Ultimate Pinball (Jewel Case)

Rating:
Summary: A decent collection of 20 tables.
Review: "Ultimate Pinball", published by ValuSoft and developed by Antidote Entertainment using an engine made by Wildfire Studios, is a tough review to write. Having played about half of the 20 included tables, I find that while there is a good variety of subject matter and color schemes, the gameplay between tables is pretty similar. Each table is designed different mind you, but none of the 10 I've tried have risen to the level of 'exciting'. Gameplay-wise, the best adjective I can come up with is 'decent'. These are not poorly designed tables. Nor are they brilliantly designed tables. Just kind of a fun diversion from time to time. You don't need to have the CD in the drive to play either, a definite plus, since if you're just sitting at your computer looking for something to do, it's easy to just click the icon and start a game. The game engine is actually very good. It uses the "Balls of Steel" engine from a few years ago, which is not a bad thing, since I loved that game. The physics are very good, as are the graphics. I have run into a couple of possible bugs, causing a crash to desktop on two of the tables whenever the ball goes to a certain part of the board, however I have not tested it on more than one machine, so it's possible that this 'bug' could be video card related and not game related. All other tables I've tried have been very stable however.

Also worth mentioning is the phenomenal menu system. The options and table selections are extremely easy to use and very intuitive. You can choose from a top-down scrolling mode, but I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would use that option, since you can't see the whole table at once to line up your shots. True, the table appears much larger that way, but I found it highly disorienting and motion sickness-inducing, and I'm not prone to motion sickness. I much preferred the option that shows the entire table at once on the left half of the screen. It's smaller, sure, but still very easy to see everything. I thought the graphics looked just fine this way. Gameplay is very smooth and responsive.

I can't say enough about how easy the options are to use in this game. There is an advanced options menu accessible from the main start screen along with a nice table-select screen. Once you're actually in the game however, you can still adjust a great many things just by pressing the "F1" through "F12" keys. Detail, sound effects, music, shadows, dot panel size, add new player, help, toggle view mode, voice effects---all these are adjustable from within the game! A very thoughtful set of features that every game should have. This game has possibly the nicest menu system of any game in any genre I have ever seen. Please note however that this is not a true 3D game. It is not viewed from an angle ever. Only top down. This didn't bother me in the slightest, since those 'true 3D' games have trouble displaying all parts of the table because some areas are hidden behind objects. For me top-down is best because you can see the whole table evenly. So overall, with 20 tables to choose from, decent gameplay, a very nice physics and graphics engine, and the killer menu system, you cannot go wrong for the value price.

Rating:
Summary: Boooooring
Review: Sorry ... I really wanted to like this collection, and gave it a fighting chance, but it's just so incredibly boring. yes, the physics are too surreal, the flippers don't act right etc., but all that could be overlooked if the game play was there. It isn't. There is nothing special at all about any of the tables.

Didn't the designers ever go out and play real pinball games? I could play something like Whirlwind (the one from the early 90's) or T2 for hours, they had some interesting features and good game play ... heck, some of the stuff from the 50's is more fun than these tables.

*sigh* Just lame, boring stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Boooooring
Review: Sorry ... I really wanted to like this collection, and gave it a fighting chance, but it's just so incredibly boring. yes, the physics are too surreal, the flippers don't act right etc., but all that could be overlooked if the game play was there. It isn't. There is nothing special at all about any of the tables.

Didn't the designers ever go out and play real pinball games? I could play something like Whirlwind (the one from the early 90's) or T2 for hours, they had some interesting features and good game play ... heck, some of the stuff from the 50's is more fun than these tables.

*sigh* Just lame, boring stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Ultimate? Not Even Close!
Review: This one is not worth even the bargain-bin price. I barely know where to start.

The physics are horrible. The ball seems to float around like I'm on the moon instead of in full Earth gravity. And did you ever see a pinball accelerate UP a ramp? Neither did I until I tried this game.

The variation among the 20 tables is rather limited. Remove the background graphics, and you have mix-and-match among 3-5 basic table designs. Even the background graphics are clustered into 5 themes (space, history, monster, sports, and places). There's not an original idea among them.

The menu system is slow and cumbersome. The background music is annoying. I think more effort went into the artwork for the table backgrounds and box cover than into the gameplay itself.

Skip this product and play the "Space Cadet" pinball that is included with most version of Windows. It is far superior to this product.

And next time you walk into a store and try something from the bargain bin, don't make the same mistake I did. Look up some reviews before you break the seal on the package.