FingerGaming

Rating:

• Price: $5.99 (Get it)
• Version: 1.0
• Official Site: Cowboy Rodeo

To a certain strata of gamers — those who owned an Amiga in the early nineties — Pinball Dreams is legendary. So legendary, in fact, that I doubt any who currently own an iPhone or iPod Touch should need any more than the knowledge that a direct port of the title is now available to stump up the $5.99 it costs and envelop themselves in some truly nostalgic gaming.

Of course, there are many gamers out there to who the name means nothing, in which case a history lesson is required. Pinball Dreams is one of the first titles developed by Digital Illusions CE, who we now know as DICE — best known for the Battlefield series (and the recent Mirror’s Edge).

So now comes to the point to where I have to own up to which I am, and that’s the former. I played the hell out of Pinball Dreams in the early nineties, and the minute I heard that it was available for iPod Touch I had to have it. And I haven’t been disappointed in the least.

Now, I suck at pinball. I’m honestly terrible. Recently I went to Portland’s classic arcade, Ground Kontrol, and must have wasted about 5 credits in their Black Knight 2000 pinball machine before I managed to hit the ball more than once with my flippers. I’m a black hole of suck when it comes to pinball, something I put down to mysteriously bad luck — because there could be no other explanation (certainly not a general lack of skill.)

I guess that makes Pinball Dreams a perfect game for on the go for me, because I’ve normally ran through my three balls within about five minutes — lucky, I guess, because although there is a pause feature, there’s no resume (so if you quit, you’ve lost your game.)

However, the game does at least save your scores (and the high score table can be hard enough to get onto in the first place, so you’ll be glad of it) and you can play in both landscape and portrait modes. Though portrait is most visually pleasing, I’ve actually found myself playing in landscape more often as it keeps my thumbs out of the way, thanks to its black borders.

Anyway, what makes Pinball Dreams so essential is the table design. Though they’re not as whizz-bang as later pinball games, they’re very realistic, well designed tables of an earlier era, and do reward skillful play (when I can manage it!).

It’s packaged with four tables, too, so if you find yourself unimpressed with one, you can play another. Most people tend to gravitate to the final table, Nightmare (because it’s excellent), but they’re all worth playing.

The port is well done, too, though you might occasionally feel the lack of physical buttons. More than once I found myself wishing I could pound the flippers rather than meekly tapping the screen, though I’m sure the difference that made was always just in my mind, considering I was originally playing on a keyboard.

Basically, Pinball Dreams is four well designed pinball tables with ball physics that still hold up well, bolstered by clean graphics and decent controls. If I could ask for anything, it would have probably been more options and some more extensive high score tables (even online ones?), but you can’t have everything.  Pinball Dreams is an essential purchase for any pinball fan with an iPhone or iPod Touch — not just those who remember it from the first time.

Tags: iPhone, iPod Touch, pinball, reviews