Pinball

Review by invalidname

"Tilt"

Pinball

CapDisc and Philips, for CD-i, does not require digital-video card

PROS: None

CONS: Dull, unrealistic, simplistic

CUT TO THE CHASE: Tilt

Y'know, I graduated from college a year before the copyright date on CD-i Pinball... and having played quite a bit of the silver ball in my days on campus, I seem to remember various qualities that CD-i Pinball lacks. Like interesting shots, for one.

CD-i Pinball is a completely wasted effort, and not much of one at that. Substituting quantity for quality, the disc offers four pinball machines, not one of them remotely engaging for anyone who's played a real pinball machine in the last 20 years.

The four tables can be grouped into two categories: gimmicky and not. ''Cyber'' and ''Meltdown'' are the two that at least marginally resemble a real pinball machine. ''Meltdown'' is probably the best -- you try to hit targets to open chutes into a central ''reactor'', which results in bigger points. ''Cyber''s feature is a magnetic strip in the center of the playfield that randomly turns on and catches the ball and slides it back and forth. You can then release it towards the target of your choice. Unfortunately, there's precious little to actually shoot at, just a few bumpers and the top of the machine.

But the gimmicky tables are even worse. In ''Spring Break'', you try to knock the ball around a beach scene, spelling out ''spring'' and ''break'' with beach-ball bumpers at the top of the table, then going after a chute. In ''Dogfight'', the bumpers are world-war-one airplanes: hitting all five causes a larger plane to appear. Hit it and you score 1,000 points. You also ''refuel'' your flippers, which will eventually go dead otherwise.

If you've played real pinball recently, you might be wondering about such common features as multiball, ramp shots, pipe, locks, etc. They're not here. Neither is realistic ball motion. The ball moves as if it were completely elastic, succumbing neither to friction, spin, nor the curvature of playfield objects. Forget doing a slap-save -- if you can catch the ball on the flipper, it's barely possible to aim your shots with any consistency.

Most of my favorite tables also have a multitude of shots to go after. Star Trek: The Next Generation may be the most extreme extension of this principle (so far), but even simple machines like Comet, White Water, and the classic High Speed offer different bonuses, jackpots, pity-shots and the like. Meltdown, Dogfight and Spring Break have one special shot each, Cyber has none.

Good video pinball is available -- ''Crystal Caliburn'' for the Mac has drawn raves, and the Atari Lynx's ''Pinball Jam'' (which features adaptations of Elvira and Police Force) is fun despite its unrealism and some stingy posts. It's just that good video pinball is not available for the CD-i.

Take the $20 you would spend on this disc, change it into quarters, and instead play 80 games of real pinball instead.
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©1995 Chris Adamson