Arcade Pool

Arcade Pool is an excellent arcade-style Pool game for 1 to 8 players.

While this underdog cannot compare with Virtual Pool in the realism department, in terms of play value and sheer fun factor alone this game is hard to beat. You get to choose between 8 Ball (UK or US rules), 9 Ball, 8/15 Ball, Survivor (known as Killer in the UK), 9 Ball Challenge, and the great game of Speed Pool. You can play best of three games mode, participate in huge tournaments that will take you dozens of matches to finish, or even play the various scored 'challenges' in which you can build up and save high scores.

The computer players, from the incompetent to the masters, are all fun to play against and even have their own personalities. Although billed as an "arcade" pool game, Arcade Pool boasts a decent physics engine beneath pleasant VGA graphics. Unlike many other pool games, the balls actually do appear to roll as you hit them, and behave as you would expect most of the time (although on the rare occasions that the balls behave strangely, they are downright weird). The controls are simple, but surprisingly accurate and very easy to use.

All in all, Arcade Pool is one of the most underrated pool games ever made, and one that you will happily come back to from time to time. Two thumbs up!

Review By HOTUD