Pinball Game Megathread - Reviews of All Pinball Games COMING SOON!

[dogmeat]

Hi everyone,

Let me preface this thread by stating that I am a HUGE pinball fan. Not only did my dad grow up on pinball, I was a huge arcade goer when I was young and loved to hit the tables. That aside, I think this thread should serve as the end all be all thread for all pinball games on the appstore.

Starting today I am going to start downloading each game and working on an in-depth review of each one starting with Wild West. I encourage all of you to submit the pros/cons of each game that you've played along with the features that you especially like and comments on how you think each game could be improved.

The end goal is to have a thread with all pinball related info so when people come to the forums, in search for a good pinball game, they have all the info they could possibly want on all the games in 1 thread.

To avoid cluttering the thread, please try and come up with a thoughtful post, no one liners. And while I can't stop you, I'm asking nicely, because this threads purpose is to benefit the community and anyone looking for a good pinball game.

Below is a list of the pinball games I could find, feel free to submit your own:

Pinball - Tiny Diversions REVIEWED!! on Page 2 [ CLICK HERE (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=244698#post244698) ]
$0.99 4.0MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinball.png

Wild West Pinball - OOO Gameprom REVIEWED!! on Page 2 [ CLICK HERE (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=244973#post244973) ]
$0.99 6.1MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_wildwestpinball.png

Pinball Dreaming: Pinball Dreams - Cowboy Rodeo REVIEWED!! on Page 3 [ CLICK HERE (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=246413#post246413) ]
$4.99 2.9MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballdreams.png

Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster - Publisher X REVIEWED!! on Page 5 [ CLICK HERE (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=266878#post266878) ]
$4.99 10.0MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_zenrollercoaster.png

Pinball: Casino Madness - Divagen.com REVIEWED!! on Page 6 [ CLICK HERE (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=278628#post278628) ]
$0.99 6.8MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballcasino.png

Zen Pinball: Inferno - Publisher X In Queue
$4.99 9.4MB

SmallBall Pinball: SmallBall In Queue
$FREE 4.1MB

Monster Pinball - Matmi In Review
$3.99 10.4MB

Pinball Destruction - Martin Reddy In Queue
$1.99 3.1MB

iTiltPinball - Random5 LLC In Queue
$1.99 683KB

Freeballin' - IUGO In Queue
$1.99 27.3MB

Neon Ball - Springheadmedia In Queue
$0.99 406KB

uVent - John Gregorek In Queue
$0.99 1.6MB

Games not yet released:

The Deep Pinball - OOO Gameprom Pending Release
$?.?? XXMB

Jungle themed pinball - OOO Gameprom Pending Development
$?.?? XXMB

Pinball Fantasies - Cowboy Rodeo Pending Release
$?.?? XXMB

Pinball Illusions - Cowboy Rodeo Pending Development
$?.?? XXMB

Thats it, I'll start submitting full reviews as I do them, into this thread. Thanks for your participation!

- Dogmeat

[DonD_GT]

I've only tried Freeballin' and Wild West.

The ball physics in Freeballin' just seem off to me and I can't get into the game. It has several tables to choose from, but I can't seem to want to play it since I feel like there's something inherently wrong with the way the ball comes off of the flipper and the way it moves across the screen. The speed seems wrong.

Wild West has only 1 table but plays the way I expect pinball to play. The ball physics seem very realistic to me and this is the go-to game when I'm in the mood for pinball. The table is limited, having only a couple of hittable items and only a few mission options. It's a good game though and gets my recommendation.

[gscal]

Dogmeat, I'd like to know if you own those all (since you're a pinball fan), and which one is your favorite and why. If you can't decide on one, tell me what would be good for someone who likes: 1. Secret places 2. Lots of interaction 3. More than two flippers 4. Cool backgrounds. I already own Freeballin' and WWP, and plan on getting The Deep and Monster Pinball. I also don't really care about ball physics. Thanks!

[Eli]

While Wild West Pinball only has one table, it's by far the best pinball game out there and I've tried them all. It has the most authentic pinball feel to it, and I really have a hard time getting worked up over the one pinball table thing. I probably put hundreds of dollars in to the lone pinball machine at the local bowling alley near me when I was growing up and it never got old. ;)

Different strokes for different folks though, Freeballin' is also pretty good and has a Sega Genesis Sonic Spinball kind of feel to it. Still fun, just not as fun!

[dogmeat]

Dogmeat, I'd like to know if you own those all (since you're a pinball fan), and which one is your favorite and why. If you can't decide on one, tell me what would be good for someone who likes: 1. Secret places 2. Lots of interaction 3. More than two flippers 4. Cool backgrounds. I already own Freeballin' and WWP, and plan on getting The Deep and Monster Pinball. I also don't really care about ball physics. Thanks!

Its going to cost about 24$ to get the games that I don't already have, but I am going to do in depth reviews of all and I will not only give them a general score:

graphics
sound
performance
fun
price

But I will be reviewing specific things like:

Ball Physics
Flippers
Fun Zones ( things you hit or the ball goes into )
Scoring Tips

to name a few.

It will probably take me a few weeks to review them all but I will get it done, so I suggest subscribe to this thread if you're a fan.

[gscal]

While Wild West Pinball only has one table, it's by far the best pinball game out there and I've tried them all. It has the most authentic pinball feel to it, and I really have a hard time getting worked up over the one pinball table thing. I probably put hundreds of dollars in to the lone pinball machine at the local bowling alley near me when I was growing up and it never got old. ;)

Different strokes for different folks though, Freeballin' is also pretty good and has a Sega Genesis Sonic Spinball kind of feel to it. Still fun, just not as fun!

While WWP is probably one of the best pinball games out there, I have one complaint. It's not that there's only one table, it's the constantly moving camera that gets to me. If they include an option to keep the camera still, then I would love that game even more. Eveything else in that game is great, though.

[dogmeat]

Also, I want to let everyone know that I will be keeping all comments in mind when I review each game, its not just my review, but partly a reflection from this community as well.

[GodSon]

Out of all the pinball games i have; my favorite is freeballin atm. i like the online scoreboard, the multiple tables, levels per table, adventure mode and all other modes as well. future updates will be nice. my only real problem other than the ball physics would be regarding the fun factor/interaction per table.

-Tiki Trouble: This board is probably all around the best board in the game because it gives you a since of adventure. I wish that once you move into the sub levels they had more to offer because they get a little plain as far as gameplay features but the artwork in the levels are great (i.e. bumpers, Bonuses of some sort, etc...).

-Monsteropolis: There is just way too much going on in this stage as far as the background and it makes it annoying when i am trying to focus on achieving something and they could offer more interaction as well rather than just scenery.

-Dreams & Nightmares: this has to be the worst table of them all to me. its just very plain. its quiet and it seems to lack everything on the table. I don't feel the nightmare aspect. its more of monsters inc. meets an earth tone color scheme. the table is bland and again the interaction in the table is horrible to me and i probably play this table the least. This table needs a complete facelift.

-Neometric: this board is a simple futuristic neon schemed table that is fun but i think it is too basic and too small as well which takes the fun out of it a little bit. this board really needs to just be expanded. This table could use some background life like robots, aliens, anything futuristic. still fun and simple.

All in all this game is my favorite all around and i hope to see some new tables and other updates in the future. the graphics are great and the adventure modes/online scores are fun as well. I am satisfied and do not regret purchasing it or any of the other pinball games i have for my Touch. I will let you know about the other pinball games in other posts. :D

[f e a r l e s s]

Don't forget Neon Ball by Springheadmedia. It's cool, but they really need better flippers.

