Reviews
Game
Archer Maclean's Pool is one of the best pool simulators of its day. Much of the game is identical to Maclean's earlier title, "Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker" including the menu interface and the 3D engine, however now you're playing various types of pool instead of snooker. You can adjust the game play between UK rules 8 ball, US rules 8 ball, or tournament 9 ball, which is a nice feature and there are several computer opponents to play against, each with their own difficulty ranking. The game gives you plenty of control over how to hit the cue ball including angle to strike, spin, and power which allows for nearly as much control as a real pool game. Although the game was sold as Archer Maclean's Pool on the box, the title screen calls the game "Pool Shark". This inconsistency was corrected with the 1995 CD version release which altered the introduction graphics.
Music
Only two songs come with the game, and one of them is never even played. The title music, Pool IBM, is a nice jazzy number that utilizes the piano, bass, and high hats. The other song, which sounds like Bach's "Toccata and Fugue In D Minor 'Dorian'" (BWV 538) is installed with the game, but never played.
Ripping
The type 0 MIDI files are stored in the default installation folder. The recording uses the Roland MT-32 version of the music. SysEx data is used by the game, but it has yet to be captured, so the MIDI playback won't sound right, even on a Roland MT-32 unless you first play the game. This is most likely due to non-standard SysEx data. Also, the game seems to force a beats per minute speed of 200 on any MIDI file it plays. The Pool IBM and Toccata MIDI files are both set to playback at 80 BPM, and that is how they play through normal MIDI players, but the game speeds them up. The Pool IBM sounds too slow at 80 BPM, but if you rename Toccata so the game plays it instead, it sounds too fast at 200 BPM, so the game rip and recording contains both versions of each song.
The Music.exe file is the same as the one used for "Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker" and if you open it in a hex editor you'll see that it still has a reference to Snooker.mid, along with PoolIBM.mid and Toccata.mid. In fact, "Whirlwind Snooker" also references PoolIBM.mid which wasn't included with the game. From this, it is assumed that "Whirlwind Snooker" was supposed to have all three songs, but they were removed for some unknown reason.
Links
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_MacLean
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- Archer Maclean's Pool
