Ten Minute Taste: Inferno Pool

7:30 PM on 10.31.2009   |   Brad Nicholson

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It takes a couple of shots of fine liquor before I feel loose enough to play pool. I blow at the game, and I realize that. It’s comical how my suckiness translates to pool videogames, as you’ll observe in the above TMT for Inferno Pool.

Inferno Pool is now available on Xbox LIVE Arcade and PSN, costing about ten bones on both digital platforms. The name of the game is the key here -- this isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill pool videogame. It has a touch of, uh, hardcore to it. The tables, from what I’ve seen thus far, are unkempt and edgy, looking as if they belong in Silent Hill. The announcer carries a bite, too, as he calls out things Unreal Tournament-style.

But it is a pool game. It features 8-ball and 9-ball and adheres to many of the conventions we’re familiar with: standardized rule sets, decent aiming aids, and free camera control. The most ambitious addition -- outside of the presentation stuff -- is the mode “Inferno Pool,” which is a mode where players race to knock as many balls into the table’s pockets as possible. With each sunk ball, the player earns the ability to fire said ball onto his opponents table, messing up his shots in the process.

In the TMT, I exclusively played the mode Inferno Pool, so you can see the name of the game in action. Check it out.