It's not every day I imagine you get to play Pinball against the Grim Reaper. Or for that matter an E.T., a mole or Ali Barber.
I'm convinced that the E.T. was included in Battle Pinball just so the developer of the 3D introduction for Battle Pinball could include some outer space in his efforts. I imagine all his friends at the 3D modellers club Tokyo had included 3D renditions of outer space in their games and while they sat around chatting and enjoying a bowl of Nabe or munching down on some Yakitori they quizzed him about how he intended to include an outer space shot in a pinball game. Well, I guess he showed them! ...sigh.
I'm being harsh of cause - the introduction is kind of fun to watch. Even if you don't speak or read Japanese. The fun does stop there though sadly.
The game itself is unique. Unique that is, in the sense that it appears to be only 70% complete yet still released. In retrospect probably not that unique actually is it? If only...
It's pinball. Two player pinball. I like pinball. I really do. I like real pinball tables and I've enjoyed digital pinball tables. Digital Illusions many efforts have whiled away many hours of fun for me as did True Pinball on the Playstation and I consider myself, not a professional but certainly a pinball hardened amateur.
So - it's with confidence I offer this opinion to you. You see - the trick in my opinion to a good Pinball game is not keeping the ball on the table. That, even for an amateur player such as myself, is not that much of challenge. Unless of cause someone fits Grand Canyon between the flippers and a magnet so powerful it pulls lorries from across the street. No. It is features and more importantly the challenge of lighting features. The development of the skill. The truth is chance gets you so far with Pinball but it is skill that gets you the Pinball thrill. Ask any Pinball affectionado and they will tell you the same.
For a manufacturer of real Pinball tables that is the challenge, it must be a careful balance of what is possible and what is practical and what is enjoyable. If you like - a delicate balance of physics, fun and finance.
However, digitise the pinball table and you deaden the problems. Sure - software development time costs money. Sure - break the laws of physics and the anally retentive Elite on the BBC Nazis' goose-step into online petition action against you (and no-one likes that) and sure - over-crowd the screen with too many features and you overwhelm the player. But you can do things the makers of real pinball table can only dream of. Convoluted mechanics, beautifully contrived catches and switches, multi-ball paradise and lights and sparkle that would arouse the most hard-hearted flipper flicker.
...of cause Japan Dataworks didn't bother with any of that. It as if the Dataworks Japan developers played Pinball for a morning having never played it before, then in the afternoon they threw together a game that fitted nicely with a 3D sequence one of their friends had created.
Cruelty to pinball is a crime no-one is safe from.
Battle Pinball has 2 simultaneous pinball player action and I like that idea. A feature that is not possible in the real world or rather not practical in the real world.
What I don't like about Battle Pinball is the lack of even a passing nod to Pinball. The ball physics are adequate. I guess. But there are no features. No traditional Pinball style graphics for lighting features. No features. No decent sound. None of the drama and theatre associated with Pinball. Just stopping a ball going down the middle. It isn't fun. Something of an omission in a game that - "no fun".
On the surface it could have been a great game. Sadly underneath its a slightly mentally disturbed tramp handing out small packets of undisclosed liquid. It upsets you initially to see whats happening and then you want to get away as quickly as possible. And that sums up Battle Pinball nicely.
Rare in both Japan and the rest of the World. Fortunately.
3DO Kid.
