Welcome to our review of Pool Panic, out now on Nintendo Switch and boy, this is a fun one! Dubbed the least realistic pool game ever!
Pool Panic frees billiards from the table and unleashes it into a world where everything from jungles and deserts to cities and swamps is a living pool game! You already know that sinking eight balls is the ultimate goal, but can you succeed while contending with monster balls chasing you, or ballerina balls leaping away from your well-aimed shots?
Take on the role of the mischievous, and dare we say, oblivious cue ball in Pool Panic’s unique world comprised of 100+ levels while enjoying the single-player campaign, or invite your friends to join you for a multiplayer panic.
This game was originally featured in the Nindie spotlight presentation that had other games like Bomb chicken, Lumines, … too. I have to admit, this one was high up on my wishlist as I love these out of the box approaches and I love to play pool in real life. But let me tell you, it ain’t no joke playing this game.
There is just so much going on, from the main hub world you can enter the “pool tables” for finishing the level itself. I don’t even know where to start, all the balls have their own playing mechanics and you need to realize one thing straight from the start. Remember what a ball does to really proceed easily between levels. Some will push away everything and everyone in their immediate reach.
Others will run away to a preset point on the pool table, while others just hide up in obstacles like trees. How to get them down on the table? Good luck figuring it out, I wasted so much time trying to figure out the mechanics of some of these, my best approach currently is to avoid them and just remove the rest first. Always keeping the sole thing this game has in common with actual pool, sink the black ball last. That is literally the only thing this surreal game has in common with actual pool.
We uploaded my very first 20 minutes with the game to YouTube for everyone to see, uncut and uncensored, so that was straight from switch to you. I had not played it before at that time and it perfectly shows you what goes wrong during the tutorial and how the game solves my idiotic moves. I love the sock a lot. Watch it, it will make sense, I promise.
I have seen this game being described as playing pool in a cartoon world, but it is so much more. I would even think the youngest among us might get nightmares from its graphics, it looks that special. Mind you it is not purposely scary, just a very special approach to graphics. A style I would not mind to see more often. It does not always have to be 8-bit or highly realistic, a more wacky approach is fine too!
In conclusion, Pool panic is everything but an “aim and shoot” approach, it is tactics, skills, and speed all combined in one. This game will provide an experience that is very surreal and I am a big fan of both the game and the graphics.
My rating is 80%
