Future Pool Review

Written by: David Laprad Published: March 4, 2005 The first time I saw Captain Kirk and Spock playing three-dimensional chess, I thought the future would be a strange time indeed. The same feeling sweeps over me when I load Future Pool, a new game from Mark Sheeky of Cornutopia. Apparently, manufacturers of pool gear will eventually do away with pockets, rails and cue sticks, and replace them with a circular playing surface and remote control ball launchers. While these ideas might send purists scrambling to their Balabushkas for a reassuring hug, casual players will embrace this new billiards offering for the PC. The rules of Future Pool are simple. Each match begins with a predetermined arrangement of red and yellow balls, along with one or more eight balls, laid out on a circular surface. The color of your launcher determines whether you'll be hitting red or yellow balls out of play. Either you, the computer or a second human opponent breaks, then you take turns making one shot apiece. To win, you must be the first to knock all of your balls off the table and then eliminate the eight balls. The controls are just as straightforward. Sliding your mouse left and right moves your launcher around the table; moving your mouse forward and back moves the cue ball along the curved edge of your launcher, allowing you to fine-tune your aim. You can also rotate the table using the plus and minus keys. An arrow pointing toward your target hovers slightly off the cue ball. After getting ready, you press the left mouse button, hold it to apply power to your shot and then release. After you press the left mouse button, you can still reposition your launcher and cue ball, but you can't cancel the shot or reduce its power. If you hold the mouse button long enough to generate full power, that's what you have to use. This is somewhat problematic because you can't change the power of your shot after you've started the process of launching the cue ball. Future Pool offers several modes, allowing for quick matches against the computer or more involved tournaments when time allows. From the main menu, you can select a Solo Game, Single Match or Kalbooki Tournament. In Single Match, you choose the best of as many as 15 matches against either a human or computer opponent. Up to six human and computer players can compete in the Kalbooki Tournament. Each showdown in the Kalbooki Tournament consists of two matches. If you win both, you get three points; if you and your opponent split the matches, you get one point apiece. The participant with the most points after everyone has played each other (15 rounds) wins. The Kalbooki Tournament is great fun when two or more human players take part. Unfortunately, there's no tiebreaker if two challengers end up with the same number of points. In addition to selecting a mode, you must choose one of four arrangements of balls. Dokin is a simple layout with one eight ball; Kalbooki and Tai Kalbooki add more yellow and red balls. The fourth array, Tenjuko, is simple, too, but includes three eight balls. If you knock one out early, you're opponent will be the one celebrating. Future Pool picks and chooses from the rules and physics of regular billiards to create its own brand of gameplay. For starters, you make only one shot at a time, so you won't be running any tables. In addition, you have ball-in-hand after each shot, you can't apply English in any form and there's no penalty for scratching, all of which eliminates the process of strategically positioning the cue ball during a shot to benefit yourself or hinder your opponent. The purging of these time-honored tactics, however, places an emphasis on combination shots. If you want to win Future Pool, you're going to have to get good at smacking more than one ball off the table at a time. Luckily, simple physics and smooth controls make this easy. You're even rewarded with an approving audio clip when you make a good shot. Hit three of your balls out of play, for example, and a voice will cry, "Moko!" Sixteen computer opponents sporting a range of skills create the perfect difficulty curve. Box Car Bob, for example, has a regrettable knack for shooting the eight ball off the table early; the top computer opponents, however, will dazzle you with seemingly impossible combination shots. Unfortunately, you can't select your challengers, so if you want play Lightning Luke McCoy in a Single Game, you'll have to wade through the lesser contenders to reach him. A few additions to Future Pool would be appreciated. The first would be the ability to save a game in progress. Tai Kalbooki tournaments can take awhile to play out, so it'd be nice to have the option to quit and later pick up where you left off. If a profile system were implemented, you could track how many tournaments you've won and different combination shots you've hit. Lastly, while the hot seat approach to multiplayer matches works fine, the ability to play online or across a LAN would be more convenient. Future Pool has a simple presentation. Your perspective can be toggled between isometric and overhead views of the table; there's no first-person option. You won't see any fancy pool hall graphics, either, just the table in a sea of darkness. Despite this, crisply rendered graphics and smooth shot animation make for a visually attractive game. The songs also deserve praise. Although you only get two, they're both good, especially the in-game tune. It's an airy, techno-oriented dance number that nicely complements the sci-fi theme of Future Pool. In the final analysis, Future Pool is easy to play, fun and addictive. My son and I have spent many pleasant hours competing against each other. You don't need a lot of time to get into the game, though. Give Future Pool five minutes, and there's a good chance it'll earn a permanent place on your desktop.