The creators of another well known pool game called Hustle Kings are back with another pool game to entertain you. There are several cue sports games within this gem that ups the ante on pool competition and minigame challenges.
 
Graphics - A+
 
The graphics in this game look almost realistic with superb 3D rendering and modeling with filters to the give the gamer pure eye candy to look at. For example, the cue ball and the pools are perfectly round shaped and contain a realistic reflection of light and surrounding objects. The pool table felt looks like real felt and depending on the difficulty level in career mode, physics are exactly on point more specifically when you decided to pot a ball with a plant shot (knock a legal target into another one to pot the latter). In both, 8-ball and 9-ball, you know you have won the game regardless of ridiculos of a shot you took when you are treated to a cutscene of the winning shot being hit before it rolls on through to show how you won it.
 
There are more graphical treats in store as if you are getting dangerously close to potting the 8-ball illegaly (and losing), the screen will turn eerily to mimic shock as it approaching danger as it fall into the whole. If you are lucky, the ball will stop short and the shock wears off to mimic a sigh of relief.
 
Gameplay - B+
 
Tune in tomorrow for my walkthrough to this game.
 
At first glance, I would give this grade an A+ too but I took off a whole grade for the fact that no matter how skilled you are in this game, this game can be super cruel to you and the cruelty meter can go up to "OVER 9000" depending on the opponent you face. Prepare to be shouting out excessive profanities at times that will make Angry Video Game Nerd proud. Let's take that nasty cue ball (solid white ball for example). Everybody knows that potting the cue ball is a bad thing. The part that is a real "piss off"er is how the cue ball will often find a way into a pocket and screw you over.
There are several game modes but the main games are 8-ball and 9-ball. The 8-ball game is based off of UK rules which differs from US rules in the fact that while the version of 8-ball we Americans play will win the game for you if you pot the 8-ball on break without committing a foul which results in a loss. The UK rules states that potting an 8-ball on break results in the breaker having to re-break and if another ball was potted during that same break, a re-break is still required but the breaker has to hit the same type of ball (solids [known as spots in this game] and stripes) that went in while the 8-ball went in.
 
9-ball is a much better chess match than 8-ball, in this game you got to be the first person to legally pot the 9-ball. No matter how much of the other balls get potted, potting the 9-ball is what wins the game. You start off by trying to pot the balls in order of the lowest number to the highest being the 9-ball but if you are fan of using plant shots then this game can end super quickly as you can knock the legal target into another ball to pot the latter. This is where those physics come into play. If you are lucky, you can pot the 9-ball on break and win instantly. As mentioned in the graphics, the end game shot will show up the majority of the time.
 
Other games I should tell you about that you will face the opponents in during career mode are Killer and Accumulator. Killer is a game where you must pot any ball on the field without fouling or you lose a life. Loose all your lives and you lose the game. You can gain a life by potting two or more balls in one shot or potting the 8-ball (black ball). You can get two lives by potting the 8-ball along with another ball. Accumulator is a twist on another cue sports game called Rotation. You must pot the ball in order of the lowest number to the highest. Unlike Rotation, you cannot play this game similar to 9-ball, if you pot a ball out of the rotation, you will foul and the value of the potted ball will be points given to the opponent. However, if any balls out of rotation were potted during the break then no points are awarded and no penalty is assessed since that aspect of the game was out of your control. The game will only end when all balls are potted and it will still show the final shot cutscene no matter who won. What this also means is that the game still goes on even when the opponent has no chance of winning. This is crucial if you are planning to win the 60, 70, or 80 point accolades and even though the accolades may stack in an Accumulator game, they will not stack in the Accolades section of your profile. It will only count your best job done during the game so this also affects accolades achieved during 8-ball games such as win when opponent leaves six balls or seven balls on the table and coming back from certain amount of ball behind.
 
There is a good old flaw that all of your computer opponents seem to have but is a major opportunity you to buy some time. The computer never ever attempts to shoot plant shots. Even though they do make a plant shot, it is always unintentional with them because if another ball is in front of a pocket even if it legal to plant shot it in there, the computer will shoot in odd directions to hit their target ball without planting. In my opinion, I think it has something to do with the rules of Accumulator being integrated into the universal programming and the AI follows that algorithm to a T because in Accumulator, planting is considered a foul. In 9-ball, this is a cheap way to win the game if you play your cards right. Try to get the 9-ball near a pocket then bank any ball into it legally to win the game. If you are a good hotshot, you can do a double plant shot where you bounced one ball into another then that ball will know a third ball into the pocket.
 
