ForeVR Pool is the latest game in a line of casual VR sports titles from developer ForeVR Games. It’s exclusive to the Quest 2 headset, which is what we tested the game on for this review.
Since releasing ForeVR Bowl in the summer of 2021, the developer hasn’t been sitting still, and have released ForeVR Darts and ForeVR Cornhole to expand their lineup – the latter of which bringing the classic game of tossing a bean bag through a hole to VR. All three games were throwing games of some sort though, so we were curious to see how the developer would tackle something quite different in ForeVR Pool.
One thing that immediately stands out is that ForeVR Pool feels more serious than the quite casual gameplay of games like Cornhole in particular. You stroll around the table to see which shot you can take next, apply spin where needed and try to hit the cue ball at exactly the right speed. Physics-wise, everything reacts as you’d expect as well, making this feel like the most complex simulator the developer has put out thus far – though the physics in ForeVR Bowl are good too.
Beginners can use a few optional tools to help get better, like the option to see a shot’s trajectory before you go for it – we definitely recommend turning this on for your first few games just to get a feel for how pool plays in VR. That’s true for experienced pool players as well, as the motion controls don’t feel as immersive here as they do in the other ForeVR games we’ve played. Of course, this is to be expected, as you can’t exactly lean on a pool table here or feel the length and angle of the pool cue in between your fingers. This’ll take some getting used to, but it won’t take too longer before you start having fun with it.
Unfortunately, ForeVR Pool only features a single gameplay type at launch, and that’s the classic American 8-ball way of playing pool. As most of you know there are several other ways of playing pool, and it’d be nice to be able to play those as well – and we wouldn’t mind seeing options for billiards and/or snooker either. The ball physics are already there, so let’s hope we see a post-launch upgrade that adds some of these game types.
As with previous ForeVR titles, ForeVR Pool also features a rich social element, offering support for multiplayer sessions and lobby-like pool hall environments in which you can interact with others, play music and of course play a couple of rounds of pool. It reminded us a bit of Sports Bar VR for PlayStation VR, only with a modernized UI and set of features. We loved the diversity of games that Sports Bar VR had though, and wouldn’t mind not having to switch between applications to play a few rounds of ForeVR Darts, Cornhole or Bowling.
And if you’d rather play offline, or simply don’t have a lot of buddies who also have a VR headset, then you can play against AI opponents as well, which gives you a decent amount of challenge as well – thus offering a good warm-up for human opponents during practice too. ForeVR Pool is a bit less casual and accessible as some of the other ForeVR games, but you are looking to play pool in VR this is a great way of doing it – we’re just hoping they’ll include more ways to play with the already fun game engine post-launch.
Score: 7.4/10
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