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British rockers The Who wrote a rock musical extravaganza about them. The State of New York banned them for 34 years. What are they, you may ask? Pinball tables, of course! And they are set to take the Megadrive by storm during the Yuletide period with the latest offering from the men in white coats at Codemasters, Psycho Pinball.

Boasting a tonne of highly complex mathematical equations for the ball and its reactions to the playfield, Psycho Pinball promises to be the most realistic pinball sim to date. So without much more ado, allow me to introduce your host, part-time pinball, and resident armadillo, Psycho!

First appearing as a plank full of sails and a few marbles, the modern pinball table hit the streets in 1932.

Using a high-tensile spring, eject a ball-bearing onto a glass-encased inclined table, liberally covered with lights and bumpers. Once in play, use flippers to amass points.

In a radical break from your everyday pinball game the techies from Codemasters have included bonus stages more fitting to a platformer than a flipper-fest. Accessible from the three single tables, the ball transforms into the lovable little character, Psycho, who ends up gallivanting from carriage to carriage on a runaway Wild West train, or fixing a leak in a whale belly.

The action pings over four themed tables, Fairground, Wild West, Abyss, and Trick or Treat. Each table takes its pick from the juiciest traditions of pinball style - ramps, tubes, ball-locks (tee-hee), bumpers, jackpots - and blends them with the style of the playing field.

For the multi-table mode, the Fairground acts as a gateway to all the other tables, but only once you've unlocked the portal to the new table.

By their very nature, pinball sims are always surrounded by an air of uncertainty. As I'm sure any pinball player will tell you, it's the feel and history of the game, not just the visuals and sounds, that makes them want to play. And I have to say that Codemasters have somehow managed to capture this very essence on a console.

The feel is genuine and solid, but more importantly they have overcome the age-old problem of slow scrolling to make this the most playable console pinball game I have seen.

Yet, as with all pinball sims, it comes apart at the seams in the number of tables department. And hence it is banished to the 'hugely impressive, but not so huge' realm of console simuations.

Williams, Bally Midway, Gottlieb, Data East - you get my drift? These names should get any pinball fan salivating, and the same sort of person will have a ball with Psycho Pinball.

Codemasters have produced four storming tables, which look and play terrifically and capture the most important element of all - feel.

I feel Paul is being a bit unfair about longevity, no other console pinball game offers more variety than Psycho, and anyway, the point for real fans is amassing higher scores. The layouts are ace, both in number of features and how bonuses are constructed, and the game uses an effective dot-matrix display for lots of little sub-games.

Graphics are absolutely superb, with faultless scrolling and a crispness to the layouts that prevents confusion when the game is rocketing.

The range of speeds and difficulty levels is wide. Psycho Pinball makes mincement of Dragon's Revenge, Crue Ball or Sonic Spinball; it even tops Dragon's Fury. In short, it's flippin' magic!

Graphics 89%
P. Smoother than your smooth-talking bar steward, the scrolling has to be seen to be believed. Otherwise, solid end, simple graphics faithful to the original designs.

Sound 87%
P. Excellent FX reflecting the plinks and plonks of a real table.
N. Music on some tables tends to drone.

Playability 90%
P. 100% addictivity. A strong will is required to put this down. And a perfect difficulty gauge.

Lastability 83%
P. The arcade bonus levels are tricky and will require a lot of practice sessions.
N. Needs to have more tables and more variation on the playfields.

Value For Money 80%
N. MEGs costs bucks, but a hefty price tag for only four tables.

Overall 86%
A truly superb pinball sim in its own right, but as ever with pinball games, let down by the lack of variety.