Controls - B-

 
There will be some times where the controls will throw you off your game a little bit because there is a learning curve to the game. To take a shot, you pull the thumbs tick down as it you are drawing your cue stick back and push it up as if you are striking the cue ball in a real billiards game. This action is strength sensitive so if you pull back and all the way and push forward hard, the game will emulate that but if you pull back a little then push forward, you will tap the ball as intended. If you hold the Circle button/B button, you can adjust the spin on the ball to make it go certain directions. This is what we know as applying English to the ball. More English you can use is using the follow feature (hitting the top of the ball) or the draw feature (hitting the bottom). Since the game is based on UK pool, instead of draw, the game uses the word screw thus if a challenge or accolade says win the game where all pots used screw that means win the game while only potting your balls with the screw techniques. The D-pad is used to rotate around to see which direction you want the ball to go in a straight line. I sometime press up to see where the guide tells me where the ball is going to go. In reality, that is called a Masse and while it is not intended in this game, the ball can sometimes take flight off and even off the table if you use Masse at the bottom of the ball. Knocking the ball of the table is a foul but you do earn a trophy or achievement the first time around for doing so called "Can I have my ball back?" The Cross button or A button lets you fine aim which lets you adjust your shot a little slower.
 
Music/Sound - A
 
The music and sound are entertaining, relaxing, and not very distracting at all. As you are playing an intense game, you will almost always tune the music out of your mind as you are concentrating on winning. While the song list is limited, it is no big deal as I love that good old smooth jazz feel. If you are interested in listening to the soundtrack you can visit the artists page at: http://weareetch.bandcamp.com/releases/ Sure it may cost money to get the whole soundtrack as a download but if you want to pay money for it then that is all up to you. My favorite tracks of the whole lot is Você é Bonito, Happy as Larry and In Motion because they are the most relaxing songs to me.
 
There are plenty of songs from various games I know would have fit into the game if Pure Pool allowed custom soundtracks such as Fireman's theme from Mega Man, Bar Theme from Streets of Rage 2, Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2, Arashi no Saxophone series (Iori Yagami theme series) from King of Fighters, and Bayou Boogie from Donkey Kong to name a few.
 
Replayability - A+
 
This game is so addictive, you will often lose track of time as you try to complete the career mode and face opponents that get tougher and you also got sub-challenges you try to win stars from such as the first career opponent has a challenge where you must win the game without fouling to earn a star. You need to earn stars to access more tournaments (5 in total). Also adding to the replay value is the option to play the minigames as challenges once you have played them in the career mode. The challenges are a worldwide competition for you to outdo your worldly opponents at getting the job done. Perfect Potter for example has you trying to pot as many consecutive balls as possible without missing and without any limits as opposed to the career minigame stopping where it is over when the max target is reached. In fact, the other minigames have no limits either as the timer counts up instead of down to see how fast you can complete it compared to the others.
If you are planning to collect all the trophies or achievements for this game, replayability is a definite must because it will take several hours to achieve your goal because the level to top is very high and your other goal is to get at least one of each achievement which you must always bring your A game with you especially when you try to clear the table in less than 70 seconds. This requires that you don't miss a shot in 8-ball. If you are lucky enough that actually sets the tone for two trophies (the aforementioned 70 second clearance) and 8-balling your opponent (pot all your balls and the 8 ball without your opponent potting any of theirs). The online portion is flawed because sometimes the game will bug out and one player has to forfeit. An advantage to playing online is that if one player has to leave the game, you can come back at a later time and finish that game. That is a cool awesome feature that I wish all games could implement it. 
 
OVERALL - B+
 
Pure Pool is a damn hell of a good way to pass the time away when you are bored out of your mind. The game just draws you in and you can't help but get all excited when you win against a tough opponent like in 9-ball, you constantly face tough foes like Isabella Sanchez who seems to knock everything in but by stroke of luck, she will fall all so easily. Amateur opponents like Rhys Morgan, play just like amateurs and it is easy to beat them but they can also beat you easily if you allow them to do so. Just keep using your physics and your geometry and you are good to go. Just remember to keep honing your skills because once you complete the Amateur games, your aiming abilities will take a major nosedive in the Pro and the Master tournaments so you got to rely more on your wits with little to no help. Now it is time to show them what you are really made out of. Show those guys who is boss.

 Damn, who thought a pool game could be so complex? Not that I did not like your review - it was excellent, in fact - but there seem to be so many details that I got lost a little.

I have to say that your structure in this review is one of the best you have used. It is much clearer and explicit than most of your other reviews and I liked it.

I think you did a fantastic job with this review. This review has an immense amount of words and detail for a game about pool. Like Janus said, the structure for this review is fantastic. I'm glad I read it. Awesome work!