Virtual Pool 4 Pool that sharpens your real game

This is the heart of the game: balls that react to spin, speed and angle the way they do on cloth. Draw the cue ball back past a blocker, masse around trouble, put English on a rail shot and watch the cue ball come off the cushion exactly where your plan said it would. Players who compete at real tables say the patterns and strategies they use in the room transfer straight to the screen, and back again. The controls take a little time to learn, but once they click you get fine, predictable command over every shot. It is a simulator first, and it rewards thinking over improvising.

The Pro Tour career is the straight road: start on the Local tour, climb through Regional and National to the World tour, and play tournaments in single elimination, double elimination and invitational formats against virtual pros and top amateurs.

The Hustler career starts somewhere very different: in a garage, gambling a virtual bankroll across six locations and hundreds of opponents. Beat the room boss to move on, watch the stakes climb, and spend your winnings on better cues. Same table, completely different pressure.

Video tutorials with Steve Daking walk you through the shots that separate players who pot balls from players who control the table. After each segment you can practice the exact lesson shot right there in the game, which is a far better way to learn than watching alone. Beyond the lessons there are trick shot libraries to play through or set up yourself, and you can practice alone, take on a computer opponent, or hand a cue to a friend on the same computer. The AI opponents come with a caveat: they can run the table one rack and miss a sitter the next, which can make matches feel uneven at times.