Pool Blitz Switch Review
Nothing quite beats a round of pool at the local pub every so often, and I’m not sure how it’s done in other countries, but the unspoken rule here in Australia is that you can play the people currently at the table to take it over, or politely wait by placing your coins in a stack on the bumper, signifying you get the next round. I’ve never really been exceptional at pool, but my wife on the other hand is one tough shark to beat. Now that Pool Blitz, a free-to-play game ported over from mobile has arrived, can we save some coins at the local pub? or do we need to start stacking virtual coins instead? What’s It Like? Chalk up your cue, set the table, and flip a coin to see who breaks as we review Pool Blitz on Nintendo Switch.
March is Myeloma Month. We don’t want any money, nor are we asking you to donate somewhere, but the goal of this month is to help make people aware of Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer that affects 22,000 Australians, including my father-in-law. To find out more about Myeloma, google Myeloma Australia or go to myeloma.org.au. Thank you.
Pool Blitz is an online head-to-head pool game that randomly matches you to someone for a game of pool. Most rounds are usually over in a few minutes, making it a great game to sneak a match or two in when you have a spare moment. The objective is to sink your assigned balls whether they be solids or stripes, then pot the 8 ball. Pool Blitz also features some head-to-head “Blitz” variations on the traditional game that see you sink balls to add them to your opponent’s table, much like Tetris 99 sees you clearing blocks to swamp your opponent, in a very fast-paced and exciting showdown. You strike the ball using the right stick to set some precision power, and I found the controls intuitive and easy to pick up.
When you win a round you earn a chest which you select to unlock (most have a real-life countdown ranging from a few minutes to a few hours) that goes toward unlocking new cosmetics, cues, balls, or masks. They usually consist of a few cards towards certain items, and the more you play, the more cards you earn to unlock these items. While certain cues do have stats on them, there doesn’t seem to be an overwhelming advantage to boosting them, and some tournaments limit you to the same power and abilities as your opponent to keep things fair. Tours can be entered by paying a small coin fee, which you earn double if you win, and there are also limited-timed tournaments like a “Weekend Blitz” Tournament yours truly placed 11th in this past weekend. There’s a lot to do and not that many restrictions due to the free-to-play model.
Let’s get the free-to-play elephant out of the room, just how free to play is Pool Blitz? Well, you can play standard games of pool to your heart’s content, and earn items on the free battle pass with no restrictions. There is a heavy focus on monetizing most features of the game like the Golden Shot mini-game that sees you unlock certain rewards by hitting a ball into a random zone on the table. The paid battle pass also automatically sets your chest open, instead of you manually selecting a chest, and then waiting for the timer to end, before opening it and selecting the next chest to unlock. You can also pay real-world money to hold more chests, as well as the usual gems or coins in-game currency used to fast-track new cues, tables, or ball decals. None of it is pay-to-win, and the game doesn’t shove its transactions down your throat, it just pops up when you try to do an action that’s locked behind a paywall.
Graphically, the game looks great and runs smoothly. There are varied backgrounds of different venues that mainly change depending on your tour, and background NPCs look decent without distracting. The UI can be a bit befuddled, and I did find it a bit difficult to navigate at first with many tabs to cycle through to find what I needed. The network code seems stable enough and surprisingly the only trouble I had playing online was when versing my wife in the same room, we both had a horrendous lag for some reason during the initial few parts of a round. For my vision-impaired pool sharks there are no accessibility options, so further research may be required to see if Pool Blitz is for you.
Pool Blitz is a surprisingly fun take on pool, quickly matching you to players the world over, allowing you to get some quick rounds of pool in. Despite its free-to-play nature, the game is largely unrestricted with what you can do and monetization only rears its head when you wander into something behind a paywall rather than assaulting you with pop-ups every time you play. Its fun, refined approach to gameplay make it an easy recommendation for fans of pool and warrants a download for those unfamiliar with the sport to “have a go” so to speak. While nothing will beat the real feel of playing for a table at the local tavern, Pool Blitz does a great job of filling in the time until a table is free.
So What’s It Like? Pool Blitz is like real-world pool, with some unique modes sprinkled in.