$0.99

No copy+paste on iphone so no link :(

[gscal]

Don't forget Neon Ball by Springheadmedia. It's cool, but they really need better flippers.

$0.99

No copy+paste on iphone so no link :(

Neon Ball Link (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=306231910&mt=8)

Also, on your iPod, wrap [app] around the game's name. It won't be a direct link ,but it'll be an iTunes link. For example: [a p p] Neon Ball [/a p p] (but without the spaces)

[dogmeat]

Added Neon Ball to the list. I just got a new puppy yesterday so I'll probably start the review process tomorrow or saturday.

Also, neon ball looks very interesting, has anyone played it?

[Habakuk]

Good thread. I own them all in the list and wrote extensive reviews on them here at tA only lacking those two ones:

Pinball by Tiny Diversions: App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=304439923&mt=8) -- Not so bad. Good physics. Simple. Different game speeds. Accelerometer support.

iTiltPinball by Random 5LLC: App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=283916003&mt=8) -- Worst game ever. Forget it. Bad physics, graphics, cruel sound... Want my money back ;) Wait, they are promising an update on their iTunes site. Let's see...

[Benegesserit]

I own Pinball Dreams and I must say the game has an incredible soundtrack (especially the table selection page). The main problem I have with the game is lag spikes. It's not an iPhone problem, as I play plenty of other games with more action on screen with no lag. It's a problem with the code. When playing music games, pinball, FPS, anything twitchy, lag will ruin your game.

The only pinball games I'm interested in picking up from the reviews about to be posted, are the ones that can claim 0 lag.

I read their post on the other board regarding that they know their stuff about optimizing, but I still can't grasp how such an old game has issues with framerate when I can play a game that renders much higher quality graphics with 0 lag.

I understand it has to draw it faster as a pinball game but the graphics must be less demanding to render.

[Rudi]

Great for Pinball Fans are Visual Pinball and Visual Pinmame for Computer, just google it. I know, it´s not for iphone but it´s the best way to play Pinball without a real Pinball Machine.

[svolskiy]

Pinball - Tiny Diversions $0.99
Wild West Pinball - OOO Gameprom $0.99
Pinball Dreaming: Pinball Dreams - Cowboy Rodeo $4.99
Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster - Publisher X $4.99
Zen Pinball: Inferno - Publisher X $4.99
SmallBall Pinball: SmallBall $FREE
Pinball: Casino Madness - Divagen.com $1.99
Pinball Destruction - Martin Reddy $1.99
iTiltPinball - Random5 LLC - $1.99
Freeballin' - IUGO $1.99
Neon Ball - Springheadmedia $0.99

Games not yet released:

The Deep Pinball - OOO Gameprom $?.??
Monster Pinball - Matmi $?.??


OMG there is so many pinballs...and looks like in future AppStore will be overloaded with pinballs.
May be we need Pinball section in games? :)

[dogmeat]

Just grabbed Pinball from Tiny Diversions and while I thought it was going to be very weak, i'm actually impressed with what it is. I would be downloading all the games on the list right now, but I left my charger cable at home, doh!

[dogmeat]

Pinball - Tiny Diversions
$0.99 4.0MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinball.png http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinball1.png
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I picked up "Pinball" from the appStore for 99 cents. When you fire it up, it just states "pinball" with some background music. The game offers the minimal ammount of options once the title screen dissapears and the menu pops up. You can choose game length, which is measured in the terms of how many balls or "plays" you want. You can choose from 1 play, 3 plays or 5 plays. You can also adjust the game speed from slow, normal to turbo. The differences between the speeds are very well balanced, turbo for example would be well suited for a pinball pro, while the slow mode may be for grandma.

All in all, I played the game for my entire lunch break and every spare moment I got from there to now. I will go into more depth below, as far as the specifics on why I think this is a worthy pinball game on the appstore but I really found myself liking this purchase and will continue to play this pinball game daily.

Graphics

The graphics in "Pinball" are 2d and very simple. Upon looking at a screenshot or two of the game, I can see how some people may be turned off by its looks but when you jump in and play the table itself the graphics play very smoothly and I found no graphical hiccups while playing. The table itself is fairly simple, consisting of 4 main fun zones for the ball to trigger. All in all, the graphics are consistently done and once you get into playing, you will soon realize the graphics aren't what make this game enjoyable, the game is.

Sound

The sound in "Pinball" is very simple. There is a musical track that plays when you first start the game but no music anywhere else. You can't play your music while playing this game either. The sounds while playing the table are simple yet satisfying.

Handling

Handling can either make or break a pinball game and the handling in "Pinball" is very well done, a notch below Wild West Pinball. The Ball physics seem very solid and I never noticed the ball going in some odd direction it shouldn't go while rolling around. Using the flippers in this game is very satisfying in the sense you can really control the direction the ball is going and with how much force you want to apply to it. My only gripe about the handling is the fact that the contact area for your thumbs/fingers to activate each lever seems short in height so I find myself having to keep my thumbs all the way towards the bottom, which is fine, just took some getting used to. One thing I could not figure out, was a pause feature. The game seems to pause if you let it sit till your phone goes to sleep but other than that, I couldn't figure out how to pause the game.

Fun

"Pinball" is fun! No doubt about that, and this developers take on pinball works well. For one simple table I found myself going back for more and more trying to get a higher score. The best feature in this game is once you roll your ball up one of the rails, the game will display an arrow pointing at your next target, the more you hit the targets, your score multiplies, if you complete the circuit, you get 2 balls at a time. I'm sure if you're really good you can get more balls than 2 but we'll see. I had a blast playing this one and I'm going to keep going till I hit 1 million points, maybe more, who knows.

Price

This game is priced perfectly, you get one simplified table with 4 fun zone areas and objectives to keep you wanting those multipliers and double balls. I definitely reccomend this pinball game for anyone looking for that "simplified" table in their iDevice pinball collection. Go get it!

[Habakuk]

Good review, thank you, dogmeat! I recommend "Pinball by Tiny Diversions" too. The graphics are not overwhelming but it's a "real" pinball simulator (the "engine" is okay) and it runs smooth on my iPhone 3G. Love to play it. But it needs a name and a logo.

Can't await "The Deep Pinball" and the update of "Wild West Pinball".

[dogmeat]

Wild West Pinball - OOO Gameprom
$0.99 6.1MB

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I picked up Wild West Pinball just a short while after I joined TouchArcade.com. I hadn't really played pinball in quite a while, but I wanted to see how it would work on the iPhone. Needless to say, after a few plays I was completely hooked! Not only had I gotten myself into the top 15 score list, I was eager to keep playing to master the way of the paddle. At any rate, my review of Wild West Pinball lies ahead.

Graphics

Wild West Pinball features 3d graphics, the table layout and the ball itself are all rendered on the screen. The game has an interesting camera style that follows the ball and zooms in/out depending on where it is on the board. I really enjoyed this from the first play, but some players think it is bothersome. I like it because it keeps your eye right on the ball and it helps teach you proper timing with your paddles and gives you a greater depth of your table since you have to memorize more aspects of it. The table design itself is well done, with well placed western decals to the 3D pins on the table that represent tee-pees, train tracks, money bags and lights. The framerate is very fast, I notice some slowdowns sometimes but it has only cost me the ball once. Regardless, the slowdowns aren't anything to worry about as they are very infrequent and last a second or less. The game has an interesting pinball-esque scoreboard ( led style ) at the top of the screen which reflects your score, lives ( represented in bullets ) and nice special effects when you score 100,000 500,000 1 MILLION and so on. All in all, the graphics of this game are very well done in a consistent manner and the presentation value is spot on.

