| Pinball of the Dead review |
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There are some people that like to give their balls a good bashing with a pair of flippers. It's a pastime that harks back many decades and is still enjoyed by thousands around the globe today. Unfortunately you can only partake in this pursuit in a few select places, as it's nigh on impossible to do on the move. If only pinball tables were a bit more portable! Thankfully Sega has a concocted a solution - The Pinball of the Dead, a strange Frankenstein mix of pint-sized pinball and schlock horror.
Grab a cushion - It's alive!
Strange as it may sound this isn't the first time these two genres have been sewn together. Those of you lucky enough to be in possession of a PC Engine in the early nineties will no doubt remember Naxat Soft's fabulous Alien Crush, and it's widely regarded superior sequel - Devil Crush. These two games took pixel pinball to new heights. Not wishing to be bound down with the constraints of real-world pinball, Naxat Soft threw in all kinds of crazy features that just weren't possible with electronic engineering. To the disgust of pinball purists, you'd encounter bosses, stumble into secret areas and have to steam roll over all manner of weird creatures found wandering aimlessly around the table. Certainly not a typical pinball experience, but one that Sega thought fitting of the House of the Dead universe.
There's not much point in discussing the controls at any great length; it's a simple game and most people reading this review will have played at least one pinball game in their life-time. The developer has taken the smart, and quite obvious, option to use GBA's shoulder buttons for controlling the left and right flippers, which goes some way to creating a slightly more authentic pinball experience. To help avert your balls falling into the dark horror that lies beneath, the table can be nudged using the d-pad, without any risk of setting off that pesky tilt warning. Useful for getting out of those tight spots.
Probably one of the most important aspects of any pinball simulation is the quality of the ball dynamics. It doesn't matter how fancy the game looks or how well designed it is, an erratic ball will put a dampener on anyone's enjoyment. Luckily this is not a worry with POTD - the ball physics are always consistent and predictable, as is the collision detection, and so you should never feel cheated by a bad bounce. As with any pinball game, with a bit of practice you should be able to direct the ball to any location on the table.
The game comes complete with three superbly designed multi-tiered tables, featuring all the usual goals you'd find on an everyday pinball table, but as with the aforementioned Alien/Devil Crush games it's the more unusual stuff that makes this game what it is. POTD doesn't stray too far from the path trodden by Naxat Soft over a decade ago, although it does put its own stamp on proceedings and holds a few surprises up its sleeve. You'll find undead shuffling around the table, hidden areas and bosses begging to be pelted to death with shiny balls. It's an odd mix, but it works extremely well. The game's bosses should be instantly recognisable to those who have played the first two House of the Dead titles, each with attack patterns loosely mirroring those found in the game's older siblings. With so much to do on each table it can be a little confusing at first glance, so a tutorial mode has been included that not only walks you through the basics of pinball, but explains the effect of each bonus and how to achieve it.
On top of that the game also offers two different modes of play. The normal mode allows you to select one of three tables and attempt to get your initials engraved in the high score hall of fame - much like any bog standard pinball game then. The challenge mode is more akin to a traditional story mode, where you must work your way through all three tables in order by defeating the bosses. Not an easy feat. Thankfully the game is host to a battery backup save, which will not only automatically save any high scores and various other random pinball stats, but allows you to save your progress mid-game. So you'll never have to abandon any of those high score runs ever again - certainly a most welcome feature. If, for some unforeseen reason, that fails you also have a good old password system to fall back on, which can also be used to validate any high score boasting by yourself or fellow pinballers.
Developed in-house by Sega subsidiary WOW Entertainment, POTD feels like it has just that bit more spit and polish than a third party developer would have applied. A lot of effort has gone in to all areas of the games presentation - the tables themselves look fantastic, crammed with little details and superbly animated creatures. There is some slight jerking as the table scrolls up and down, but this is trivial, as the game tends to focus in one area of the table depending on where the ball is, and so this is not at all detrimental to the game play. There are also snippets of FMV grabbed from the original games preceding each boss encounter, not to mention a snazzy little intro. The whole package just shines.
The one thing that should make this game instantly recognisable as one of the House of the Dead family (other than the title obviously) is the hilariously stilted dialog - remove that and you've got just another horror flavoured pinball game. Zombies groan, bosses taunt you and colleagues offer cheesy words of encouragement. This is by no means a bad thing as it gives a somewhat anonymous style of game some wanted character.
With pinball games you know exactly what you are going to get before you even open the box, regardless of how much the concept has been warped. This is also true of Pinball of the Dead. Whether or not the pinball action it presents is of good quality is another matter. Thankfully Pinball of the Dead is a devilishly addictive and polished little pinball game that delivers in (grave diggers’) spades. If only all of Sega's GBA titles were up to this quality.
It's safe to come out from behind the couch now. |
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System: Nintendo GameBoy Advance
Genre: Arcade
Developer: Sega/WOW Entertainment
Publisher: THQ
Players: 1
Version: United States
Reviewed: Oct 2004
Writer: Dave Ward
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Pros:
- Great table design
- Mid-game save
- Polished visuals
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Cons:
- Only 3 tables
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