Windows Phone Thoughts: Rack 'Em Up: Virtual Pool Mobile v1.0 from Celeris reviewed

Set up the Table
A variety of game options are on offer, such as volume control, enabling music and turning on or off the room graphics. While the rooms are well designed and certainly nice eye candy, turning the room graphics off leaves the table in a black void which is a nice option when you want to concentrate on the game itself. You can still determine which table you are playing on by the colour of the cloth, which is important as the later rooms feature a larger size of pool table. Other options include whether you start off with the standard view before each shot or the previous shot's settings and how you view the table while the computer opponent is playing. The final option on this page is the stroke sensitivity which determines how much stylus movement is required when making a shot. This is very important as you are about to find out.


Figure 8: The in game menu varies depending on game mode.

While I'm trying to touch on as much of the title as possible, you will have noticed that I have not elaborated on the game itself thus far - specifically the graphics, engine and interface. This is definitely a case of saving the best till last. In a word, VPM looks superb with gorgeously rendered balls and nice locations. I was highly impressed when I first saw the screenshots of the game with the shine on the balls and the resultant shadow, but these screens don't do justice to how well the game looks in play. Animation on my 400mhz HP h4150 was silky smooth with no drops in framerate and frames remained just as fast regardless of whether background graphics were enabled or not. It doesn't even make any difference if you are playing a slow shot in 6 ball or breaking the pack of 15 balls in straight, the balls fly around the table in an almost liquid fashion. All very impressive but all the more so when you consider this game carries the same physics engine that the Virtual Pool series are renowned for. If you are a pool player and know your angles, you will not have to make any adjustments when playing this game. The engine behind this game is real life accurate regardless of how simple or complicated a shot and everything behaves just as a game in your local pool hall would. You can almost make out the smoky haze as you bend down to pocket a ball!


Figure 9: All the locations have their own background.


Figure 10: Of course things look gorgeous up close as well.

Sound is equally as well catered for, albeit in a more simplistic form. Background music follows a jazzy fusion of funk and hip hop that creates a nice ambience, but the option is there to turn off when the repetition gets to be too much. Sounds effects are sparse but realistic and keep track of such things as striking the cue ball and the clunk of balls hitting off each other as well as a ball being sunk in a pocket.


Figure 11: The handy overhead shot gives a nice overview of the table.