Previous Next

OK then, Pinball Wizards. Put on your platform heels and your "Tommy" soundtrack. The lure of the silver ball appears on the Amstrad once again. the clash of steel on steel, the frantic clicking of flippers and the bells and whistles. You can almost smell the popcorn and the hotdogs.

3D Pinball has little more to offer than any conventional Pinball game, and is actually very dodgy on quite a few points. The ball motion is OK for most of the time, but can get a little odd now and then. The flippers are far too far apart and the ball is lost frequently, with you the player entirely blameless.

You cannot pull the spring back in degrees, you simply press Fire and the ball is launched with the same strength every time. This detracts heavily from the playability and seems a rather startling oversight.

The screen is viewed at an angle (it makes the table look much the way it would to a six-year-old child or a pygmy). This viewpoint is supposed to make things much more realistic, but the fact is, most players view the table from almost directly above. Still, the scaling of the ball as it gets further away is quite well done. The graphics themselves are adequate, the sound unimpressive - just spot fx throughout.

Overall 67%
Mostly decent, but at times badly flawed Pinball game.