Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Another Pool puts you at the table almost immediately and asks you to do the hard part yourself. You set shot strength, direction, and the cue’s contact point on the cue ball with the mouse, so even a simple attempt has a pleasing amount of ownership behind it. There are no sight lines to flatter your aim. If you read the angle well and control the strike, the success belongs to you.

That directness is the game’s strongest quality, but it also creates the first real frustration. Without aiming aids, the early shots can feel harsher than you expect, particularly if you are used to pool games that help you trace a route. Stick with it long enough for the mouse controls to become familiar, though, and the stripped-back approach starts to feel less like a limitation and more like the point.

The undo feature is a smart pressure valve. It lets you recover from an awful attempt without turning every mistake into a reason to quit, yet it does not replace the satisfaction of getting a shot right cleanly. Performance statistics for each player also give one-on-one sessions a reason to keep score beyond the immediate result. This is a better fit for somebody who enjoys practicing judgment than somebody who wants a guided arcade version of pool.

Graphics

The top-down view keeps the pool table and ball positions easy to read, which matters more here than ornament. Another Pool’s plain, functional look suits a game built around watching angles and judging your next shot.

Story

Another Pool does not need a scripted tale to create tension. Its small dramas come from the table: the shot you think you have lined up, the hesitation before committing, and the relief when your judgment pays off.

In two-player games, that tension naturally becomes more personal. Player statistics give the matches a modest ongoing record, so a rematch can feel like a chance to answer a previous result rather than simply start over.

Solo play tells a quieter story of improvement. Because the game leaves the aiming work in your hands, progress is visible in the shots you stop treating as lucky.

Overall Experience

Another Pool is a compact, no-frills pool game that trusts you to supply the skill and the patience. The first hour may be humbling if you rely on aiming guides elsewhere, but that is also why a well-judged shot has more bite than it would in a more assisted game.

The lack of sound effects makes the experience especially spare. That will either feel pleasantly focused or a little too quiet, depending on whether you want a game-like atmosphere around your pool. Nothing distracts from the mouse work, for better and for worse.

For a freeware game, it makes a clear case for itself through discipline rather than variety. Play it alone if you want to sharpen your eye, or put it in front of a friend if you enjoy low-key competitive pool. The payoff is real once the controls click, but it is earned through your own accuracy.

Retro Replay Score

6.5/10