3D Pinball: Space Cadet

"Pretty good, for a game that's free with a computer."

This game comes with the Windows XP edition, which makes it even better. Free is always good. : )

This is pinball, so there's no story.

Let's start out with the gameplay. I don't think there's a universal pinball, because I've seen literally hundreds of different versions. Some of them are kind of boring. You just hit the ball up, and it comes back down. There are no boosts or anything.

But in this one, there's a lot of stuff. You can hit the ball through a lot of tubes and stuff, which is fun. Like I said, Pinball isn't fun without traps and tricks. But this one has lots of those. For example, there's a “launch” ramp that you can shoot up, and it leads to a small area where you can rack up a bunch of extra points.

Speaking of extra points, what's Pinball without missions? It'd be boring to just hit the ball up and down. That's why, if you hit the mission accepted button, which is really just going up that same launch ramp, you can start a mission, with such odd missions are re-entry (snicker) of the Pinball area, or target practice, which is really just hitting bumpers.

Now, as for the music. The music is pretty boring. But it's hardly ever played anyway.

The Sound effects are great, though. Obviously, there's a boingy noise for when you hit the ball. And since you are a Spaceship pilot, when you die / crash, there's a sound like a ship crashing. There's those upbeat jingles for when you get a bonus, too, and when you go into hyper-space, which is just a speed boost, there's a warping noise. Very space-y.

The graphics are also what you'd expect from a Pinball game. Lots of flashing lights. In the background, there's a skin to make it look like outer space. It's pretty much what you'd expect from this game if you just read the description.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/16/05