Sound

Wild West Pinball features no soundtrack whatsoever but it does feature a pack of sounds that really fit the theme of the game. When your ball goes through the train track, you hear "choo-choo", when you shoot harry, you hear gun sounds, etc.. All in all, the sound effects in the game really satisfy the ear and keep you wanting to hit those fun spots more and more.

Handling

This game features a nice, big plunger for firing your ball onto the table and is really satisfying to pull back and watch it go. If you pull a little, the ball goes a small distance. If you pull all the way back, your ball fires like a rocket. The speed of the ball is absolutely perfect and when you hit the ball with your flippers there is a lot of force behind every paddle swipe. These mechanisms really add to the realism of the ball feeling like a huge round ball of metal instead of a programmed video game object. When the ball hits the various funspots througout the table they accurately repel the ball away or suck it in depending on what you're doing. The game also features a table shaking feature which will allow you to get your ball out of tough spots by shaking your phone at the right moment. One of the things I didn't like had to do with the gutters on each side of the table. It seems whenever your ball gets stuck in one, and fires out, if you don't intervene with a slight shake at the right moments, it gets repelled back into the gutter and you loose a ball. This happens 95% of the time and seems like a design flaw unless shaking is a requirement with this game. Which leads me to the bank, when you manage to get your ball into the bank, shaking is absolutely necessary. Try to hit each light, and when your ball falls down to the money bags, gently shake it once to have it bounce back up into the lights. You can control your score multiplier in the bank this way, and you can "shake" to hit the money bags repeatedly. Something I found you could do was to shake the ball once its about to exit the bank through the hole, if you can time it perfectly, you can get the ball to hit the money bags over and over. All in all, handling is multi-dimensional in this game, not only do you have to use the paddles, but shaking is absolutely necessary to achieve a multi-million score. You can pause the game by tapping the scoreboard at the top of the screen, this is handy when getting on or off the train!

Fun

Wild West Pinball is by far, the most fun I've had on a portable device, period. Not only have I played this game since the day it came out, I continuously play this game even while reviewing the other pinball games. This game is my inspiration for reviewing all the other pinball games as well, its a great comparison to the others and while it doesn't get all 5's it is probably the most fun pinball game I have. One of the best features of this game is the online hiscoring. I loved playing in the arcade due to getting your name up there on that scoreboard and defending that title day in and day out. With the online hiscoring, I am absolutely motivated to unlock all the secrets of the table and perfect my techniques to play since I want to always stay in a certain score range. This kind of motivation is really lacking from a lot of games these days although with the iPhone I'm starting to think the arcade is just coming to our palms now. Wild West Pinball is absolutely fun, fun to play, fun to talk about and fun to compete in!

Price

Wild West Pinball at $0.99 is an absolute steal. Being possibly the best pinball game on the app store, one could easily pay $2.99 for such a treasure. Wild West Pinball is highly accessable, you can pull it out of your pocket and get into a game in less than 30 seconds or you can sit for 6 hours straight trying to beat that online hiscore you've been after. For the price, you won't go wrong. Wild West Pinball is the model of what a pinball game should be on the iDevice, so go get it today!

[Habakuk]

As an addition I recommend the extensive Wild West Pinball threads here at tA. You'll find lots of tips and hints there by the long-time world champion and tA member Shinto in-person.

Wild West Pinball (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=8849)
Wild West Pinball $0.99 - limited offer! (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=9727)

I just wanted to point out that there is a delicious retro and nostalgia factor in WWP. It's a fine wooden table with impressive natural stereophonic sounds. Okay--the dot-matrix display (although it's pretty) doesn't quite fit historically, but the game is some serious ;) kind of a living and very modern 3D-museum what I love.

Another global historic fact: It was--together with Freeballin'--the first pinball in the world with those fascinating and motivating online scores!

Not easy, a realistic simulator, perfect physics, cinematographic panning and zooming, nice theme: No doubts--one of the best pinball games for iDevices with lots of fans here.

We are awaiting a major update (and a price raise?) in these days. So get it as soon as possible.

Edit: Just arrived here at tA: The first and very promising screenshots of THE DEEP PINBALL (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=245146#post245146) by the same developer as Wild West Pinball!

[Habakuk]

Okay. I've bought Neon Ball (on iDevice: "neonball"). It was the only pinball that was missing in my collection. In short: The next one that needs an urgent update (although it's version 1.1 already).

I've added a screenshot where you can see the flippers. You'll never see the flippers completely because there is a text over them!

I like that scrubbed neon graphics (I am a neon fanatic in general) but the neon table in Freeballin' (http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=8731) is prettier in my eyes. The ball is a curl and it produces something like a halo or a comet tail on it's way (have a look at the screenshot). It sparkles when hit. The sounds (mono) are spacy and fit to the design. Two flippers (simple lines), basic table layout. Two out-gutters at the sides but they are not very dangerous (ball/ring bounces back). Plunger not adjustable.

A side chamber (like the bank in Wild West Pinball) but the ball/ring often goes straight through and nothing happens there. Some skill shots like ramp sequences and a "transporter".

No music, no iPod. No user interface at all. Just a permanent visible mute touch area, and the game respects the iPhone's "ring/silent-switch".

Game scrolls permanently vertically and sometimes a bit horizontally (when the ball/ring is at the left side), that gives something like an excentric feeling... Frame rates okay. Short loading time.

The physics are rather slow motion but at least consistent. Disturbing: The sounds are not always synchronized--you hear a hitting sound but nothing hits. And the worst thing: Especially the right flipper doesn't work all times. It's hard to trigger both flippers at the same time. In real world such a machine has to be serviced. Those controls are bad! (Rebooted my iPhone 3G and freed memory with iStat.)

Almost the whole touchscreen (except the mute switch) is reserved for switching the flippers (if they only would work reliably). No pause function at all. When you quit via home button your score is gone. Normally the games remembers your highscore. No online scores. No accelerometer support.

Not recommended.

[dogmeat]

Hey everyone,

Pinball Dreams review is coming along real nice.

I wanted to stop by and let everyone know I started the Pinball Players Club social group on the site. Feel free to join!

CLICK here to go see the group (http://forums.toucharcade.com/group.php?groupid=51)



.

[JoshC.]

Heres my review on Pinball Destruction. I did it a few weeks ago.

I gave in to this game, and I must say that it was completely worth it! I like it much more than Wild West. Its graphics are simpler, there is no scrolling or 3d to take away from the gameplay, and I love the fast play and simple tables.
Review:
The games specialty is its simplicity. There are 3 tables, but only can you reach the other two each game by beating the first. As you beat each table, the game cycles through the others. Gameplay is so fast, that sometimes its hard to see what happened. The ball(s) ricochet of the bumpers so quickly, and there is no waiting for action. The ball is always flying, and never rolls boringly.
My favorite part of this game is the point system. As you hit the little balloons, they pop with a cool effect, and if you take them all out on a bumper, your points double (a 2x is displayed). As you repeatedly eliminate the balloons your points continue to escalate (4x,8x,16x,32x,62x). So eventually, you are gaining points extremely fast. Everytime you hit the ball, you gain points (unlike WWP where you can hit the ball against a wall and not gain points). Eventually, you can destroy the table, and the bumpers burst with another cool effect. Once you destroy the table, you move to the next one, gaining another life.
The controls are one thing that could use a minor improvement. There are small buttons on each side of the screen for each paddle. I would like to see a control scheme like WWP where the entire right side controls the right paddle, and the entire left side contols the left paddle.
Also, I enjoy the menu, and the global high scores are great, but I would like a device high score list as well, so each time you get a high score you can enter it and the top 10 will be displayed.

