The game I played most this week: Vegas Pool Sharks

Sports: Vegas Pool Sharks

Here we have--you guessed it--another pool game. The setup behind Vegas Pool Sharks (at least in the ad copy) is that you're a regular guy who gets suckered into a high-stakes game with a bunch of hustlers while you're vacationing in Vegas. After reading a back story like that, I was expecting a game with quite a bit of personality (say, something akin to Virtual Pool, where you meet a lot of seedy characters and play at some interesting locales). Loading up the game, however, reveals a very no-frills and straightforward pool game focusing on the essentials. 

That's not to say that VPS is dull and slapdash.  It's actually a pretty decent pool game: the graphics are very good and support VGA. There's no 3D acceleration, so you don't have the cool overhead views present in a few other games. Still, the graphics are very sharp and the movement is very fluid. Audio is also good: the balls make a sharp snap when they're struck and when they're bouncing off the walls of the table. The physics also seem pretty true. 

VPS has two game modes, regular and 8-ball, along with a practice mode. You also get four opponents from which to choose. The opponents are probably the most interesting part of the game. When you're playing, a graphic of your opponent appears at the bottom of the screen, and they make facial expressions depending on how the game is going. However, they look a little stiff. If they were a bit more animated (and perhaps if they had dialogue boxes), they'd seem more human and the feature would be a lot more interesting. 

The actual game play isn't bad, but it's not stellar, either. Aiming and shooting is accomplished using the directional pad. To shoot, you can tap the cue. The longer you hold the cue down, the more force is applied to the shot. I prefer being able to shoot by tapping and dragging the pool cue (i.e., the more you pull it back and the more speed you use, the more power is applied to the shot).

The perspective is the usual first-person variety, and as I said before, the game doesn't have the neat overhead views and angles available in other games such as the aforementioned Virtual Pool. The game also provides some assistance in aiming the ball, which is helpful. VPS' interface is by no means the worst, but it's not the greatest, either.  

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Allen Gall's The Week in Games  Copyright © 2007 by Thaddeus Computing Inc.