OF THE ANGLE! A brief example: I shot at a ball that was roughly 2 inches off of the side rail, hitting about a 70 degree cut, center ball, with the direction of the cue ball being towards the rail. Hitting full power, the cue ball did not hit the rail after striking the object ball -- it just stopped dead in its tracks. The only time it doesn't come to a dead stop is when the cue ball will occasionally roll a couple inches in a seemingly random direction, usually in the opposite direction that it should go.

Additionally, the game's attempt at implementing masse is horribly misguided, as you can put an insane amount of masse on a shot while hitting the cue ball below center with a level stick. For those that don't know, masse is usually applied by hitting the cue ball above center and with the cue stick elevated.

To be fair, the ball collisions seem to happen as they should -- other than the cue ball's movement after hitting the object ball, as previously mentioned. Unfortunately, the way the cue ball moves around the table is probably the most important part of pool.

Please save your time and don't waste a rental on this game.