Not a bad game of pool, but one that's a little too dependent on multiplayer.
Inferno Pool isn't a game that really opens up for you until you play against someone online. The single player aspects aren't entirely appealing, as is the case with a lot of virtual pool games. The 8 ball and 9 ball modes of this game are fine, and you can have AI opponents with five degrees of difficulty, but pool itself is such a social game that playing alone against a computer feels almost awkward. Thankfully the developers behind Inferno Pool realize this, and there's online and offline options for multiplayer that make the game interesting to play, provided you can't get that pool hall experience elsewhere.
Obviously, going by the name of the game, it doesn't just offer up 8 ball and 9 ball variations, as we've seen that done dozens of times before now, across a variety of systems. Instead, to stand out from the pack, Inferno Pool is actually the main game mode, introducing a brutal game of pool designed to infuriate your opponents, of which you can play against three other players.
The idea behind Inferno Pool is to have a table that allows you to redistribute the balls you pocket to other players, in an effort to overfill their table with balls, or just to screw up their available shots and tactics. It honestly reminds me of a vs. mode in a Tetris title, just with a pool theme attached. It also works quite well, and is quite a bit of fun if you can get a group together to play it. Really, that's my primary concern with the title at this point, that it's hard to find anyone playing the game online yet. Granted, it hasn't made a stateside release (it's only on the Euro store at the moment), so hopefully it'll pick up in the near future. This is a title where the online community will make or break it as far as value goes so unless you have a good group of friends locally to play against, it'll be hard to suggest this title to most.
Along with the online mode, you've got online leaderboards and a ranked or player option for your matches. You can play 9 and 8 ball games online as well, but Inferno Pool mode is the only one that seems to support four players, as the other modes only gave me options for two. The controls are pretty easy to learn, and for just your basic shots you can get by with adjusting using the left stick, and pushing back then forward on the right stick to push your virtual stick forward. However, if you're looking to get certain trick shots and what not pulled off correctly, you'll want to start adjusting angles with the D-Pad, locking in power with the top buttons, and so on. The controls aren't particularly hard to grasp, but the game doesn't really do much to tell you anything if you don't check out the Help and Options section first.
Visually the game is pretty basic, but there's only so much you can do with pool. The locations and tables you play on are well worn, with some color options for players but nothing in the way of unlocks, skins or anything like that. The tables are designed to look pretty beaten, but there's nothing on the table that affects the gameplay or anything. Outside of that, the animation is fine, there are no figures or human characters, no avatars, but the ball types are easy to pick out, and you can always adjust your view to give yourself a good attempt at making your shots. There's also a handy line of shot that shows up before you take a shot, giving you a general idea of where a ball will go when you hit it, but not really extending your view too far (requiring some skill for bank shots and everything).
I could see Inferno Pool being a decent amount of fun if you can get your multiplayer sessions going, but as a single player experience I find it a little dull. I wasn't able to try out a great deal of multiplayer myself, but hopefully a US release will open up the playing field some more. However, if you're only looking for an offline, single player game, I can't really suggest this one. It's not a bad attempt at bringing pool to consoles, but it's certainly not going to emulate the feeling you get from actually playing, and the overall presentation is pretty bare bones. Definitely try before you buy, if possible, and keep in mind that the game is only worth playing if you've got a few friends to go at it with you.
Reviewers edit: The developers brought to my attention that there are unlockables in the game in the form of custom ball designs, so that's a mistake on my part. Also, I didn't mention the Endurance Mode (single player Inferno) because I felt that I already explained the online side of it well enough. The difference being that in Endurance you're going against the clock instead of other players, and you try to see how long you can stay in the game before hitting the ball limit. I took Endurance into account for the review score, and the addition of custom ball designs isn't enough to bump up the grade. Apologies to the developers for not detailing those few things originally.
