Suika Shapes, Watermelon Game and Hokkaido Game are all great variants on what I’ll call a Suika-like puzzle game. You merge things together to grow bigger versions of them, scoring more points in the process. They are often score attack gems to play because they are simple to understand and casual enough for most gamers to enjoy.
POOOOL takes the Suika-like gameplay and places it in on a pool table. Instead of slotting blocks or shapes together, you use the mouse to fire your shot, aiming it like a cue shot to cue various balls onto the pool table. Your table is square and so you have limited space to fill up and if you fill up 75% of the area thermometer, you can be pushed into a game over state if the next ball that spawns for you to cue ball doesn’t fit on the table. Its a simple premise where two white balls makes a larger orange ball. Two orange balls make a bigger brown ball. This goes through about ten colours until you reach a pink ball which is so huge, part of the pool table will never be useable again. Chaining all these moves gives you big points and if you’ve played 2048, you’ll be familiar with how points are dished out.
The reason why POOOOL works so well is that you can use anywhere on the screen to drawn and aim your shot. You can also fire one ball into another and ricochet a chain reaction into another ball. The ball click sounds are smooth and give a satisfying ASMR feel as the balls with smiley faces jiggle around the table. You can play incredibly conservatively and try to be precise, or just go for carnage and fire things everywhere. Early on, both styles can work, but as bigger balls appear, you really have to think about how to manoeuvre them close to each other so they can merge.
POOOL is a fun game but it does have a few limitations. There is only one mode where you chase a high score. A time trial mode would have been a welcome addition for variety. Sadly there’s no online leaderboard to make this game more competitive, but weirdly only your top score is ever saved. It feels like a missed opportunity to extend the lifespan of what is a fun but limited in scope game. Hokkaido Game for example added a couple of modes and is a similar price point. That said, POOOOL still delivers plenty of silly, casual physics puzzle fun. Just be aware going in that its a one tricky pony, even if that trick is a strong one.
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