Background Info
Activision's Pool Hustler sets out to bring a trash-talking, cash-wagering pool hall environment into your home. More than just a pool simulation, Pool Hustler sets you against characters with varying skills and playing styles, who not only play you for money, but will make bets during games on single shots, mock you on a bad miss, and acknowledge your superior skills if you beat them.

Pool is one of those activities that loosely qualifies as a "sport." Its most famous player was a guy named "Fats," so it's not really a sport in a sense of requiring athleticism or peak physical conditioning. But you do play with balls, keep score, and square off against competition. We'll let it slide...

But is it good enough of a game to pay $40 for? Is it enough fun to dislodge that copy of Live 99 or Gran Turismo from your PSX?

Presentation/Graphics : 70
Compared to most sports games, pool doesn't demand a lot graphically. You don't need to render and animate 20+ players smoothly in the middle of a team-specific stadium. Mainly you need a pool table, a stick, and sixteen colored balls. While Pool hustler meets this minimum requirement, it doesn't go much further. The game features a nice-looking pool table, with sharp, realistic-looking balls. The animation is great - the balls move realistically and smoothly, just as you would expect. Activision does a great job with the game physics so that the balls move and act naturally. Balls have backspin, English, and "masse." There is never any noticeable choppiness or slowdown during the game. The pool table looks like the real thing in almost every respect.

What's missing graphically is a sense of setting and your opponent. The game sets you up in different pool halls, but you really don't see anything but a dark room and a few wall decorations. It looks like you're the last one around. And while the game is built around playing particular characters, you don't actually see them at the table - the pool cue floats in air by itself when in action, as if in a matchup between two ghosts. Is this a big deal? Not really, but since the game about competing against notorious characters such as Korean exchange-student/Central City Hustler "Yung" and 60-year old Jamaican ex-con "Morgan," it would be nice to see them taking the shots against you. Instead you get an occasional still image of their faces when they offer a side bet or comment on your game.

The pool table graphics are well done, but Activision seemed content to leave it there, without adding the extras that would have given the game more personality. Like too many games, they did a good job putting together graphics and animations, but wind up with a somewhat sterile and bland visual environment.

Presentation/Audio : 60
There's really not much audio to Pool Hustler to evaluate. The basic sound effects - the swish of the pool cue, the "plop" of balls dropping in the pockets, the crack of balls colliding - are realistic and sharp. But when your opponent makes a wisecrack about you missing a shot or challenges you to a side-bet, you don't hear him or her at all, you just see the text below his picture. There is music in the background when you play, which becomes very repetitive almost immediately. Fortunately, you have the option of turning the music off. As a result, however, the game becomes almost deadly silent.

Interface/Options : 95
While Pool Hustler may have skimped a bit on graphics, they didn't take any shortcuts with the playing interface. For basic play, you can line up your shot with the D-pad or the left-analog stick. The right analog stick (or up and down on the D-Pad) allows you to set the power of the shot. Finally, the X-button executes the shot. Simple. But a true pool enthusiast will also enjoy the interface in this game. You can control almost everything about your shot - the direction, angle, power, strike-point, and height. Plus, you can hit SELECT to see a line showing you the angle the ball should take once you strike it. This "aiming line" is especially helpful in setting up bank shots. If you know what you're doing, the game gives you the kind of control and precision that your actual eyes and arms may never give you in real life. You can also adjust the perspective, changing the angle or height to give you a different view of the table before taking a shot.

The menus are clear and easy to navigate. During a game, you can review your last shot in an instant replay mode, watching the shot from different perspectives to see what went wrong, or just how sweet your shot actually was. Pool Hustler's interface is simple and effective, making good use of the dual-analog controller. Someone who really knows pool must have designed it, since it gives you almost limitless control over your shot. The downside, of course, is that it gives you no one to blame but yourself when you blow that no-brainer shot.

Gameplay : 75
The interface and control, as mentioned above, are outstanding, and allow you to play the game with as much complexity or simplicity as you want. It's easy enough to pick up and shoot a game without having any idea about was a "strike point" is or "masse" means. The gameplay is easy enough so that a beginner can step right in and have fun with this game, but deep enough that a real pool freak can really experiment with tough shots and advanced shooting techniques.

The only real drawback to the gameplay is that a CPU opponent often takes a while before shooting, which slows down the game. This may be realistic, but it forces you to wait several seconds for the computer to "think about" a shot before taking it - a shot the CPU probably calculated in a few milliseconds, but waits to take just for effect. As a result, games seem to drag a bit.

The actual game, aside from playing pool, involves wagering. Your opponent will occasionally challenge you to a side-bet during a game, such as whether you will make or miss the next shot. This is an interesting twist to the gameplay, but poorly implemented. The problem is that you can either accept or decline the bet, but only before you find out what shot the bet it on. For example, "Yung" may offer to bet you $150 that you can't sink the next shot. If you accept, she, not you, picks the next shot and calls the pocket. In some games of pool, this isn't an issue, but in 8-ball, this means you don't know which shot you will have to take. As a result, I generally declined bets that I might have accepted, had I know what I was betting on. Another drawback is that while the computer opponent can challenge you for a side-bet, there doesn't appear to be any way for you to offer him a bet in return.

Options
Pool Hustler offers a lot of options. You can play nine-ball, eight-ball, rotation, or 14.1 continuous. A practice mode lets you play without competition, working on your overall skills, with the option to "do-over" bad shots. The "Story" mode is the main game, where you play against characters in different cities with different skills and styles, earning cash with your pool skills. You can shoot against a friend in the two-player mode. There is even a "trick shot mode" that lets you attempt several famous trick shots to dazzle and amaze your friends.

The most interesting option is the "lesson mode," which is a very deep and detailed pool-playing tutorial, complete with a comprehensive index of pool terms and expressions. The lesson mode features a guide (who eerily resembles knucklehead actor Keanu Reeves) who teaches you everything from the fundamentals of aiming a shot to putting English on your shot. The guide will demonstrate a skill, explain it, and allow you to try it out yourself. After spending a few hours engrossed in the lessons, you begin to realize how complex pool actually is, and have a better understanding why some players can seem to always be playing three shots ahead of themselves.

Difficulty : 70
Pool Hustler increases in difficulty as you climb up through the ranks. As the competition increases, you'll need to master some of the more advanced skills or wind up getting skunked by some of the better players. The learning curve in the game is fair, however, so you never feel overwhelmed by the CPU opponent and can have fun as you pick up skills and gradually improve.

Overall : 74
Hustler is an entertaining game. It's easy to learn, and deep in features and options. Most importantly, it's fun. If you're a pool enthusiast, this may be the game for you - it's realistic and complex. It is also a great game for anyone who has wanted to learn about the tips and techniques of expert pool players - for that, the lesson mode alone is worth the purchase price. But for the average sports gamer, I'm not sure it has enough personality or replay value to stay interesting for long. Since it's only marginally a "sports" title, to be more universally entertaining and addictive (such as, for example, Hot Shots Golf) it would need to better develop the interaction with your opponents and environment. More crowd reactions, expanded betting options, visible opponents, better music or sound effects might make this game more satisfying. Pool freaks should buy this game. The rest of us might be better off renting or waiting until it goes on sale.