The fast but simple gameplay makes this game definately worth the 1.99 price tag. This will be a keeper, and is currently one of my favorite games.
I'll give it a 5 out of 5.

[dogmeat]

Pinball Dreaming: Pinball Dreams - Cowboy Rodeo
$4.99 2.9MB

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Graphics

The graphics in Pinball Dreaming are a flat 2d style of graphic with many decals and indicators all over each of the 4 beautiful boards.

Ignition: This is the space based level which is heavily based on forming words by hitting key pins across the board. Each indicator brilliantly lights up when hit and the decals across the board will light up and flash when certain conditions are met. The more you are successful, the more of each line of lights you light up earning a better bonus each time.

Steel Wheel: This is the wild west/train themed level featuring several train tracks to earn some serious points along with hard to hit key areas that require skill to get the ball into. There are also several word forming buttons across the board that build bonuses like extra balls and million point rewards.

Beat Box: This is the 80's beat box urban style level which involves music. This level has several beautiful ramps which range in difficulty for the player to aim for, the graphics on this level are very bright and easy to see and the level has many decals like the others, which light up when bonus buttons are hit.

Nightmare: This is the graveyard themed level featuring 2 ramps and many buttons to unlock bonuses. The table reminds me of a B rated horror flick as far as the design goes and there a lot of buttons to light up and have your table flashing in no time.

The graphics are very portable and look really nice on the iPhone. I found myself falling in love with each board in their own respects simply because the graphics were "cute".

The interface when selecting a table is very slick and makes choosing a table feel like browsing through the arcade for a casual play. All in all the presentation value of this game is top notch and for a pinball simulator the graphics are ace.

Sound

The sound in this game is simply amazing. Everything has sounds from the intro screen to the table selection area. Every level features an awesome retro soundtrack which fits the theme of each level perfectly. Ignition sounds like a space level with rockets going off, phaser blasts and all kinds of other space sounds. Steel Wheel sounds like a railroad wild western soundtrack and all the sound effects resemble that era with gunfire, choo choo trains, etc.. Beatbox is possibly the best of the bunch due to how the soundtrack and sound effects match up perfectly, almost creating your own little soundtrack as you play, its a very satisfying sound and I love it. Nightmare sounds like an old B horror flick and I think it has a nice backbeat, almost like thriller or something.

The soundtrack and sound effects are one of the most satisfying things about this game.

Handling

Let me start off by saying the handling in this game is incredible. My first few hours of playing I certainly didn't think so, I was really frustrated because the ball seemed to be so sluggish. I kept trying to adjust my strategy and finally came to the realization I needed to hold down my thumb when I hit each flipper and I got a lot more force. Next thing I knew I was launching the ball up all sorts of ramps, building up bonuses and having a blast. Nothing is more satisfying than hitting bonuses, over and over, and the table lights up a little more each time. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a fully lit pinball table and getting major points for having played well. I knocked a point off the handling because of the learning curve but my tip is to practice until you can get some force into your ball, then you'll have a blast.

The entire game menu is handled from the top of the screen. Right side for adding players, advancing your initials, etc.. and left side for quitting back to the main menu. You can also hit the middle of the top to pause the game which is great when you're on the go.

The paddle area is very large, left for left paddle right for right paddle, entire sides of the screen.

Fun

This pinball game is major fun! Not only do you get 4 awesome tables, but each table is fun each in its own way. The space based one is fun if you like to build up bonuses and occasionaly hit a ramp. The Steel Wheel is more balanced with forming bonuses and hitting ramps. Beat Box is awesome if you love ramps and like to build synergies between multiple ramps, its almost like juggling if you can time it right. Nightmare is more about building bonuses the ramps are a little high so you have to master your ball technique.

I'm actually having too much fun with this game, hitting multiple tables never gets boring, and always aiming for a better score and improving ball play is just more motivation to keep coming back.

In the end, this game is a great pinball simulator. It doesn't feel exactly like a pinball machine, but a really well coded pinball simulator.

Price

Pinball Dreams is one of the more expensive pinball games on the appStore and if I did a dollar to dollar comparison, some may say this game should be $3.99 ( $0.99 per table, right? ) but I would say you pay the extra dollar as a convenience fee for having them all neatly packaged for a very fun neverending pinball experience that you will soon find that you can't put down. So if you have $4.99 and a lot of time to play pinball, I highly reccomend getting this great game.

[Big Albie]

Great review dogmeat. I'm looking forward to the other ones you have coming up.

[dogmeat]

Hey guys,

looks like Pinball: Casino Madness is now on sale at 99 cents. I might grab it now, even though I won't be reviewing it for a few weeks, since the price came down.

also, i'm finding it hard to not play pinball dreams while reviewing the other games, its now my fav :)

[Benegesserit]

On handling, you forgot to mention that occasionally you get frame skips that can cost you a ball when it happens near a flipper.

[Matmi]

Wild West is really good. That is the one I like the most.

Our game Monster Pinball will be live on the App store very soon (we hope)

We have just made a vid

8Dfsu0t8tFk


Monster Pinball is faster than any other pinball game for the iPhone / iPod touch with a total of six interconnected screens.

Please excuse the poor quailty of the footage. Filmed on a rubbish webcam ;)

[dogmeat]

Even with a rubbish webcam, you can clearly see how fast the gameplay is, and also how slick everything looks! I'm sure certain users will crave a hires video but this is a great teaser for now, thanks Matmi!\

also, Benegesserit, I have played the game for days now and have not seen any slowdowns whatsoever. What kind of device are you running? I notice most stuff gets glitches after a few days of having my phone constantly on, I restart the device once a week to counter this.

[gekkota]

Hey guys,

looks like Pinball: Casino Madness is now on sale at 99 cents. I might grab it now, even though I won't be reviewing it for a few weeks, since the price came down.

also, i'm finding it hard to not play pinball dreams while reviewing the other games, its now my fav :)

I think people need to show a little more love for Casino Madness--especially since the update! There is non-stop action with multi-ball, mini-games, lots of bonuses, and great sound effects and music. It's colorful and "flashy" in a Vegas sort of way. It looks like a pinball table should look.

I played Casino Madness, then played a game of Wild West Pinball, and the difference between the two tables was striking! Before I got Casino Madness I thought WWP was a really good table, but now it seems so dull. In comparison, WWP seems so empty now--not all that much to do--and the sound effects are sparse and uninspired.

As a big pinball fan, I have to say that Casino Madness is my new favorite table. Grab it while it's on sale! :)

[dogmeat]

I think people need to show a little more love for Casino Madness--especially since the update! There is non-stop action with multi-ball, mini-games, lots of bonuses, and great sound effects and music. It's colorful and "flashy" in a Vegas sort of way. It looks like a pinball table should look.

I played Casino Madness, then played a game of Wild West Pinball, and the difference between the two tables was striking! Before I got Casino Madness I thought WWP was a really good table, but now it seems so dull. In comparison, WWP seems so empty now--not all that much to do--and the sound effects are sparse and uninspired.

