Video Pinball

"Primitive Pinball at it's finest"

Video Pinball was a primitive attempt at a home entertainment pinball game, without having some $400 machine in your garage. While this doesn't have all the bells and whistles as those, it's still a very fun game to play, and it only costs about 3 cents at someone's garage sale. You have a ball, and you need to keep the ball from falling in the hole by using flippers, which act as a launch pad for the ball. You score points by hitting bumpers, etc. It's always fun to compete with your friends to see who can get the highest score, and reign supreme as Video Pinball king. My high score is seventy quadrillion points, I played it for a year straight, never stopping to feed myself or go to school. When I finally lost my last ball, I slept for a few hours, and did the whole thing again, only making it to 65 quadrillion. Trust me folks, this game is very addicting, and if you don't have much self control, you may find yourself immersed in the Video Pinball world.

Graphics: 5/10
The graphics are ok, everything is either blue, a shade of blue, or a shade of white, and the ball is square (hey, Atari couldn't make polygons)

Sounds:3/10
Beep, beep, beep, boop. That's about it, again, it's not like Atari could load a 2-bit cart with mp3s of your favorite band.

Story: 10/10
This is where the game shines, it's long and involved story, you play the game as Sir Flippers, knight of the Pinball army. The ball is really a bomb, and to prevent the bomb from entering your castle, Sir Flippers must repel it. If you earn eleventy billion points, you are rewarded with the secret ending, where Sir Flippers becomes the king.

(note: the above story was a pitiful attempt at humor, it has nothing to do with the actual game, which is just your basic pinball. If you wish to comment about this pitiful attempt at humor....keep it to yourself, your opinion doesn't matter)

Challenge: 3/10
It's not that hard to keep a bomb from entering......I mean a ball from falling through the hole.

Replay Value: 5/10
Challenge a friend to a pinball duel, settle your differences here, not a fist fight. See, this is a great alternative to violence.

Fun: 10/10
I'm a big fan of the classics, so this game is more fun for me.

Overall:
It's a good game, your only option is to buy, unless you live 20 years in the past, when Atari games could be rented.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/05/01, Updated 03/06/01