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' 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.
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 .
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.
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.
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
On handling, you forgot to mention that occasionally you get frame skips that can cost you a ball when it happens near a flipper.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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! It's never the same, possible surprises even after hours!
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%2FWebObjects%2FMZStore.woa%2Fwa%2FviewSoftware%3Fid%3D313125464%26mt%3D8%26ign-mscache%3D1
For a buck, I'm willing to see what Casino Madness is all about. I'll report back with some impressions.
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.
Here's a link to the volcano pinball game dogmeat mentioned, since the other link didn't seem to take me to the game: [app]uvent[/app] 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...
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
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).