As a big pinball fan, I have to say that Casino Madness is my new favorite table. Grab it while it's on sale! :)

I know! People have been saying some really good things about casino madness since the update and price drop. I think I'll throw it on my phone tonight and prepare it for the next review after zen rollercoaster.

When you talk about the "feel" between tables, I definitely hear you, when I play pinball dreams, then switch over to WWP, something does feel lacking as far as lighting stuff up and depth, but I feel like WWP is more about skill pinball rather than combos.

[Tetryl]

Just got WWP and I don't like it. Pinball machines usually have an insane amount of things for the balls to hit allowing you to rack up points really quickly, WWP seems limited in so many ways, and the thing above the bumpers are too big. Playing this game is like an intense spectator sport, where nothing really happens.

[Habakuk]

but I feel like WWP is more about skill pinball rather than combos.

Ack. Although the table is "emptier" maybe you have more chances to influence what happens. The accelerometer features are very well balanced in WWPB.

Today I played it and I had to laugh because I never saw this kind of "ramp" before: The ball ran straight into the right out-gutter and was so fast that it rushed through the draining area and came out at the left out-gutter back into the playfield! :eek: It's never the same, possible surprises even after hours!

[gekkota]

Just got WWP and I don't like it. Pinball machines usually have an insane amount of things for the balls to hit allowing you to rack up points really quickly, WWP seems limited in so many ways, and the thing above the bumpers are too big. Playing this game is like an intense spectator sport, where nothing really happens.

Try Casino Madness while it's on sale for a buck.
You will probably like it better! :)

[dogmeat]

Hey guys, I just found another pinball game hidden in the appstore!

uVent - John Gregorek In Queue
$0.99 1.6MB

From the dev:

"uVent is a Pinball game with four challenging boards that represent the key phases of farming the magma pool of a volcano"

I'll be checking it out and reviewing it sometime in the near future.

Heres a link to the game:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/download/?itmsUrl=itms%3A%2F%2Fax.itunes.apple.com%2FWebObj ects%2FMZStore.woa%2Fwa%2FviewSoftware%3Fid%3D3131 25464%26mt%3D8%26ign-mscache%3D1

[DonD_GT]

For a buck, I'm willing to see what Casino Madness is all about. I'll report back with some impressions.

[LordGek]

I think, quite simply, video pinball means a million different things to different people. I mean the basics will almost always be the same, a ball rolling down a sloped playing field with a few obstacles and flippers at the bottom, but beyond that it's pretty subjective.

If you want over the top zaniness, at least so far, FB is the way to go. If you want a brutally realistic (at the expense of frills) I guess WWP is one of the best, and yet, I'm so far choosing PD over those two because I just find it more "fun" (a lot more targets and things to do on the tables than those other two mentioned).

Here's hoping Monster Pinball can add something new to the mix.

[gekkota]

Here's a link to the volcano pinball game dogmeat mentioned, since the other link didn't seem to take me to the game:

uvent

It looks like a very odd combination of geology education and pseudo-pinball.
I think I'll pass. It just looks very amateur from the screenshots...

[99c_gamer]

Ive got Wild West Pinball and Pinball Dreams

WWP has got a bigger initial wow factor feels like a real ball is rolling around in your iphone and probably got more depth in terms of scoring with an online ranking system.

Pinball Dreams is more fun to me at least anyway. The tables have more targets and there's 4 different tables. The ball is a little more forgiving too as far as controlability.

both great games either way.

LOL, LordGek we almost said the exact same thing :p

[Misguided]

For a buck, I'm willing to see what Casino Madness is all about. I'll report back with some impressions.

Hey Don! What's shakin?

Dogmeat, I would greatly appreciate it if you would make mention of camera options/screen scrolling in your reviews. I can tolerate a little bit of vertical (like in Pinball Dreaming) but anything else makes me nauseous and I can't play (especially side to side like WWP).

[dogmeat]

Hey Don! What's shakin?

Dogmeat, I would greatly appreciate it if you would make mention of camera options/screen scrolling in your reviews. I can tolerate a little bit of vertical (like in Pinball Dreaming) but anything else makes me nauseous and I can't play (especially side to side like WWP).


Sure, no problem. Actually, after playing pinball dreams for a longer time now, I have more to add to my review, and I do notice slowdowns on my 3G that cost me the ball more often than it should.

[LordGek]

Just in case you didn't catch this key article up front:

Littlewing will be porting their old classics, Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth, all revamped for the iphone!

http://toucharcade.com/2009/05/25/crystal-caliburn-and-loony-labyrinth-pinball-games-coming-to-iphone/

[mlkaufman]

Hey guys, I just found another pinball game hidden in the appstore!

uVent - John Gregorek In Queue


I don't know if the game is any good, but it is #1 in the category of "useless screen shots". There are five pictures in the app store and all of them have text covering up the entire screen.

Michael

[lostlogik]

Just in case you didn't catch this key article up front:

Littlewing will be porting their old classics, Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth,

I'm so looking forward to CC. I used to play that on my old ColorClassic.

[LordGek]

I'm so looking forward to CC. I used to play that on my old ColorClassic.

I just checked out their site and they've made a few more pinball games for both Mac and PC than when I last lost contact with the company a few years ago...but it looks like they want upwards of $30 for some of these tables (a little steep, I think).

[dogmeat]

Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster - Publisher X
$4.99 10.0MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_zenrollercoaster.png http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_zenrollercoaster1.png
http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_zenrollercoaster2.png http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_zenrollercoaster3.png

Graphics

When you first load up Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster you are met with a black screen which lasts for about 10 seconds, followed by the ZEN and Publisher X screens and finally the intro screen with a small logo with the name of the game. The game then unloads you directly into the table screen with a confusing menu overlay. I have to admit, I was really confused at first, when I saw this overlay as I was expecting some sort of menu screen, hi-scores screen or even an instruction screen. Judging and playing with the menu overlay I could gather the things on top and bottom were displaying the paddle areas and the stuff in the middle controls the camera, play/pause button, a help screen and audio controls. I didn't really like the presentation of the "menu" and it seemed more like an afterthought rather than a design decision. You can see an example of this overlay in one of my screenshots above, its not hard to miss.

After you hit the play button you are suddenly slammed right in the face with a massive quantity of decals, lights, flippers, wires, frames, volcanos and a whole slew of other things that are hard to make out. The first word that came to my mind was "overkill" then "whoa". Usually "whoa" comes before, but not for this table. If you tap the middle of the screen, you find a camera control. If you tap the control, and move your phone around, you can control the camera angle. If you leave this unlocked, you can control the camera while you play. Being able to get the angle you want and fix the camera, was crucial for me, since the table was hard enough to see as it was.

When playing the table, the graphics move very quickly and when your ball hits bumpers, buttons and pins, lights are going off everywhere. I definitely found myself craving pinball dreams simplicity while playing this, as everything was almost overwhelming and it was frustrating to try and follow the ball through the gauntlet of decals and rails.

One last thing I want to mention, and this is just my personal opinion, is that the game is REALLY dark and it almost felt dreadful to play this game. It gave me the feeling that I was playing pinball down in some dank boiler room waiting for my turn to be tied up and locked away to be tortured later if I didn't get a hi-score.

