Apple’s devices almost seem built for pinball. It just feels right seeing a pinball table running below the elongated glass touch screen. It’s a well represented genre on the App Store with many quality options available. Recently, there’s been a brand new game released, a significant update to an existing game, and a new app that gives you a truly unique experience while playing pinball on your Mac (and PC soon too), all of which are worth a mention.
The newest game from Matmi, makers of Monster Pinball, is another blisteringly fast game with a focus on multiple balls in play. Unlike more traditional tables, this game makes it easy to unlock multiball modes and ensures that you’re almost always playing with at least 2 balls concurrently. It features the same fantastic graphics and art designs that are a hallmark of Matmi games.
The only downfall here is that there is just this one table when their other games feature at least three, however this one table is well designed and extremely fun to play. If you liked Matmi’s previous pinball offerings, you will most certainly like this.
Although released last November, Pinball Ride never gained much notoriety due to a difficult table design and a relatively higher price. Well, Massive Finger has been hard at work since then and have released a 1.1 update that really improves the game greatly. Certain aspects of the table have been reworked to be more forgiving, and in turn the game is overall much more fun. It’s a completely 3D table which looks impressive, and the pinball action is fast and smooth.
The $4.99 price still may be a bit high if you’re not a pinball fanatic, as there’s only the one table. A lite is available to try so you can determine for yourself if you want to plunk down the cash. The lite features a Burst Mode that puts 45 seconds on the clock to play and achieve a high score. This isn’t nearly enough time to get a good feel for the game. Fortunately, the developer has created a TouchArcade exclusive link to get 5 free credits of unlimited play in the lite. Each game lasts a long time, and 5 credits should be more than enough to help you decide if you’re into it or not. Definitely worth trying out.
Gameprom is known for bringing out high quality pinball games at extremely low prices. Their Wild West, The Deep, and Jungle Style games have all seen a lot of success. Now, all three of them are available on your Mac. The Pinball can be downloaded from Gameprom’s website for free with Wild West already included. For $2.99 each, you can download The Deep and Jungle Style as well.
The interesting thing is that the only way you can purchase these additional tables is as DLC through the Pinball Remote App itself. Besides acting as the online store for The Pinball, the remote can also control the game on your Mac via Wi-Fi. Sit back and relax as you control the flippers, plunger, and tilt on your computer screen using your iPhone or iPod touch. It works well for the most part, although I encountered occasional lag with my screen taps on the remote triggering the flippers in the game. Still, it’s a really fun concept to use and since The Pinball and Pinball Remote are both free, you can try it out without risk. The Pinball is currently Mac only, but Windows users can join in on the fun in the next month or so.
