A cheap and unfulfilling answer to not having a pool table.

For those of you who have always wanted a pool table, but have been limited by a lack of space – or cost – developer Pixel Works thinks they have the answer.

MiRacle Pool is the latest release by this small developer – and their second game to offer up simulation pool/billiards for the virtual reality (VR) enthusiast – which released June. 20 for the Quest series of headsets.

What this game does differently from it’s sister game Blackhole Pool is offer a fully mixed reality (MR) experience. This means that you play each game seeing the virtual table within your physical space, allowing for a free movement experience as you walk around the table to line up a shot.

While the MR aspect is a nifty gimmick, overall the game is lacking for those who yearn for a pool table.

Let’s start off with the good.

As mentioned above, the MR aspects of this game are pretty cool for those who think there needs to be more blending of the physical and virtual worlds. Some games of late have done a great job of implementing these aspects – Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire, for instance made good use of this.

Being able to walk around the pool table, seeing all your physical surroundings while you do it, does give this game a boost.

The game – and this technically means the table that unboxes once you launch it up – looks pretty good. It’s crisp and clear, and has unlockable customizable styles for the table, cues, and balls.

The game offers solo play against computer opponents of varying difficulty, or multiplayer options against other Quest users. You can choose to play 8-ball, 9-ball, and other game modes – including mini and daily games for experience progression which unlocks all those “fancy” customizations.

Comparing this to something like ForeVR Pool – where it’s not only a complete arcade game but also entirely set in the VR world – you would end up seeing a lot of similarities.

Most of these would be negative things, albeit, there wouldn’t be a lot to talk about because it’s a pool simulator and there aren’t that many aspects to the game overall.

Firstly, the table is the only good looking part here. The menu and scoreboard are often floating way too high, and moves up higher when you look at it. The menu and text sometimes looking blurry or out of place seems like they made this an afterthought. It’s annoying, but not game breaking – unless you have no patience.

The biggest issue arises when talking about the controls.

For a simulator, one would think that a sense of realism is part of the package, no? Well not only does it feel wonky to hold the pool cue, but getting any real power in your shots seems to be uncontrollable.

No matter how hard you seem to move your controllers, the ball always seems to have the same power. Not great when one is basically using enough force that a real cue ball would go flying. The exception to this comes when trying to do a jump shot, where even the lightest of taps has the ball rocketing off the table.

The lack of haptic feedback when moving and hitting the ball is another letdown here since it would add much more realism to a game that should be putting this top of mind.

Let’s now circle back to the janky controls.

When you put your hand on the table to ready your shot, there are many times when the cue just won’t mimic what you’re going for.

That jump shot mentioned earlier – you basically have to hold the cue vertically for anything to happen, and even then it doesn’t work. Resting your hand on table while readying your shot will also usually end up with the strangest movements from your cue – at one point it disappeared into the table from the slightest of movements.

Physics are really overlooked in this game and it’s truly a letdown – making us question why call this a simulator at all. If pilots and astronauts had simulators training them with issues like this, we’d all be royally screwed.

Overall, this game really has one thing going for it – taking advantage of MR technology.

However, from the issues prevalent here, it’s easy to see that we’re still a long way from getting realism in our VR games.

At $16.99, the game is a cheap facsimile of a pool table for those who have never touched one.

Our advice: avoid this game, save up and buy a REAL pool table.

MiRacle Pool, was reviewed after purchasing from the Quest store at full price.