Sound

When you first load the game, the game is absolutely quiet until you actually start playing the table. Once you start playing, the sounds are decent. Lots of bells, dings and of course roller coaster sounds. When you launch the ball, it sounds like a roller coaster going down that first large hill. The more you work the ball into rails and ball holes, the more you amplify the "roller coaster experience" with these roller coaster sounds.

All in all, the sounds in the game match the theme of the game but generally didn't match the dark gothic feeling of the visual representation of the table. The sounds in this game were the only "cheerful" element present.

Handling

This is a fast pinball game, the ball really moves around the table at some epic speeds and when you can really work the ball you can build up some really nice combos. The table itself is a step up in complexity from the pinball dreams tables, you have multiple gutters, some of which will repel the ball away. You can also earn "free ride" balls which, when you loose your ball, will pop out and keep your turn going. Aiming for ramps, holes, etc.. is actually quite easy, and this is where the game really shines, its a pretty decent table and even has a flipper in the upper playground which is crucial for special rails and releasing your held balls for multiball fun!

If the table was less cluttered, or if the table had a better camera like say Wild West Pinball, I think the handling would have gotten a better score. All in all, the gameplay is fast, reliable and satisfying.

Fun

While the gameplay was fast and satisfying I really struggled to have fun with this one, and I think thats why the review has taken over a week now. I wanted to play the game enough to give a well thought out review, but I didn't find it to be as fun and satisfying as some of the other tables with a more simplistic approach to the gameplay. While a great homage to real pinball tables, it doesn't translate well to the iPhone/iTouch.

Don't get me wrong though, if you have eagle eyes and don't mind the depressing dark theme you can definitely have some fun times with this table. Scores go into the millions easily, and if you're a hi-score fiend, this may be a worthy challenge if you're willing to endure the eye strain.

Price

I can understand why the developer would want 5$ for this game, they obviously spent a lot of time constructing the table, the camera element, placing all the decals and working on the gameplay but in the end, they stuffed the burrito too much and you find yourself sitting there with a 5$ guacamole & sour cream mess all over your shirt. For what you get, the level of polish and replayability I would pay 1.99$ at most for this title. In comparison to other similar pinball games on the appStore this one is a little expensive and I can't really justify paying the extra few dollars for one very complicated table.

I did pay the 5$ though, and managed to play the game for a whole week. If I was in the Arcade I would have blown through 5$ in a few hours so if you look at it this way, good buy.



In the end, Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster is an OK pinball game with a load of things to do on the table and a ton of points to score, if you have the desire to get every pinball game there is for the iPhone, go for it. I personally have a hard time recommending this without a price drop or visual improvements to the game.

[mlkaufman]

... finally came to the realization I needed to hold down my thumb when I hit each flipper and I got a lot more force.

What exactly do you mean by this? I can't seem to get much force from the flippers no matter what I do.


Thanks, Michael

[gekkota]

Thanks for the detailed review, dogmeat. This was one of the first pinball games to come out. I never bought it, because of the lackluster reviews, and I am glad I didn't. So many more higher quality games have come out since...glad I saved my money.

[dogmeat]

What exactly do you mean by this? I can't seem to get much force from the flippers no matter what I do.


Thanks, Michael

Now that I've played the game more, its not actually about holding your thumb down or anything like that, pinball dreams really does a good job at forcing you to learn the proper timing of the game. I found that when I hit the paddle at the "right" time ( usually this was 1 milisecond before what I thought the right time to be ) I could properly aim the ball.

My suggestion to you is to play a few games, with the sole purpose being to figure out the timing on the paddles. Use the nightmare level since its a good one with some empty space and high ramps. Play around, and you should get it.

Also, I started reviewing pinball: casino madness and my first impressions are looking pretty good, its like WWP and pinball dreams had a baby.

[Mindfield]

Now that I've played the game more, its not actually about holding your thumb down or anything like that, pinball dreams really does a good job at forcing you to learn the proper timing of the game. I found that when I hit the paddle at the "right" time ( usually this was 1 milisecond before what I thought the right time to be ) I could properly aim the ball.

My suggestion to you is to play a few games, with the sole purpose being to figure out the timing on the paddles. Use the nightmare level since its a good one with some empty space and high ramps. Play around, and you should get it.

Also, I started reviewing pinball: casino madness and my first impressions are looking pretty good, its like WWP and pinball dreams had a baby.

I'd have to agree with this. Pinball Dreams (and kin) were pretty unforgiving, which is to say accurate, so you can't get away with "soft" shots; what you see is what you get, no more and no less, like a real pinball table. Timing is a huge issue in pinball games, and some games don't get it quite right, so you learn to adjust your reaction times to compensate. Pinball Dreams forces you to unlearn that and play it the way it's meant to be played.

[mlkaufman]

My suggestion to you is to play a few games, with the sole purpose being to figure out the timing on the paddles. Use the nightmare level since its a good one with some empty space and high ramps. Play around, and you should get it.

Its not an aiming issue (although, my aim isn't that great yet) its a power issue. Most of the time, when I hit the ball with the paddle, it goes about halfway up the screen and comes down again. Is that correct? It seems to me that the paddles should apply a bit more speed to the ball.

Thanks, Michael

[dogmeat]

I'd have to agree with this. Pinball Dreams (and kin) were pretty unforgiving, which is to say accurate, so you can't get away with "soft" shots; what you see is what you get, no more and no less, like a real pinball table. Timing is a huge issue in pinball games, and some games don't get it quite right, so you learn to adjust your reaction times to compensate. Pinball Dreams forces you to unlearn that and play it the way it's meant to be played.

I couldn't agree more with what you said, this also provides a really long lasting and extremely satisfying pinball experience, once you learn how to effectively time your paddle swipes.

[Mindfield]

I couldn't agree more with what you said, this also provides a really long lasting and extremely satisfying pinball experience, once you learn how to effectively time your paddle swipes.

Right -- although the same could be said of any pinball game. The key is making sure everything is in sync, controls are given priority, and everything responds and reacts as intuitively and naturally as possible. Physics is something we all understand on a fundamental level since we deal with it every waking second, so if you're going to simulate it in a game, it should behave the way everybody expects it to. Pinball Dreams and Fantasies both got that right the first time, and the iPhone conversions retain that perfectly.

[Matmi]

After 7 months of development and three weeks of approval

Monster Pinball is finally out!

Apple have approved our app ;)

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=14332

[dogmeat]

Hey all,

I just learned over the weekend that I'm going to japan for 2 weeks, in 2 weeks. I'm pretty excited, but I wanted to let you guys know I'll finish up the following reviews before I go:

Pinball: Casino Madness - Divagen.com In Review
$0.99 6.8MB

Monster Pinball - Matmi In Review
$3.99 10.4MB

Who knows, maybe the deep will be released right before I leave, I can review that one while I'm on the plane :)

[dogmeat]

Pinball: Casino Madness - Divagen.com
$0.99 6.8MB

http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballcasino.png http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballcasino1.png
http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballcasino2.png http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballcasino3.png
http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballcasino4.png http://www.mindcrank.com/reviews/rev_pinballcasino5.png

So people have been saying some nice things about Pinball: Casino Madness lately. It has supposedly gotten a price drop and update, so I decided to skip over some of my reviews to give this one a chance.

Graphics

When you first load up the game, you are met with a nice splash screen, almost neon lights looking sign spelling out the name of the game. You are then dropped directly into a demo of the table that mostly reminds me of the demo you see before playing wild west pinball. The camera rotates around, zooming in on key areas of the table and I think its a good way to inspect the table before playing. Looking at the table itself, it is very easy to distinguish the different areas, decals, and get a sense of what the table is all about.

