The answer to "Wanna play some pool?" might be "Nah," but if you ask, "Wanna play some killer pool?" you will probably get an enthusiastic response in the affirmative. Sure, so Destination Software got the game’s name down right. Overall, however, Killer 3D Pool isn’t as exciting as its title makes it seem, but it’s a decent handheld pool simulator that is held back mostly by some lackluster visuals.
The first thing you should know about this game is that it’s extremely bare-bones; there is no story, no career mode, or anything of the sort. All it consists of is four types of pool games, which are U.S. 8 Ball, English 8 Ball, U.S. 9 Ball, and something called "Killer."
"...Killer 3D Pool is extremely bare-bones..."
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Everyone knows what the standard U.S. 8 Ball game is (with the solids and stripes, and you hit the eight ball after you have pocketed all of your balls), and English 8 Ball is almost identical. U.S. 9 Ball is the form of pool most professionals play nowadays, and it consists of nine balls instead of fifteen. In this game, players need to hit certain colors of balls in the order that the game tells them to. The player that shoots in the gold-colored ball (when it’s the only one on the table) wins. Finally, there is the Killer mode. In this mode, there are fifteen balls on the table that look exactly alike, and the point is to hit a ball into a pocket each and every turn. If you fail to do so, then you will foul, and the first player to foul eight times loses.
"The computer controlled opponents are, in a few words, incredibly precise, even cheap at times."
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Since it’s usually difficult to find someone to play with, chances are you’ll be playing against the computer most of the time. The computer-controlled opponents are, in a few words, incredibly precise, even cheap at times. They’ll hit a ball into a pocket around seventy to eighty percent of the time, and can even knock in those shots that you’ve never dreamed possible. They do have some flaws, however. First of all, they don’t possess the type of planning skills present in all the pros, which means that they’ll hit a ball in without necessarily trying to place the cue ball in a prime position where they can make the next shot easily. Second, they’re not very proficient at rail or close-to-rail shots, especially at long range. And third, they never move the cue ball when they have ball-in-hand even when they don’t have a clear shot, which is very strange. I also have to add that the computer players will try bank shots if they can’t get at a specific ball, but they will occasionally shoot the cue ball directly into a pocket or in some random direction nowhere near the intended target.
If another title had to be thought of for this game, that might have been Power 3D Pool. Pulling your stick about halfway to all the way back can make the cue ball (and the ball that it hits) fly at very fast speeds, which indicates that the developer was probably more interested in creating just a simulation pool game instead of a simulation pool game that was realistic.
"...Killer 3D Pool is, in actuality, technically sound gameplay-wise."
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A few side-features that Killer 3D Pool offers are an aiming mechanic (which is simply a line to show where you are aiming the cue ball), an english feature (showing where you want to hit the cue ball to put spin on it), a view feature (which lets you toggle between either a 3D or overhead view of the table), and the use of the Select button to move the cue ball when you have ball-in-hand. Each of the previous are helpful except for the english feature, which is near-useless, since the cue ball barely spins, which means that it doesn’t go in the direction you want it to go after it hits the object ball.
For how relatively simple the gameplay is, it’s surprising that the developer didn’t compensate for that by refining the game’s graphics. Everything could be much sharper – there are jagged lines in many places, and the atmosphere could be a lot brighter so that it wouldn’t be difficult to tell between different colors of balls, for example.
Killer 3D Pool turns out to be a pretty good handheld pool game that can entertain players with even a marginal interest in pool, but it really isn’t worth a purchase unless you are willing to play game after game of the same thing over and over again. With that said, it might be better to just rent the game for a short period of time, but keep in mind that Killer 3D Pool is, in actuality, technically sound gameplay-wise.
