We love a bit of local party multiplayer action at the Tavern, and next up for consideration on the regular playlist is Pool Party, from Lakeview Games. Combining physics-based elements with fast paced action, it’s great fun with friends (or the family), though naturally suffers if you’re playing solo.
The concept revolves around playing as pool balls and their naturally rolliness (that’s definitely a real word…). These balls have arms and legs letting us run them about the arenas, but pressing A tucks them in so we can roll Sonic-style. We give up some control in these moments, but can stop rolling quickly enough should we need to. We can also press B to kick, and doing so next to another ball or opponent gives us the opportunity quickly and and send them flying off instead.
That’s it for our input options, but the fun and variety comes in with the different games available to play. There are roughly half a dozen game types, from variations on soccer, pool, and tennis, to Sumo, and a couple of takes on pass the bomb – one holding an idol, another passing along the poison.
Each of the rounds are short and sweet, lasting a minute or so depending on the type. Sumo can be over in seconds, whereas Soccer can end up in Golden Goal should both teams be level at the end of 90 seconds. They are all simple to grasp too, letting even inexperience players be fairly evenly matched with more regula gamers. I played a few sessions with my 9 and 11 year old children and they were more than capable of getting a victory in most matches, in fact it was pretty even overall.
There are two ways to play through the games in Pool Party; Local play, and Tournament. Local play is the main attraction, letting up to four people duke it out. Bots can fill in gaps and have three difficulties, and everyone can be a different colour and slightly customise the look of the pool ball. It’s a bit lacking in choice mind you, just a few stripe patterns that aren’t really discernible in play and nothing to unlock through play. I also found a few of the colour choices were too close, with the purple and slightly less purple variant causing me a few issues in some of the more hectic games.
Tourment is for solo players and offers exactly the same gameplay, just with bots only. The games can still be fun, but there’s naturally something lacking without human competiton. This is particularly noticeable in the team event such as Tennis where the bots just seem to amble about and might hit the ball if they feel like it. It’s a neat way to practice but I’ve not felt any need to play through it again on my own.
Conclusion
When we’re paired up with some real life people though, there’s certainly fun to be had with Pool Party. It’s not a game that will remain on for the whole night, but as something to add to a regular rotation of multiplayer games with friends, snacks, and a few beverages Pool Party will fit the bill nicely. The simple and immediate gameplay will get a few laughs, a couple of swears, and maybe a bit of game-rage at times but a it’s light and breezy enough to overcome these with pure, simple fun.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