The table and table graphics themselves, are all 2d, or some sort of flattened 3d, but I'm fairly certain it is 2d.

You'll find a nice roulette table smack dab in the middle of the table, with cards, chips and other gambling related decals strewn about the table. Aside from this, there are several ramps for the player to aim at, one of which, leads to a secret area with a mini game.

When you hit the screen with your finger the first time, you are presented with a nice interface that "slides" in from the sides of the screen reading New Game, Options and an icon that, at first, was hard to tell what it did, but hitting it once changed the rotation of the screen, nice!

The table features an LED style score overlay at the top of the screen which displays various status messages and of course, the score for the game. When playing the game the graphics light up when hit, paddles are easy to see as they are the brigtest possible yellow a human can see and generally, this game makes it very easy to see whats going on.

I don't know what the framerate of the game is, but while playing the ball and camera move in synchronous smooth motion and I didn't experience any choppiness, save for the choppiness that happens in all games when you go through tunnels on a train and it has to reconnect to 3G.

Sound

The game features a fast paced new agey sounding soundtrack which is comprised mostly of a light backbeat and some simple instruments at the top level making the soundtrack sound like fast paced trancelike elevator music. All in all, the music sits in the background and you will find yourself rarely taking notice of it, which is good.

The sound effects in this game seem to be lacking in the "ding-ding" sense of things. While the sound effects definitely remind the player of a pinball table they are mostly "thud" and "thunk" sounding. When you expect a "ding" sound effect while hitting a pin, you are met with a "thunk" and I really found that this took away from the pinball experience as a whole. So much so, that I found myself getting bored with playing the game, since there was nothing fun about the sounds, nothing "satisfying" like I describe with other games.

In the end, the sounds in this game aren't bad, but they aren't really that good either. It is sufficient to say that they "fill the need for sound in the game" and nothing more.

Handling

Let me start off by saying the game has good presentation value, the game loads very quickly and the interface to actually get you into the game is somewhat polished. When you actually start playing the game, it seemed like some funny stuff was going on behind the scenes.

The ball moves around at about a medium pace, when you hit the ball with your paddles, its not very hard to AIM or put force into the ball. What I did find though, is that the ball physics when you're not hitting the ball are inconsistent. You hit the ball, expecting it to go up and to the left for example, but halfway up it turns to the right for no apparent reason. At some points, you want the ball to "bounce" off something it had previously bounced off, yet it doesn't. I won't go too much into the problems that I faced while playing, but the fact that this happens at all, really killed the game for me.

I also found that certain skill shots didn't always work. Sometimes the ball would hit the entrance to a ramp for example, only to be repelled away by some invisible force. Either the graphics and physics aren't synching up or theres a physics problem with the game itself.

Another point of confusion was trying to actually get the ball on the playing field. One would think you take your right thumb and roll it along the bottom right of the screen ( where the ball is ) to launch it, but upon inspecting the instructions I found its the opposite. You have to roll your thumb along the top of the screen to actually get the ball on the playing field and this didn't make much sense to me but once I understood this, getting the ball on the table wasn't a problem.

One last thing to mention is the mini game. There is a mini game you can access if you hit a certain ramp. Its basically a mini pinball table where the goal is to light up all the numbers at the top of the mini table, each time you do this it resets the 15 second timer and you get another chance to light up the numbers again.

In the end, the game handles fine but there is some funny business when it comes to physics and for a player like me, this is unacceptable when trying to play a skill game, aiming for a high score.

Fun

I've played this game for several days and I just cant seem to get into it. Aside from the problems with the ball physics, the table itself just seems very ordinary and there really isn't anything about it that gets you hooked on the game. The game has 2 ramps and a few skill shot areas. One of the ramps rolls the roulette table for you and the other takes you to the minigame. After getting to the mini game I found it to be really boring, as it was literally just lighting up a bunch of numbers over and over before a timer runs out and I found that 6/10 times trying to get to the area, your ball would be ejected directly into the exit hole before you had a chance to swipe at it.

Rolling the ball up the other ramps/skillshots/etc.. gives you some points and begins to trigger other modes in the game, but you sort of feel like everything on the table is the same and that you're just doing the same thing over and over.

Its this lack of diversity in sound, things to hit, things to roll up, etc.. that really made this game "not fun" and just "standard" in my opinion.

Let me tell you this though, I'm not big on gambling and casinos so it is possible that someone who loves gambling/casinos/cards/etc.. may really be interested in this.

Price

The game is only $0.99 at the time of this writing. Overall the game isn't that bad but there are certain things about the game that really kill the entire experience, specifically the ball physics. And while the problems with ball physics don't plague the game at all times, the fact that there could or could not be a chance of the ball having a problem due to this makes it hard to pick this one up for a second and third round of play. I think it's fairly priced at $0.99, if you want to just check it out or you absolutely need every table on your iphone.


In the end, Pinball: Casino Madness is a fairly priced 2d pinball simulator for the iPhone. If you can forgive the occasional physics problem and lack of true pinball sounds and have a soft place in your heart for gambling/casinos you should check this out. If you're a pinball player and have some of the other games like pinball dreams, wild west, monster pinball, etc.. You probably won't find much enjoyment out of this one.

[kottan99]

Pinball Fantasies was released today!

[Mister Mumbles]

It's good time as any to unearth this thread. ;) It seems like the idevices have now more pinball games than any other gaming machine in recent years, which is a good thing in my book since pinball (real or video game) accounts for some of my favorite pastime.

Right now Pinball Dreams is still my favorite with Fantasies being a close second, mostly due to the flipper orientation making it much harder to play the latter than on the original Amiga version I had. That and I actually like playing all of Dreams's tables while Fantasies I mostly stick to Partyland and Stones'n'Bones. They're both still great pinball games. As crazy as it may sound they were partly the reason I finally got an iPod Touch... yeah. ;)

A good third place makes Monster Pinball, which I wasn't so keen on in the beginning but I've grown to like now, which is a bit different but quite enjoyable. Still waiting on some game music there. Sure, I can listen to my regular music but the game's sounds just don't seem to mix very well with it.

Casino Madness is actually fairly competent and at times quite fun game of pinball even with its slightly wonky physics. I still would like to see a non-zooming option, but it's not as bad as I first thought so I can live with it. Even with its flaws I find this one to be a much better pinball game than either Wild West or The Deep, both of which don't do anything for me, as besides their good looks their tables feel lackluster and I find the gameplay quite boring.

I did try the Lite version of the horrible Freeballin. Now that's a game that just makes me want to gouge my eyes out. I never was too big on such themed pinball games, even if I found Sierra's old 3D pinball games competent. Anyway, there just wasn't anything to entice me to ever come back to it or even purchase the full game. Boring, overly repititous, bad table design, grating sound... you name it!

Edit: Doh. Guess I missed the the Zen Pinball review on my first skim through this thread. It seems like it being too dark is often mentioned in its reviews. You'd think such a table would be all bright colors as are usually featured in theme park/fair pinball types. I'm not sure whether I should finally go out on a limb and buy it. I really wished there was a lite version. Seeing as how long it's been out, I don't think there will ever be one.

[svolskiy]

I hate music in pinball dreams and pinball fantasies. and graphics should be improved.

[Mister Mumbles]

The graphics should be improved? Come again? It's a direct conversion port of the original so those will never change. Besides, it has some old-school charm to it, and I think a 2D presentation just works better for this type of platform. Same goes for the music.

