''Pool Paradise'' is a 2004

pocket billiards Pool is a series of cue sports played on a billiard table. The table has six pockets along the , into which balls are shot. "Pool billiards" is sometimes hyphenated and/or spelled with a singular "billiard". The WPA itself uses "pool-billiar ...

video game, developed by Awesome Studios, and published by

Ignition Entertainment Ignition Entertainment Limited, doing business as UTV Ignition Games, was a video game publisher of Indian media conglomerate UTV Software Communications. After The Walt Disney Company acquired UTV Software Communications as a wholly owned subs ...

, released for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

, and

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

. The game is the fourth game to be endorsed by professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

and

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

player

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

Gameplay

Players control a virtual pool player at a beach resort, with pool tables inside different huts. Players have to work their way up the tournament ladder in order to unlock features and complete the game. The game's features, according to Booners Interactive, include 30 unique computer characters, with highly detailed hands, on an animated island with day and night cycles, and 8 virtual camera modes; 11 different game types and 5 modes of play, with 10 different tournament ladders, and 10 table sizes and shapes; and analog

cueing Cue or CUE may refer to: Event markers *Sensory cue, in perception (experimental psychology) ** Cueing (medicine), rehabilitation techniques for Parkinson's disease patients to improve walking *Cue (theatrical), the trigger for an action to be car ...

, using a

gamepad A gamepad is a type of video game controller held in two hands, where the fingers (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. They are typically the main input device for video game consoles. Features Some common additions to the standar ...

or a

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

. "Hidden features" throughout the game were also alluded to. As well as various pool and snooker games, beach

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

, a

coconut shy A coconut shy (or coconut shie) is a traditional British game frequently found as a sidestall at funfairs and fêtes. The game consists of throwing wooden balls at a row of coconuts balanced on posts. Typically a player buys three balls and wins ...

skee-ball Skee-Ball is an arcade game and one of the first redemption games. It is played by rolling a ball up an inclined lane and over a "ball-hop" hump (resembling a ski jump) that jumps the ball into bullseye rings. The object of the game is to col ...

ramp, and the original ''

Dropzone ''Dropzone'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Archer Maclean (under the name Arena Graphics) for Atari 8-bit computers and published in 1984 by U.S. Gold. It was ported to the Commodore 64, and later released for the Nintendo Ent ...

'' arcade game are all unlockable. Unlike previous games endorsed by

, in ''Pool Paradise'', White is a playable character, and is the best player in game.

International edition

The game was re-released in 2006 under the new title ''Pool Paradise: International Edition'', only in Europe for the PlayStation 2.

Reception

The game received "generally favourable reviews" on all platforms according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. Alex Trickett of ''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

'' called the game "crisp, clean fun at a budget price"; however, he did call the game's soundtrack "uninspired". Alex Navarro of ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' enjoyed the European

version months before it was released, stating in an early review, "''Pool Paradise'' features a great gameplay design, as well as a ton of available pool games and side ventures." He also suggested the game was very strong on its own merits commenting "even if ''Pool Paradise'' weren't the only available pool game for the GameCube, it would still be a strong choice for any billiards fan." ''

'' later named it the best GameCube game of April 2004, and nominated it for the year-end "Best Alternative Sports Game" award. ''

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

'' and ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' gave the same European GameCube version a mixed review, two months before it was released in Europe, and nearly three months before it was released Stateside.

References

External links

* {{Snooker Video Games 2004 video games Cancelled Xbox games Cue sports video games GameCube games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games UTV Ignition Games games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set on islands Windows games