What makes a good video pool game? Very often the same qualities that make a good pool shark: A nuanced understanding of Newtonian physics, stiff competition, and a pool hall filled with easy marks. Luckily the iPhone, with its physics-crunching processor, networking capabilities, and 3D graphics offers a bridge to these ends. We'll keep you from getting snookered into a bad purchase with our top picks.

World Championship Pool 2009

This pool game may be light on trappings such as player animations and environments, but the accurate physics and tight controls make this one of most challenging and accurate billiards games on the iPhone. You choose your basic style of play--either 9-ball, or U.S.- or U.K.-style 8-ball--then compete in the career mode, single matches, or a trick-shot arcade setting against some hardcore AI. You'll jockey a disembodied pool cue using touch controls that are just sensitive enough to aim your shot, adjust English on the ball, and then drag back the pool cue for appropriate power. The 3D tables, free-roaming camera, and lighting effects provide some visual splendor even if the static tournament-style backgrounds don't exactly pop.

Check out full our full review of World Championship Pool 2009


Midnight Pool

Gameloft has gone to great lengths to preserve the pool hall atmosphere in this one. You'll hustle your way across seven 3D venues, racking up U.S.- or U.K.-style 8-ball or 9-ball matches in story mode, thereby unlocking more opponents and customization options. You can also try your hand at trick shots or one-on-one matches in arcade mode. The physics aren't as accurate as WCP 2009, but they're authentic enough to keep the action going. And advanced control options allow you to pinch the screen to adjust zoom on the table and rotate the the camera using the camera option.

Check out the full review of Midnight Pool.


Adrenaline Pool

This one is a little behind the eightball compared to our two previous pics in terms of gameplay. The physics are so-so and you're locked into a top-down view that's only 2D. The online multi-player, however, is so well implemented that it deserves a place on our list. You can shoot pool with friends via a nickname-based buddy system or make the rounds using the game's options-laden matchmaking system. If you find yourself in a dead zone, you can also play against the computer in a singles match across three levels of difficulty.

If you're a fan of the original Virtual Pool on PC, this iPhone port will satisfy your nostalgia. The old live-action videos of are still intact, complete with tough-talking hustler, Curly. The gameplay has evolved some since the title's PC glory days. You use the iPhone's touch screen for dragging the cue and shooting, but strangely enough the pinch function doesn't work for zooming. The seedy basement environments are still essentially 3D, but the table itself is not much more than a 2D canvas. The gameplay modes may only vary between game styles like 6-ball, 8-ball, and 9-ball, but Virtual Pool is still a solid bet after all these years.



Pool Rebel

We had high hopes for Pool Rebel, but they were quickly dashed once we got knee deep into the game. The physics are atrocious, as the balls carry far longer than they should and pockets suck in billiard balls like some sort of tractor beam. The game sports not one but three control schemes: a touch-screen based mechanic to drag your pool cue; a tiny touch-button joypad; and some overly sensitive motion controls. None of these work with any degree of accuracy, though. You'd be better off avoiding this one and just waiting for Java support in Safari to play Pool on Yahoo games.


Check out the full review of Pool Rebel

THE WINNER
Crowning the top dog in our Pool game tourney was tough. World Championship Pool 2009 and Midnight Pool both offer exemplary gameplay and graphics. In the end, while Midnight Pool's characters and animations were entertaining and well done, WCP 2009's superior controls and physics sunk the eight ball both literally and figuratively. We'd stay clear of Pool Rebel due to it's Flash-style graphics and presentation as well as the three terrible control schemes. Our other picks both have something to offer potential pool sharks, too, be it nostalgia with Virtual Pool, or online play with Adrenaline Pool.