Subpar Pool
Strip down, and build back up: from Rymdkapsel to Holedown, Martin ‘grapefrukt’ Jonasson’s particular approach to game design has served the Malmöbased developer well. For your first few runs of this combination of pool and golf, though, you might wonder if that punning title is accurate in more ways than one. At heart, it’s the simplest imaginable pairing of these two pastimes: clear the table within a limited number of shots, else you’ll lose a life. With simple aiming controls (drag to aim, double-tap to shoot), a bounce line letting you know the immediate trajectory both of the cue ball and the target you’re striking, plus generous physics that mean a ball on the brink will almost always drop, it might seem too straightforward for its own good. But by then this ingenious game already has you in its pocket.
You steadily accrue a set of cards by completing challenges, though to describe this as a deckbuilder would be misleading. Rather, combinations of cards allow you to define the parameters of your next run, your selection doubling as a difficulty modifier. With more balls on the table you’re more likely to pot one with another, for instance, though in some cases the challenge is bound to cards or table settings purposely designed to make things trickier. With portals on two cushions of the Gateways table (where holes are larger, too), it’s harder to avoid potting yourself to earn a ‘flawless’ rating; moreso to complete a set of five with fewer than 20 trick shots, not least with back-to-back pots counting toward your tally. Any remaining balls darken and reappear on the following table as an extra hazard – here, like the real thing, there’s a penalty for potting the black too soon.
Eventually, you can have up to eight cards active at once, leading to almost countless variants: with more room you’re less likely to accidentally sink the white, but long-potting a heavy Chonker ball won’t be as easy to pull off. On one run you might aim to preserve the fragile Crystal variants; during the next, deliberately launching them off the cushions to shatter them might just save par. On Links tables, one hole closes as another opens, leading to multi-pot accidents, happy or otherwise. Meanwhile, the ball-carrying conveyors of Belts demand pinpoint aiming; pair with Fast Run, where a timer ticks down as you spin your aiming line, and you’re in for a devilishly hard time, even with the rule-bending ability to take aim while the cue ball is still in motion. The challenges keep coming even when all the cards have been dealt, though no other motivators are required. Jonasson is evidently confident that his game has enough to keep you coming back regardless. He’s right to be.
Android, iOS, PC, Switch