Sure, I'm a bit biased because I loved the originals, but it seems like you're being awfully harsh on it.

[svolskiy]

Sure, I'm a bit biased because I loved the originals, but it seems like you're being awfully harsh on it.
Nope :) I never like graphics in ported old school games, and can't understand why developers can't improve it?

[Mister Mumbles]

Probably because it would have turned off the old fans like me, for whom this was primarily made. To each their own. ;)

[bonerswild]

I've been a huge fan of pinball since the age of 5 so about 29 years now. I have to say that Wild West and The Deep look great and feel very nice. Although the table lacks something, I don't know. It almost feels constipated. Don't get me wrong, I like the games and I don't mind the movement of the camera. One thing I do hate about Wild West though is the Gold Mine lanes, it's way to easy to lose balls through no fault of your own. Anyways, that being said, my favorite 2 pinball games go to Dreams and Fantasies. To me the physics seem right and the tables keep my interest for hours and hours. Each of the 8 tables are different and require different techniques to reach all the goals. I even like the authentic pinball sounds and cheesy music. The graphics are clean and appropriate for what they are. I can't say enough good things about these two games. I hope Cowboy Rodeo makes Illusions real soon. Monster Pinball has excellent graphics, and I like the game. I just wish you could pick one table and stick with if you want. It's more of an arcade style pinball and less of a simulator though. But I do like it and have fun with it. I can't stand Freeballin' which is sad because I love most IUGO's games. For some reason though, I just can't deal with Freeballin'.All the other pinball games to me just aren't even worth mentioning. Thanks.

[svolskiy]

Probably because it would have turned off the old fans like me, for whom this was primarily made. To each their own. ;)

So, do you like old school graphics or you like old school gameplay in these pinball games?

[Mister Mumbles]

A bit of both I guess, although I do think Pinball Dreams & Fantasies have the most spot-on physics of all pinball games currently available, aside from featuring more traditional table designs I could imagine finding on real pinball machines. That's a pretty amazing feat when you think about how old they actually are. When I look back at most other pinball games around that time most of them still had some sort of floaty physics. I guess that's one reason why PD and PF were so popular.

[svolskiy]

I guess that's one reason why PD and PF were so popular.
Why you think so? :)

When I look back at most other pinball games around that time most of them still had some sort of floaty physics
What? Hmm...ok, in freeballi'n physics not good, may be in monster pinball too (as I seen it normal). What you mean?

[Mister Mumbles]

As I was saying, one reason they probably were so popular was because they featured very good ball physics. They just feel right, something more akin to what you would expect a real table to play like.

[The Bat Outta Hell]

Monster Pinball is definitely the best for me, followed by The Deep.

[svolskiy]

As I was saying, one reason they probably were so popular was because they featured very good physics. They just feel right, something more akin to what you would expect a real table to play like.

ok, let's see search result in iTunes AppStore with keyword "pinball"...hm...sorting by popularity
ok. that's it:
1. The Deep Pinball
2. Monster Pinball
3. Wild West Pinball
4. Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster
5. Freeballi'n
6. Pinball Dreaming: Pinball Dreams
7. Pinball
8. Pinball: Casino Madness
oh...I found it :)
9. Pinball Fantasies

So, what you say about popularity?

[Mister Mumbles]

...were so popular...

It also doesn't help that they're selling for five and six dollars respectively, as we all know the majority of app store buyers are downright cheap.

I don't care much for what an app costs as long as its quality measures up to dollars well spent. Frankly, I'm surprised anybody is making money from their ventures as this whole price-gouging business is a bit silly in my eyes.

[bonerswild]

That is not a sort by popularity. Why you ask? Because there is no way Zen Pinball is higher in popularity than Pinball Fantasies. Look at the reviews. Zen pinball hasn't been reviewed in months. Check the dates. I don't know how it's sorted, but it's definately not by popularity in that respect. Oh, and if you had looked at the top sellers in their relative categories you'll see Pinball Fantasies has been one of the top pinball games since it came out.

[svolskiy]

I think Apple sort them by number of sales.

Ok. AppStore->Games->Arcade->Top Paid Apps
30. The Deep Pinball
62. Wild West pinball
72. Monster Pinball
that's all...no more pinballs in Top 100 Paids Arcade games

[TKO]

@Mister Mumbles: I pretty much agree with your assessment on the current pinball lineup. Though I mostly rate Dreams above Fantasies because the tables, though more old-school (two-flipper, slower, with fewer missions) ..the tables in Dreams just have more charm and polish to them. I think that's a reflection of the much longer development time Dreams had.

The new The Deep pinball game, sequel to Wild West Pinball, has kind of grown on me. That's probably my third-favourite pinball game. It's much slower paced and more relaxing to play than dreams and fantasies. And now the camera can be locked, and the voice can be turned off, I find it much more enjoyable. :) Wild West is still too sparse for me .. and the design is too similar to The Deep.

Freeballin' I won't even call pinball. It doesn't have physics worthy of the name. And the Zen tables are too slow. They should have locked the camera, rendered the tables smoothly, and they could have had a far faster game. Currently its update speed is way to slow for pinballing.

Monster Pinball I'm still undecided on. I don't like the table inter-linking. But that's just me. It's very polished. People should check it out because it's certainly an interesting and well-implemented take on the genre.

And I saw a mention of someone who didn't like scrolling: Monster Pinball is perfect in that respect (no scrolling), as are Wild West and The Deep (where scrolling/panning can be locked) ..I'd suggest a look at Pinball Dreams, because the vertical scrolling is only a few pixels in the vertical orientation. The Pinball Fantasies tables are a bit taller, so maybe they're not ideal in that respect. But there's a lite version of Dreams (the worst of the four tables though), and there will no doubt be a lite version of Fantasies soon.

[TKO]

I hate music in pinball dreams and pinball fantasies. and graphics should be improved.
Really? Hmmm.. maybe it's their old-school design. The Amiga only had four sound channels after all. I love the music in those games though - it accentuates the games beautifully. Just can't play them without the music. It rocks.

The graphics have been improved over the original ..you can switch to the old graphics and see the difference. I like the look of it now. The designers were trying to recreate the original games accurately, so there wasn't much they could do as far as a 'redesign' is concerned. Too much would have alienated the fans, like me. They're great the way they are, and I expect fans of the original will be pleased with how faithfully they've been remade.

[dogmeat]

I think the ZEN games would have been much better if the tables were simpler and they made it easier to see what action was going on.

I really did dislike how dark they were.

PS. I'm back!

[SpungoMcGee]

The new The Deep pinball game, sequel to Wild West Pinball, has kind of grown on me. That's probably my third-favourite pinball game. It's much slower paced and more relaxing to play than dreams and fantasies. And now the camera can be locked,

Not yet it can't, unless I've missed something.

[RM imagery]

Not yet it can't, unless I've missed something.

You've missed something.

[SpungoMcGee]

Hard to see what, as the version in the App Store is still 1.0.

[jak56]

i know this is really quite hopelessly late but wild west pinball was free for quite a while! i got it then and i still play it every once in a while though im not hooked as ive loads of other apps to play! love your review!

[RankoSao]

I didnt know there was a thread like this! Now i can find out which pinball ganes are the best!

[svolskiy]

Unfortunately this thread is no longer supported by its creator :(

[jak56]

Unfortunately this thread is no longer supported by its creator :(

what???

oh.....

so many apps unreviewed