Ever get together a group of friends to play something, but you just can’t figure out what? Maybe some of the mates don’t want to do ‘Destiny’ or become extremely agitated over a game of ‘Mario Party’. If you’re looking for something that’s straight up sit down and play material, developer Lakeview Games and publisher Mindscape’s Pool Party is for you. This game is all about getting friends together for a quick session of seven minigames ranging from hot potato to sumo-wrestling, complete with an easy-to-pick-up control scheme. If no one’s around, you can play Tournament mode instead to get on the action alone.
Time for a Pool Party!
Pool Party is an all-local game. Pick up a controller, add players, maybe a bot if needed, and play. Outside of the color scheme and some pants and headbands, however, there’s no other way to customize (or even unlock new customizations) at this point. But besides that, once you start a Local Play session you’re thrown into a tutorial teaching you the fundamentals and away you go. Players will scroll through seven modes until someone wins enough points to be crowned winner. And then you restart, though you can always select a game mode you prefer to play and disable the tutorial and the little tool that helps you line up your shots.
Speaking of lining up shots, Pool Party is easy to play: walk, roll, and sometimes kick. That’ll get you through free-for-all, pool, tennis, sumo wrestling, king of the hill, hot potato, and football. It’s a lot of fun to go through these minigames with your mates. The screen quickly delves into chaos, players start kicking one another into walls and goals—and this all continues until someone is crowned victor. The art style and visuals make it easy for you to keep track of your ball as you roll about and the sound effects are as cutesy as you can imagine.
The game does have its downsides, however. It’s very much a party game, even playing Tournament mode won’t get you the awesome feeling of playing with friends side-by-side. Outside of the game’s few and short modes, there’s not much else to unlock. Even dabbing on your friends isn’t a thing, which is a big necessity when defeating your mates. The game’s AI is so-so, doing its best to fill in for a lack of a 4th player, but doesn’t fair so well with team modes where defense is a necessity. Bluetooth controllers also have an issue where the L-stick will invert on the Y-axis and nothing I do with Steam Input would fix it.
Pool Party is a fun sit-down and get-dirty physics-based party game that’s a lot of fun to play but feels lacking in its content offerings. Easy to pick up and play for everyone, even the less gaming-inclined.
Pool Party is available across all platforms, PC and console. Xbox consoles will see this game launched on the 31st of May, however.
Pool Party
Played on
Windows 11 PC
PROS
- Cutesy visuals that are easy to read with nice sound effects.
- Fun physics-based party game.
- Solid controls.
CONS
- Some bugs with controllers.
- AI can sometimes be not-so helpful in team modes.
- Feels barebones.
