Topic: One Year (and two weeks) Later: Midnight Pool

Sunava...I moved to a new house for college and lost all my energy. I would be posting the past week's OYL, but I want to play the game to give my impressions at the same time. Expect that in the next day or so (I hope). Soooo...

One Year Later 015: (8/18/08) Midnight Pool

24) Midnight Pool (Gameloft, 800 pts)
The Wii is the centerpiece for a large variety of “casual” sports games, including tennis, golf, and baseball. Another one of these sports benefiting from Wii’s existence is pool, and Gameloft would be the first to bring that sport to WiiWare in the US. Midnight Pool was originally a cellphone title released in 2005, but in summer 2008, the IP was brought to WiiWare with a whole new feature set and control setup welcome to the Wii console. In Midnight Pool, players select a particular character in a funky setting to play a number of styles of pool, including 8-Ball US Rules and 9-Ball. The game is complete with a story mode, unlockables, and multiplayer options. Players may use the Wii Remote to move the cue stick, but button presses are also available. Take Wii Play’s billiards and add some needed depth, and that is arguably what Midnight Pool provides to the consumer.

Reception: Midnight Pool was taken very positively between review sources, with some saying it was a great evolution of what Wii Play Pool provided. NintendoLife found it to be a very enjoyable romp that many should purchase (8/10). As usual, IGN saw it to have a few more flaws than what would warrant an 800 point purchase, so it was given a 7. Despite the game’s mostly positive critical viewpoint, purchasers did not give it much of a chance. It followed the path of most July 2008 releases: reach a peak in three weeks and drop down with little legs.

Outlook: A sequel to Midnight Pool was released on cellphones, and an IPhone App was released months after this made it to America. As for whether more will come to WiiWare, that is another story; an interview seems to tell that the game did not sell to expectations, compared to other games published by Gameloft. Since then, the company has released a number of other titles on WiiWare (with Sexy Poker being the most recent). Another Midnight game, Midnight Bowling, was released shortly after this title.

Comparison to WiiWare Year 2: In a surprise change of events, WiiWare Year 2 failed to do anything noteworthy this week. Picturebook Games: Pop-Up Pursuit was released this week, as was the newest Family game, Family Slot Car Racing. Yeah, both were terribly received from critical standpoints, compared to the positive reaction to this past year’s game. So…I say Year 1 wins hands down.

Thoughts? Annoyance at my late postings?

Yes, I'm furious!!! Get your priorities straight! OYL is your top priority. Everything else in your life (including college, food, and shelter) is a distant second!!!

Thanks for your attention to this, as always. Did you find the game still holds up pretty well?
I must say, I was surprised there was no mention of Cue Sports (perhaps in the Outlook section?) for this OYL.

@KnucklesSonic8 I probably should make note of Cue Sports and will make a change to it when I get the chance. Pretty much I'll just add a sentence explaining that since, only one other pool game has come out here.

As for my opinion on the game, I can't give it. I don't have it, and without any income from anywhere or gifts or whatnot, I can't play it to find out. I own like 14 WiiWare games, so those I can discuss (Helix being the fourth).

You should do a OYL on Plattchen: Twist 'n' Paint.

I will, as soon as it becomes a year old Wait for the end of September!

I enjoy this one, though I'm hoping for a Motion-Plus billiards game that will read the force applied to the cue more accurately.

I never thought of that! That would be pretty sweet but it would render certain control options obsolete albeit that may not be such a bad thing if it's done correctly.

I like the One Year Later series.

Something I'm not sure you covered, it would be nice to know how Wiiware's Midnight Pool stacks up against other subsequent pool titles on Wii. You did mention the comparison with Wii Play pool.

Personally I played Midnight Pool (wiiware) and some other disc title of pool (forgot the name it was so bad), and Midnight Pool won. But in a way I still like the gameplay of Wii Play pool more, unfortunately it's limited to that one game of 9-ball.

Hmmm, I forgot I had that thar game with all them annoying fools. The game itself be ok aye, but I figured it out and could pot anything (without using tham thar cheatin' guides). I'd rather be in Davy's Grip then suffer that pesky game again, yaar.