Review: Pinball Dreaming - Pinball Dreams

[dogmeat]

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






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.