3D Pool

Copyright : Firebird | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

3D Pool was one of the many attempts at bringing the much loved and played game of pool to your computer screen in 3D, it never took off though the games sold pretty well indeedy - another advertising ploy on the back of the box "the most realistic pool game ever" - you know the kind of thing.
We?re not saying the 3D Pool is a disaster when you try to do it on an 8-bit machine but it?s just not the same without a pint of lager on your left and toilets that you don?t have to clean up in the morning.

Graphics

This version of 3D Pool was brought to us by Firebird, a not too well known software company on the Amstrad CPC but still the game sold as more and more people wanted to play the game at home without shelling out a fortune on a pool table and alcohol.
Graphics wise it?s not too bad, remember that these machines are nothing like the monsters we have today and there was no such thing as 3D acceleration and Direct X to help things along. It?s obviously a little blurred and difficult to see as the table and balls are made up of lines, there is nothing fancy in the game, in fact there isn?t even a pool cue to see what your hitting - doh!

Sound

Sound wise it?s all a little quiet, okay we are presented with the usual theme tune at the front of the game but from there on in the game suddenly goes quiet - unless they are playing at ultra high frequencies for the Dolphins among us. The game could be better if they added sound to the balls tapping each other, a crowd cheer when they dropped down the pockets but alas it wasn?t meant to be.

Gameplay

As for gameplay, due to the graphical problems in this type of game on the classic 8-bit machines and the enormous power it took to do something like this (visible when moving around the table) this kind of game was nothing more than a huge flop on the CPC and Spectrum machines. The clever approach is to use an overhead view which is much less intensive on the system but few people coded these.
In short you?ld be better off going down the pub with a pint or two, at least you can make a prat of yourself in front of the ladies.