075 - LUNAR POOL

Lunar Pool

Episode 075

Show Notes

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OUR THOUGHTS

MIKE

This was a game that I said I was looking forward to in our Best of 1986 episode. I said that without any idea of what gameplay was truly like or even watching a video. It’s a bit of a bummer that the “lunar” part of Lunar Pool is just a friction setting that changes how gravity feels in the game. Don’t get me wrong it’s a really neat addition for balancing gameplay and is more thoughtful than most games available on the NES at this point. The problem is that feature is only the tipping point for what could have been Lunar Pool. The only other thing that makes this anything other than billiards is that you can play on oddly shaped boards. Again, neat feature, but where are these developers imagination? Imagine UFO’s that try to steal your cue ball. Or making it play like Billiards, but act like Golf with an actual golf course on the moon. While we’re playing on the moon maybe there could be craters that you want to avoid or bumps that are obstacles. There’s a lot of potential here people and I’m pretty much coming up with these ideas off the top of my head so I’m sure there’s even better solutions.

Then we have the bigger problem that Lunar Pool does not take the brilliant mechanics from Golf (the NES launch game) and implement it into how you control your stick and cue. It’s baffling. The power mechanic currently in the game feels archaic compared to how Golf chose to solve the problem. It’s just a billiards game, I get that. But if you promise me the moon, I WANT THE MOON…

THE VERDICT - NOT ESSENTIAL

Don’t get me wrong, the game does get creative…

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