Virtual Pool

As with later games in the Virtual Pool series, the game is played with keyboard, and mouse, with shots being played by moving the mouse forwards, to simulate moving the cue. The control scheme devised for the game would be the same one that would be continued through the Virtual Pool series.

The game features four different pool modes, with eight-ball, 9-ball, rotation and straight pool. There are also a choice of 9 different AI opponents to face off against, as well as local competitive multiplayer, or online via a modem. The player has the ability to alter the amount of pace, side and angle of playing shots, as well as accurately mimic the effect of raising the butt of the cue to play a swerve shot.

PC Gamer US named Virtual Pool the "Best Sports Game" of 1995. The editors wrote, "For weeks after its release, the sounds of pool balls clacking together and dropping into the pockets was about all we heard in the PC Gamer office, and Virtual Pool is still a big hit around here." Entertainment Weekly gave the game a perfect score, stating "with its first-person perspective and true-to-life physics, Virtual Pool is one of the rare simulations that may actually improve your real game." GameSpot said the interface was "elegant and responsive", and that the player can "almost feel the contact with the ball."

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, and stated that "Interplay has dressed Virtual Pool up with some multimedia chrome - videos on the history and theory of the game - but it could just as easily have left it out The core of Virtual Pool, the game itself, is as close to perfect as a PC game can get."