| Actua Pool | |
| Developer: | Gremlin Interactive Mirage Ltd (additional physics, UK) FrontLine Studios (DS) |
| Publisher: | PlayStation/Windows Gremlin Interactive (EU) THQ (NA) Nintendo DS Zoo Digital Publishing (EU) UFO Interactive Games (NA) |
| Released: | PlayStation Windows Nintendo DS Underground Pool |
| Genre: | Sports (pocket billiards) |
| Series: | Actua Sports |
| Modes: | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Platforms: | PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS |
Actua Pool also known as Ultimate 8-Ball (depending on platform and market) is a sports simulation video game developed by British companies Gremlin Interactive and Mirage Ltd as part of their highly successful Actua Sports series of sport simulators of the mid-to-late 1990s. Actua Pool, a pool game (pocket billiards), was originally released on the Microsoft Windows platform and the Sony PlayStation home console in 1999; these versions were also published under the name Pool Shark. The game was very well received, praised for its realistic physics engine and challenging AI opponents, although the game spawned a sequel which was not as successful. In 2007, Actua Pool was ported to the Nintendo DS handheld game console.
Actua Pool is a pool simulation game with dozens of game modes, including eight-ball, nine-ball, three-ball, ten-ball, killer rules, cutthroat rules, bank rules, speed pool, one-pocket, various foreign styles and traditional snooker rules. There are dozens of venues, unique individual opponents and even different-shaped and unique tables are also available to unlock.
In one player mode, called "Hustle Mode", the character must hustle their way through smoke filled bars, casinos, pool halls and nightclubs and aim to black ball up to 18 challengers of ever-increasing skill across a range of challenging tables. There is an interactive tutorial if the player wishes, and the player can learn hundreds of trick shots from the tutorial. Each individual NPC opponent has its own unique appearance, voice, mannerisms, playing style and difficulty, and winning tournaments unlocks new NPCs to play against and venues to play in. The last opponent is the Devil himself, who is played against in Hell on his very own pool table and gamble for the player character's soul.
There are also the traditional two-player modes, as well as three-player, four-player, and so on. Any number of players can join in, and tournaments for up to 16 players are also available in which the NPC's can also be included. Player characters are completely customizable, and stats (such as accuracy and shots potted) tally up an individual player's ability.
The PC and PlayStation versions received mixed or average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. The graphics of the game were generally considered impressive at the time of release, and the game physics engine was praised as very realistic, and the AI fairly advanced for a pool game.[1]
Next Generation said that the PC version can be played on a LAN or via the Internet, also saying that game has a minor issues with LAN lag and modem speed.
In 2003 Actua Pool was re-released for Windows and PlayStation by Zoo Digital Publishing under their "Zoo Classics" label.
In 2007, U Wish Games released another updated version for PCs.
In 2007, the game was re-developed with enhanced graphics by Frontline Studios, published by Zoo Digital Publishing and UFO Interactive Games and ported to Nintendo DS. This version is known as Underground Pool in North America, and also known as Power Play Pool in Europe.
The DS version enjoyed good sales, but was not as well received critically as the original game, as the former received "unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. It has been noted that the uniqueness of individual opponents has been lost in this version, as are all the different variations of rules available, as there are only two different games in the Nintendo DS version whereas the original had dozens.[2]
See main article: Pool Shark 2. A sequel was released in 2004 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox entitled Pool Shark 2. It was developed by Blade Interactive and published by Zoo Digital Publishing. The "Actua" title was not included as the Actua Sports series had become defunct some years previously, as had the original developers Gremlin Interactive, and therefore Pool Shark 2 is not actually part of the same series of the original. Although Pool Shark 2 had better graphics than Actua Pool due to the advances in game technology, the sequel was not as critically well received as the original, and did not enjoy good sales like its predecessor.