Pocket Pool review

Let’s start the list: there are three different settings for “ball speed” – apparently trying to model how worn in the table is – but none feel quite right, with balls often seeming to slow down abnormally quickly. The balls themselves often move suspiciously when hit too, though we’re not entirely sure if that’s the fault of the physics computing or the fact that the aiming – which uses the d-pad instead of the analog stick - is completely imprecise. Or possibly both.

If you’re playing ad-hoc with another human (by the way, there’s no “pass-the-PSP” multiplayer mode, which is completely insane), you’re both saddled by these handicaps and it evens out. A CPU-controlled opponent will rarely have similar problems though. Like a drunken college freshman trying to channel Minnesota Fats, they consistently pass up easy balls and instead attempt crazy trick shots that involve banking the target orb off the side rails four times. Granted, these stunts ram home into a side pocket with alarming frequency, but that’s a different complaint.