Pool Party

Most fun I've had in YEARS!!!

Pool Party is een vrolijk gekleurd party game die ik heb mogen testen, waarin je verschillende spelletjes (voetbal, pool, tennis, volleybal enzovoorts) kan spelen tegen bots of vrienden. Als je het spelt opent, zijn de graphics direct mooi en de gameplay duidelijk. De regels van de spelletjes worden niet uitgebreid uitgelegd, maar spreken vrij voor zich. De muziek is niet mijn ding, maar kan aangepast (qua volume of uit). Je poppetje is ook aan te passen qua kleur en detaills in looks. Wat mij betreft zou dit wel wat uitgebreider mogen nog, maar wel leuk dat dit kan! De spelletjes zijn te spelen in drie moeilijkheden, waardoor het voor elke gamer te doen is. Na elke ronde is er een mogelijkheid tot het kiezen van de volgende ronde, waardoor het leuk divers is. In principe komen alle minigames wel op hetzelfde principe neer, waardoor het wel echt veel leuker is om met vrienden te spelen in plaats van met bots. Wat een grappig element aan het spel is, is dat je naast de ballen in het spel, zelf eigenlijk ook een bal bent. Dit maakt het extra onvoorspelbaar en meer uitdagend. Lekker chaotisch dus! Al met al is het een vrolijk spel waar je met vrienden plezier in kan hebben, zonder dat je perse game ervaring nodig hebt. Ik heb dit spel op de pc gespeeld met een controller (wat noodzakelijk is). Zelf vind ik de prijs wat uit verhouding, maar dat is voor iedereen persoonlijk anders natuurlijk!

I received the game to try out for free. Make sure when you buy the game that you have a controller available, as it is required to play the game! When trying out the game I chose the party mode, in which you get multiple minigames back to back. After each game you can vote which game you want to play in the next round, or the game picks one for you. After every game you receive points based on how well you did in the game (3 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place, etc.) and this adds up to an x amount of points. The first player to reach this amount wins the game. It is possible to play with friends, or add bots of different difficulty levels to the game. I really liked the design of the game, it looks really cute and colourful, and the games are easy to learn, and a bit different than other games because your character is a ball and in the minigames you can choose to roll yourself, or roll other players, which is quite different from similar games I've played. I also liked that there were some options to customize your character before the game would start, although more could be added later in my opinion! The minigame I liked the most, was the ghost mode minigame, which is similar to a game of tag, in which the player who got tagged the last when a timer runs out, gets eliminated. Unfortunately, I thought the other minigames were quite similar to other games in this genre. At the moment the game has 7 minigames, with three games being quite generic (soccer, tennis, pool). I also would have liked to choose how many points would be necessary to 'win' the game, which is not an option in party mode. This might be possible in local coop, but I was unable to try this out as I don't think local coop works well on pc games. Overall, I think it is definitely a cute game to play with friends, but a bit too pricey for what you get. The game works well though and I think the design is really cool! + Cute design, with some customization options for your character + A bit different from other games with the character being able to roll across the map + Fun minigames, especially the Ghost mode + I like how in the minigames the nr1 wears a crown, so you can target that player strategically ;) - Bit too pricey for only 7 minigames - Would have liked to determine the amount of points needed to win the game in party mode (a custom mode) Note: I had a small issue with the controller when I wanted to start the game, which made my character go down when I put the joystick up and vice versa. If you have this problem as well, make sure to switch the Y-axis in the controller settings, that fixed it for me! Not sure if that is just a steam issue or if it is something that happens with this game specifically.

I received the game to test and write a review about it. Overall rating 3.5/5 The game is cute with enough customizability to allow a few people to play simultaneously while keeping track of their own character effectively, there are 7 different game modes to choose from which all differ enough to keep them interesting and while it is annoying that the game needs controllers to play, the physics based gameplay and decently quick reactions needed do benefit immensely from using a controller (even if it's slightly annoying that it is a requirement, the steamdeck is an option too though). How easy is it to pick up the game? 4/5 Intuïtieve. While you might fumble slightly the first match or two, the controls are straightforward enough that anybody who has played party games before will pick it up easy enough. Game diversity 2/5 With 7 game modes it might sound like a lot, but every game won't take more than 10 minutes and that's if it gets particularly exciting. After going through all 7 game modes in under half an hour, then replaying the game modes again I was more than done with them for that session, I was worn out even and had I not been in the process of reviewing the game I would not have picked it up any time soon either. The game most likely will be better with friends for an evening every now and then competing against each other. Co-op/PvP playability 3/5 The game while payable solo, is definitely aimed at being played in a co-op or PvP format. The AI is skilled enough to be challenging for any skill level with the available difficulty options, but that's not where the game will really shine. The game is great for couch play and does have remote play together to that end, I would have loved to see a demo version available that allows people to join the lobby of someone that has bought the game without buying it themselves just to make playing with friends easier. How rewarding does it feel? 2/5 While there are enough achievements to track your progress, I haven't noticed any unlockables. This might be due to a lack of skill on my part but I would have enjoyed seeing possible unlocks in the form of styles or mini games perhaps with certain conditions to earn them and an overview of what hasn't been unlocked yet. None of this exists though. Steamdeck playability 5/5 At the time of writing, steam hasn't finished analyzing the game yet. The steamdeck lends itself perfectly to the game. Making the game easy to pick up for a short dosage before resuming your day or just on the go in public transport. Final thoughts: The game is cute, and will be fun to play with friends once in a while. It won't be my first choice though that really is a matter of personal choice/preference. The game would benefit from a few improvements and expansions but it's by no means bad, in its current state I do think the price tag is a little steep though. I think it's really impressive that the game was made by just 2 people while being as visually impressive as it is. Buy the game if you live party/couch games to add to your arsenal of choices for that it's definitely worth a try. Not to mention that there is no real violence in the game making it child friendly as well.