INTRODUCTION
When Pinball Dreams appeared on the Amiga a few years ago it was instantly proclaimed as a classic and every single gamer had become gripped by pinball fever. No longer did you have to trek down to your local pub or arcade to play the game, all you had to do was switch on your computer. The realism and sheer excitement of Pinball Dreams mirrored the 'real' thing and I think just about everyone has either got or has played Digital Illusion's superb Amiga debut.
Time passed and pinball players were starting to get itchy fingers, so 21st Century Entertainment linked up with Digital Illusions once more to create a sequel. Entitled Pinball Fantasies, this piece of software featured four brand new tables and totally surpassed the original.
Since the release of the sequel, demand from fans for a third game in the series has been immense. 21st Century Entertainment is a company who believes in giving the games public what they want, so without a second thought it talked to Digital Illusions about the possibility of yet another pinball game.
The Swedish developers replied with a triumphant "Yes" and thus started work on Pinball Illusions. This new version features three new tables plus the all-important and incredibly manic multi-
It's time to flip your flippers like you've never flipped them before!
SOUND
To be honest with you, I didn't like the music contained in Pinball Fantasies. It was far too annoying and got on my nerves to the extent that I was constantly reaching for the volume switch, so I had my fingers and ear-lobes crossed when I heard that a third game in the series was on its way.
Luckily for me and my ears, the tunes in Pinball Illusions are rather good and nowhere near as annoying as the last batch of musical disasters. As you now know, there are three tables, so thus there are three tunes. All of them are vastly different from each other and work extremely well.
The Law 'n' Justice table uses a futuristic tune very similar in style to the themes found in the film Blade Runner and it complements the table perfectly.
The Babewatch table, thankfully, doesn't contain any of Dvaid Hasslehoff's warblings, but instead plumps for a full-blown musical score which sounds like the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album all rolled into one tune.
The last table is, erm, different. I don't like Heavy Metal at the best of times, but that's exactly what you get when you play the Extreme Sports table. Imagine Nine Inch Nails teaming up with Pantera and you're getting close to the musical experience that's contained here. I know there will be a load of people out there who will love it, so much so that they'll start stage-
GRAPHICS
Have a quick glance at the screenshots and you'll see that Pinball Illusions looks a lot like its predecessors, but seeing as the graphics in this first two games were rather damn fine then this isn't much of a problem.
There are some small changes, one of which is rather significant, but more on that in a minute. The first thing you'll notice is that the actual balls look a lot better. The Digital Illusions team has used a good ray-tracing effect to make them look more like the real thing. It's not fully light-
The biggest graphical change also involves and affects the gameplay. The almost redundant scoring 'strip' at the top of the screen is now in full-time employment. It's now used to present a selection of sub-games, just like the ones get on the modern-day pinball machines.
Take the Law 'n' Justice table as an example. One of the sub-games involves shooting a gang of international terrorists by moving your flipper keys from left to right. It's all in the interest of getting a rather good score, and pinball fans might complain that it detracts form the actual game, but it's been known that some of the sub-games have been played longer than the actual game of pinball.
The only other major change worth mentioning is the introduction of a hi-res option. This comes in very handy when you try your hand at the manic multi-ball feature because it enables you to see the whole screen at once.
80%OPINION85%
Without a shadow of a doubt this is the best Amiga pinball game that money can buy. Fans of Dreams and Fantasies aren't even reading this as they're camped outside their local computer emporium waiting for it to arrive, so there's no point in trying to convince them how good his latest version is because they already know.
If you haven't bought the last two versions and you're new to this computer pinball lark, then there hasn't been a better time to purchase one of Digital Illusions' superb game. The new features have taken the game that one step further towards making Pinball Illusions even better than the real thing, but what really makes the game is the inclusion of the multi-
As it stands, the multi-ball feature is in the game and it works incredible well. Couple this with the brilliant graphics and sound, then add the old staple ingredients of good gameplay and more than a dash of addition and you've got one hell of a pinball game.