Path: news.uh.edu!barrett From: kcci1@central.susx.ac.uk (Alan L.M. Buxey) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: MINI-REVIEW: Pinball Fantasies CD32 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games Date: 26 Apr 1994 18:55:48 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 99 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <2pjo3k$l4t@masala.cc.uh.edu> Reply-To: kcci1@central.susx.ac.uk (Alan L.M. Buxey) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: game, pinball, arcade, simulation, CD-ROM, commercial Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review was updated on Apr 29, 1994. Search for the text "[UPDATE:" to find updated information. -Dan] Pinball Fantasies Software Company: 21st Century Entertainment Address: Westbrook Street Blewbury Oxfordshire, OX11 9QB, United Kingdom Phone: (0235) 851 852 Fax: (0235) 851 473 Modem: (0235) 851 474 Customer Service: (0235) 851 533 E-Mail: ? List Price: 29.99 Review by Jukka O. Kauppinen (Finland) and Alan Buxey (England) All prices are quoted in English Pounds. All phone/fax numbers are in each country's native format. To call from abroad remember to add the country code and delete the first figure of the dialing code. For example '+ BRITAIN - 444 - XXX XXXX' Jukka ----- (rev.2) Pinball Fantasies is THE pinball game of all time. Is it THE glory of 256-colour AGA-graphics with CD sound? Not quite. The graphics look great, though their AGA enhancement hasn't been so complete as one could wish. Anyway, the fields look very good. The game sounds are the old ones from the floppy version: no CD quality here. As far as gameplay and outlook goes, the CD32 version is 99% identical to the original. Compared to original, this AGA version HAS some new features. The 32-bit math routines are bit more efficient, and gameplay is remarkably faster - so much so that one guy who had previously played it on an A500 couldn't get practically any points as he was used to the "slowness" of A500-version. Cool. Even with the lack of great new features, this game is cool anyway. The CD soundtrack at the beginning is nice, but the great thing is that it's all so easy to use now! Throw the disk in, go and play. No disk swapping or password completion. Yes - there is no password protection on CD! This makes me believe in the CD platform! It's not the world's greatest achievement on CD technology, but as a game, it's supercool. This is a must to own. Your CD32 without Pinball Fantasies is like an Amiga without a CPU or a man without a soul. This game is so good that you don't even need to like pinball to lose your heart for Pinball Fantasies. Alan ----(rev. 2) You like pinball? Good! Well then, you should get a copy of this game then - it'll save you a fortune on that addiction of yours! Seriously, though its not as good as actually playing fields such as "Indiana Jones" and "Dr Who" - not to mention "Twilight Zone" - it gives them a run for their money! :) Graphically, this version is the AGA floppy version on a CD. Loading is extremely quick, and there is no manual protection. The music is also better. But for CD, they could have at least added proper pinball sounds - AND put the Pinball Dreams fields on the same disc (though they had problems due to P.Dreams not being OS friendly). This is still one hell of a game to own at any rate. But I wish the flipper controls were on the top 2 "action" buttons rather than on the joypad and red button... [MODERATOR'S NOTE: A reader in the USA, Stephen Wilkinson (wilks@lbm.com), reports that his NTSC version of this game does use the top two "action" buttons for controlling the flippers. - Dan] Saving: high scores are saved to flash RAM. RATINGS ------- Jukka Alan Graphics: **** **** Sound: **** **** Playability: ***** ***** Lastability: ***** **** Overall: ***** **** About the reviewers.... Freelance journalism by Mail: E-Mail: Jukka O. Kauppinen Sankarinkatu 9A3 Grendel@Freenet.hut.fi MikroBITTI 74100 IISALMI tel/fax +358-77-13192 FINLAND Amiga 500/1200(030),PC386,CD32,C64 Freelance journalism by Mail: E-Mail: Alan L.M. Buxey 32 Tangier Road, Baffins kcci1@solx1.susx.ac.uk P.A.U.G. Portsmouth, Hants tel/fax PO3 6JN England Amiga 500/1200, CD32, Spectrum+3 ;) --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews