Multiversepool

Genre: Sports (Pool)

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Multiversepool, released in 2022 on Nintendo Switch, is a family-friendly videogame version of Pool with a cartoony outer space aesthetic. Specifically, this game includes 8-Ball, 9-Ball, and Rotation. For only $3.50, this is a decent trio of game modes, as long as the game itself is good, so… is it?

The presentation isn’t likely to win over many players. While I do give it credit for its cartoony, spacey art style that sets it apart from other games in the genre, the blurry textures in its 3D visuals are dated and ugly, and while the spacey design on the table is cute, it can sometimes make it harder to see the angles you need to play effectively. Oh, and also, the way the balls spin as they’re moving can look awkward and unnatural. And while the game’s relaxed accompanying music is nice, it doesn’t really seem fitting to the game of pool or the spacey theme.

The gameplay at least is decent enough, and in fact this may make for a decent game to introduce newer or less-skilled players to the sport, as it provides a pretty generous prediction line indicating where the ball will move when you hit it, and for more skilled players it also does give you the option to add spin to the ball. There’s also motion control options here, though these are gimmicky rather than an actual good motion-controlled simulation of the sport.

On the negative side of things, players only have three camera angles to choose from: behind the ball, behind the ball with a higher view of the table, and a bird’s-eye overhead view. This is fine, but it would have been nice if players were given the ability to more freely move the camera.

Still, despite lacking camera options and a sub-par presentation, this is a pretty competent version of Pool. However, now we need to talk about the elephant in the room: Pure Pool. I’ve gushed about Pure Pool elsewhere as the best Pool Game I’ve ever played, and one big hurdle each Pool game needs to pass to get my recommendation now is the question, “should you even bother with this when Pure Pool exists?”

And, you know what? Sure, maybe. Multiversepool is nowhere near as good as Pure Pool, can’t compete with it in terms of presentation, gameplay, and options. But it’s also less than one-fourth the price of Pure Pool. And if you’re looking for a “decent enough” Pool game that’s dirt cheap, I think you’ll mostly be satisfied with Universepool.

Before concluding, I want to point out something I noticed after completing my review of this game: this is a reskin of Pool Billiard, which I reviewed years ago. And it’s interesting, for me anyway, to see what I thought about these two games playing them years apart. I went back and tried Pool Billiard again just to compare, and even though these two games are basically the same game with a different presentation, I do think Multiversepool is the more worthwhile of the two, for a few reasons. First, its aesthetic sets itself apart from other games in the genre far more than Pool Billiard’s traditional aesthetic does. Second, its prediction line is easier to see (part of Pool Billiard’s line is a light blue that blends in with the pool table). And third, its price of $3.50 is far easier to swallow than Pool Billiards’ $8 price tag (even if both routinely do that thing where they drop down to $2 on sale).

So yeah, I do think Universepool is a decent take on the sport. Make no mistake, if you don’t mind spending a bit more to get Pure Pool instead, you should absolutely do that, because it’s amazing. But if you’re looking to add a version of Pool to the Nintendo Switch and you’re on a budget, Multiversepool is a decent low-cost substitute.

tl;dr – Multiversepool is a cartoony, spacey-themed version of Pool with a sub-par presentation, a camera that could do with improvement, and optional motion-controls that are gimmicky and not worth bothering with. However, while it’s far from perfect, this is still a respectable Pool game that’s well worth the low $3.50 price tag.

Grade: B

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