This game is absolutely incredible for a lot of reasons. If you have ever played pool in VR before, then I am sure you have experienced how insanely difficult it is to play accurately without the ability to rest your hands on the table while you take a shot. It seems that this game was born out of that difficulty. For that reason, this game exists perfectly at the intersection of "ridiculous" and "practical."
There is something completely absurd about standing atop a pool table with a golf putter, but at the same time it feels so natural. It really makes you wonder why a game like this doesn't exist in real life, outside of VR. This seems like the perfect game to play in the backyard during a cookout or something.
That said, perhaps the reason it doesn't exist in real life is this simple: it's actually pretty hard. I promise you that the first time you play, you will do horribly. The second time you play, you will still be horrible. But by the tenth game, you will probably really start to get the hang of it. For this reason, it's definitely good that there are both single-player and multiplayer modes. That way, you can practice against the computer before trying your hand against friends.
Of course, this is an early access game, so there is definitely a lot of space for more content. As it stands, it is a pretty small game, but it is absolutely worth the price because the developer has done so much with so little. There are 5 different maps you can play the game on, ranging from a simple garden to a complex, futuristic, neon city. The game is filled with cute little touches, like the penguins who cheer for you on the Antarctica map whenever you sink a shot or the robot head on the city map that you can smack around anytime you are frustrated you miss a shot. The attention to detail is fantastic: in a game where the main attraction is the ridiculous notion of playing put-put on a pool table, you wouldn't expect the developer to pay attention to details like making leaves blow in the wind or making butterflies fly around trees or setting up the occasional hover-car drive-by. These efforts absolutely contribute to the absurdity and, therefore, the fun.
Regarding the gameplay: it is about as good as you could expect. Just like any other VR game that requires any level of stillness and precision, the game is simply limited by the player's hands. It is very difficult to place a shot well, given that there is no counter-weight on the club (as there would be in real life). However, the game includes two different targeting systems which really help to significantly mitigate this.
There are some occasional bugs. For instance, sometimes a ball will move in a way that seems very unnatural or it will appear to hop into the air out of nowhere. However, these bugs are few and far between. For an early-access title, the bugs are remarkably infrequent.
Overall, I cannot overstate how much fun I have had with this game. It's difficult, rewarding, simple, ridiculous, and just a blast. Playing it with friends is doubly fun because you get to listen to them get progressively more frustrated every time they miss a shot that they spent 5 minutes setting up. Ultimately, I might even say this is my favorite VR game. It doesn't have the complexity or scope of Half Life: Alyx or Boneworks and it doesn't have the mechanical creativity of something like Superhot VR, but it makes use of the unique benefits offered by VR to provide an insanely fun, albeit very simple, experience. If not my favorite VR game, it is at least in my top 5.
Definitely give it a shot!
