Does the new pool game from Cherry Pop and Mastertonic sink the 8 - Ball? Find out in our review.
The single player mode in Pool Nation is broken down into a 9 ball tour, a 8 ball tour, and tutorials. Each match has three stars to unlock. You earn the first by defeating your opponent and the others are won by performing specified stars skills. Defeating opponents and earning stars allow you to unlock bonus items like custom cues, table decals, and designer ball sets. Earn enough stars and you will be invited to matches with special and exotic game rules. Playing through the game’s tutorial is almost required in ordered to gain all three stars in every match. The tutorial covers basics, skills, and advanced. You will need to master all of these if you want to advance your way through the tours in single player. All of this along with online multiplayer and a horde like endurance mode are supported by solid gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.
Every level has a beautiful sheen to it.
Pool Nation is a very fun game. From playing through the different tournmanets, to challenging friends online, to the endurance mode their are tons of things to do in this game. The only thing missing is a "free play" mode that would allow the player to simply play a game of pool alone. With that minor gripe aside it is very easy to recommend this game for fans of pool everywhere. There are a large amount of single player modes, multiplayer is very fun, and their are tons of tables, balls, and cues to unlock. This game has replayability written all over it and I highly recommend this be added to Xbox Live Arcade colleciton.
Score: 8 / 10
