Pool Party for Nintendo Wii

Pool Party for the Nintendo Wii is a billiards game that attempts to capture all the fun and excitement of real billiards, but should you really grab your stick and rack'em up? Lets hit the tables and find out...

Pool Party is a billiards collection game that features 12 pool games and a practice mode.
The 12 pool games included are: Bonus 9 Balls, Time Attack, 9 Balls, 8 Balls, 10 Balls, 15 Balls, Straight Pool, Rotation Pool, Blackjack, Full Snooker, Short Snooker, and Killer. All of the games except the following: practice mode, Bonus 9 Balls, and Time Attack, can be played with either 1 or 2 players. The three listed above are only one player games.

In practice mode, you can practice your game of billiards by moving any ball on the table to practice virtually any shot. In Bonus 9 Balls, you've got 20 shots or less to pocket all 9 balls. You gain 100 points for each ball you pocket and lose 100 points for each shot missed. However, 500 bonus points are awarded for each successive pocket. In Time Attack, you must race against the clock and pocket all 9 balls before time is up. Your given 15 minutes and no penalties are given for missed shots or pocketing the cue ball. In 9 Balls, you must pocket each ball from 1 to 9 in continuing order. Whoever pockets the final 9 ball wins. In 8 Balls, you must pocket your set of balls either 1-7 or 9-15 before your opponent does and then sink the 8 ball to win. In 10 Balls, you must pocket each ball from 1-10 in continuing order. Whoever pockets the final 10 ball wins. In 15 Balls, you must pocket as many of the 15 balls as you can, trying to score 61 points or more before your opponent does. Each ball is worth the number on its face. For example, the 1 ball is worth 1 points, the 2 ball is worth 2 points and so on. In Straight Pool, on every shot you must pocket a ball. If you miss pocketing a ball, your opponent gets to try their luck until they miss. The player who pockets the most balls wins.

In Rotation Pool, on every shot you must hit the lowest numbered ball first. Each ball is worth the number on its face. The player with the most points after all balls are pocketed will win the game. In Blackjack, you must pocket balls that will you give you a grand total of 21. For example, you could pocket the 3, 5, 6, and 7 balls to win the game. However, if you score more than 21 points, your score will be reset to 0 points. In Full Snooker, there are 15 red balls and 6 colored balls. You must first pocket a red ball, and then you must pocket one of the 6 colored balls. Once all 15 red balls are cleared from the table, you must then sink the balls in the following order: Red (1 point), Yellow (2 points), Green (3 points), Brown (4 points), Blue (5 points), and Pink (6 points). The player with the most points after all balls are sunk is the winner. Short snooker is just like Full snooker except there are only 10 red balls in Short Snooker. In Killer, each player is given 3 lives and every time a player misses a shot, they lose a life. A player will lose if they lose all 3 of their lives.

While this may sound like a lot of pool, it really isn't in my opinion. As each mode felt just like a cheap rip-off of the other modes. I grew rather bored quite quickly as I found this game to be extremely repetitive. The computer A.I. is so random it's a joke, seriously. They are either super dumb or an expert pool master, and unfortunately, you can't choose if their going to be dumb or smart. The game does boast many unlockable tables, ball sets and cue sticks, but why bother when this game is so lame! You also can choose to play as one of six different characters, but they have no effect on gameplay. All you see in-game is their heads.

Even the boasted "Realistic" controls are busted! While they had a good control idea, they just didn't seem to have completed this good idea. You pull the Wii-mote straight back, hold down the B button, and then quickly (I mean really quickly!) force your Wii-mote toward your TV like a spear. Supposedly (According to the included instructional booklet) you can adjust power by holding down the B button while shooting; yet I was never able to control this so called "power".

The sound is limited to pool balls breaking, which actually sounds like glass breaking. The music consists of 31 tracks of short looped guitar, crappy techno, public domain classical, and many more favorites which you're sure to hate! The graphics are very blocky and the pool balls lack a realistic sphere. The character faces lack any realistic detail further proving that this so called "Pool Party" ended many hours ago.

In my opinion, this is just another buggy, unrealistic, boring Wii experience. I would highly recommend not playing this game. It's not worth anyone's time. If you absolutely must play Pool on your Wii, you should consider trying Wii Play's Pool game instead as it is much better than this poor excuse of a pool game.