World Championship Pool 2004

I’ve often thought of pitching a game idea to Nintendo in a half-joking manner.  It’s called Mario Bar.  Imagine this: Mario is the proprietor of a local pub, filling pitchers, replenishing the mixed nuts on the counter, and slurring the night away.  In the bar, one can play as any one of Nintendo’s cutesy characters, inebriated to their full extent, walking around the bar and playing one of many barroom games.  Imagine Yoshii chucking a dart into Luigi’s eye.  Kirby hitting an errant air hockey shot into Donkey Kong’s crotch.  Throw a bowling lane in there and picture Bowser rolling Toad down the lane into the pins.  And of course, have a Super Smash Brothers mini-game when a drunken barroom brawl breaks loose.  It’s a fantastic idea, and if I see Mario Bar released in 2005, I’m suing the pants off of Nintendo.  And Sega, just for kicks.

Until that glorious day comes, gamers will have to settle for re-enacting such events in their local watering hole (have fun posting bail), or purchasing such titles as World Championship Pool 2004 from Jaleco Entertainment.  WCP is easily the most complete pool game available on the Xbox, but how does it rack up to playing a “real” game of pool?  Pretty decently, as it turns out.

World Championship Pool 2004 has a distinct advantage over all other billiard-themed games for the Xbox… it exists.  But with its real-life physics, plethora of game types, and Xbox Live support, WCP easily runs the table on the lackluster attempts from past pool games on other platforms. 

WCP offers 8-Ball, 9-Ball, Snooker, Straight Pool, and a keen trick shot challenge to keep gamers occupied, but the best offline mode is once again (drumroll please…) Career Mode.  Career mode allows gamers to create a character (with limited options) and play a season of either 8-Ball or 9-Ball tournaments against computer opponents.  The format is simple: The more you win, the more money you make and higher you’re ranked. With tournament and one-on-one challenge earnings, your pool sim can buy pool cues that greatly affect gameplay, and a whole slew of other objects such as table surfaces, ball sets, and boring clothes that don’t do anything to gameplay.  It’s a career mode slimmed down to the basics, but what did you expect?  A little bling-bling for billiards players?  Sponsorships from companies you’ve never heard of?  A free agent draft?  This is pool, and this is about as deep as a pool career mode can go.

The real breakthrough here is Xbox Live support.  This is how pool was meant to be played: against another human opponent.  Options are limited to 8-Ball and 9-Ball, but the headset makes for a decent replication of shooting stick down at a nearby dive bar.  Just make sure you fill the room with cigarette smoke first. 

A few other options in WCP are worth mentioning.  A variety of bonus games are perfect for a little spice to mundane two-player action.  These games play by different rules, such as awarding points for shots leaving the cue ball in certain zones, timers on balls which explode if not pocketed in time, sending neighboring balls across the table or in the air, and a one-on-one 9-Ball clear-the-table-in-record-time challenge.  Trick Shot challenge offers the near impossible task of performing several preset trick shots.  It’ll take lots of tight spin, lots of pinpoint accuracy, and even more patience and practice. 

Pool is all about precision and touch, and WCP recreates both very well through its solid gameplay.  Although making shots is comparable to simply lining up putts in video golf, the real challenge comes with putting spin on the cue ball in order to set up your next shot.  This is done quite well, with simple buttons used to adjust cue stick height and the cue ball striking point. Balls react with incredible realism, and a fair amount of real pool knowledge is critical to jump the ball or finely massé a shot.  My only gripe with the controls is the lack of ease to maneuver around the table.  It’s just too tough to see if it’s possible to thread the needle on critical shots.  Camera angles tend to pose a problem as well.  After striking the cue ball, the camera angle will focus on the pocket the ball is going into, rather than the whole table.  As many pool players will tell you, what the cue ball does after the shot is every bit as important as making the shot.  A lot of dramatic tension is lost in the game because the focus is solely on the ball being hit, even on gimmes.

Being the pool simulation it is, WCP 2004 could have benefited from better graphics, but for the most part, they do the job.  Watching the players move about the table to get an angle at their shot quickly loses its flair, and it will take only a few minutes of game time before gamers inevitably end up at the options screen to turn off Player Animations.  On the table, the graphics don’t fare much better.  Although this never happens in real life, it can be difficult to tell the difference between the 3, 5, and 7 balls, which are all shades of red.  Aside from these flaws, WCP has good looking tables, decent player models, and… er… great looking balls.

There isn’t a whole lot of need for sound in a pool game, but Jaleco took it a little TOO far.  World Championship Pool 2004 couldn’t wake a sleeping baby at full blast.  Aside from the commentator chatter, which is spotty at best, there really isn’t anything for the ears.  Devastating breaks lack thunder, crowds lack chatter, and the players themselves are mutes.  This is clearly the most disappointing portion of the game, but it was also the department WCP could afford to skimp on.  Thankfully, the game allows for custom soundtracks to break the silence.

World Championship Pool 2004 is rated E for everyone.

Gameplay: 8.0

This is pool, baby.  And WCP has everything in the game that’s in the sport.  Some trick shots may require a physics degree, but the game definitely plays true to pool.   

Graphics: 7.0

There’s a significant lack of flair in the game, but the graphics do a satisfactory job.  Better camera options would have helped out the overall presentation of the game by a factor of gazillion.

Sound: 5.0

Shhhhh!  Did you hear that?  I thought I heard the game make a noise…

Difficulty: Medium

At its core, the game is incredibly simple.  Line up the shot, and hit the ball.  Getting great leaves with the cue ball separates the men from the boys, however, and this is where the skill comes in.

Concept: 7.5

Pool games have been done before, but none to the precision of WCP.  Real physics is what it’s all about, and WCP nails it.

Multiplayer: 8.5

There may not be any online leagues or tournaments, but a little online mano a mano is still enough to give the multiplayer mode a high mark.  One thing that was seriously missing: doubles or three-player cutthroat. 

Overall: 7.0

WCP is a pool simulation for pool players.  If you don’t like the game of pool, there’s no way you’ll like the game.  WCP won’t be an adequate substitute for the real thing, but it does suffice when you can’t make it to a table.  Highly recommended for pool fiends, but casual gamers just won’t get it.