Format: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Developer: Miniclip.com
I love to play pool. While my favourite is probably 9 ball pool I still do enjoy a game of 8 ball pool. When I was a student a few years back me and my buddies would hang out down at the snooker club and think we were pool sharks. In truth we all sucked, but we still had a good time. To me pool is a game that in theory should be boring as hell as a video game, but I have played many good pool video games dating right back to the NES. So I was very excited to check this offering from the guys at Miniclip.
Ok graphically all pool games pretty much look the same to me and this one is no different. Still though this is a game that does what it does very well. The tables look great and I like the way that this is all about the game of pool. And there is not a whole bunch of unnecessary junk in the pool hall just for the sake of it. At the end of the day this is a game about 8 ball pool so Miniclip to me have made this game as good looking as they possibly could have done.
The game play here is just plain awesome. Like I said before about all pool games looking the same. Well I guess in a way you could say the same about the game play. But this is just so much fun to play. The ball physics are great and the trajectory lines will help you out in making some really cool bank shots. The thing that has really hooked many people about this game. And has had my wife kicking me in the leg as I play this in bed at 2am is the fact that this is all online. There is no messing with a dumb or cheap AI here. All the games you will be playing will be against real people. Which may sound a but lame, but it makes for one very addictive game.
You can play against just random Joes which is pretty cool. Or you can play against your buddies. The game does this by using your Facebook account or if you have a Miniclip.com account. It was not unusual for me to text my brother early hours of the morning to check if he was up for a game. While playing against your buddies is the best. Playing against random other people is not that bad at all. It is so much better playing against a real person rather than the AI.
There is also a gambling aspect to this game as well. You have poker chips or as the game calls them Pool Coins, but to me they look more like poker chips. And that is what you will be playing for you and your opponent will put some coins in a pot and whoever wins takes it all. The more you have the more high stakes games you can play in. Let me tell you this game can get very intense when there are a ton of coins at stake.
This is such a great game. I really cannot recommend this highly enough. At under a buck downloading this is a no brainer. One thing that I have heard is that in he future there is some talk of full on tournaments which to me sounds amazing. Miniclip have in my opinion made the best pool game that is on the iOS right now.