What can I say about this game? It will take approx 15 to 30 mins to get used to all the game mechanics and how to play. I believe the level of difficulty is quite good, not a walk in the park but not too hard either.
Considering the game was created 12 years ago the game is quite good.
Just like every other snooker game, you have the bigs and smalls (or big dots and small dots). It is your job to get all the same balls (bigs or small) in and finally sink the black one to win.
You get a line which appears on the table which will show you the line of travel for the white ball. You can rotate views as you play, increase/decrease cue angles and power.
The gameplay feels very realistic. Been a snooker player myself I must say that the physics of the game are quite accurate, the outcomes of your shots are governed by the power you put in the shots which is why this game is good, it almost feels as though you are playing in real life. Colors are quite nice which makes for a realistic pool table, graphics are nice for its time but they do appear very boxy in my opinion.
The game size is very small; I believe its 140 kb or so.
What
can I say about the player interface, it’s great, you can do everything your mind can think of nearly. Basically you control the position of the cue stick with your mouse. Once you line up the shot you pull the mouse back and move the mouse toward the white ball as you would in real life. If you move it gently you can do slow and accurate shots. If you got a shot which requires some distance then you would simply pull the mouse towards the white ball fast which will apply more power to the shot.
Finally you can challenge several computerized players to master your skills. You can play 9-ball or you can play the normal game as mentioned above where you sink either the bigs or smalls. You can also select the amount of games required to win the challenge so to speak. You can move around the table by moving the mouse to make for the shot of your choice.
Since the release of Virtual Pool there have been another 2 follow-up games I believe. I have played number 3, graphics have been improved by heaps and gameplay has improved just as much with extra features.
