Pac-Man Pinball Advance - Review

Pac-Man Plays Pinball
Not Quite Amazing

Few of the Arcade greats had easy transitions to modern gaming. The video game industry was forced to make a huge departure from the primarily coin-operated market of the late 70's and early 80's, moving to the home console-driven market of the late 80's to the present day. Some stars of the arcade days, like Donkey Kong, went into the new market almost seamlessly with high-profile games like Donkey Kong Country that established them in the modern era as viable mascots, and for a while there, it seemed like if anyone were to succeed, Namco's Pac-Man would. Pac-Man's enormous popularity allowed him to overcome missteps like Pac-Man on the 2600 or Pac-Man 2 on the SNES and Genesis, and the lovable yellow dot even managed to successfully cross over the 2D-3D divide in 1999's Pac-Man World. However, the last decade hasn't been very kind to Namco's hungry, hungry spheroid, and after a long parade of spin-off titles, Pac's reputation isn't quite what it used to be. While the recent Pac-Man Championship Edition DX has been receiving rave reviews, we're not talking about that game today. Instead, we've got one of those dreaded spin-offs: Pac-Man Pinball Advance.

I would like to think of myself as an open minded guy, and I was willing to enjoy Pac-Man pinball as nonthreatening, kid-friendly pinball game for the younger-skewing Gameboy Advance, but sometimes games don't even give you the chance to like them. The game starts off with a none-too-pretty cut-scene that seems to be comprised of low-resolution, 2D elements from Pac-Man World 2. The story is the same kidnapped family tale that was told in the first Pac-Man World, but, really, a story isn't necessary in a pinball game. The point of pinball is to play the game, and you'll be supplied with two different boards to do just that. Each board includes alternate a night version that is essentially a new skin of the same board with a blue color scheme.

As is so often my complaint with cheaply made pinball games, the physics of Pac-Man Pinball Advance just don't seem like they've been refined. The flippers aren't able to get the ball up to speed half the time and the speed of the ball doesn't seem to be correctly fitted to the rest of the gameplay. The boards, too, seem like they weren't well designed for the way the game is played, with many of the objectives purely luck based and deadly gutters that are diabolically placed in a such a way that you're only ever a couple of bumpers away from loosing. These factors add up to make the game seem like it's less about the core skills of pinball and more about just hitting the ball around and hoping that something will happen.

I can speak positively about the music, though. Taking inspiration from the sound-tracks of the first two Pac-Man World games, the music is suitable different but comfortably similar to what we've heard before, never overstated, but not noticeably enjoyable either. It is, to some extent, just there, but it's not bad. The game also has some nice features like multi-ball, functional store system, and he nice touch of a ghost eating mode, but these are outweighed by the almost unforgivable lack of a high-score table.

I don't think there are any hard-core Pac-Man fans to whom I can recommend this game, but if there are, I have to wonder how they explain the last ten years of Namco trying to use Pac-Man as a cash cow for mediocre games like this one. The game can be found for five to ten dollars, but I can think of no good reason why you need to search out a copy. If you find yourself feeling the need for a power-pellet or two, stick with the classics, there's no need to turn to Pac-Man Pinball Advance.

Pinball of the Dead - Review

Zombies Prefer Pinball of the Dead
BRAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!

House of the Dead is probably one of the most venerated on-rail shooter series ever to bless us with its presence. Chances are, if you go to your local bowling alley or pizza parlor, there will be a House of the Dead arcade cabinet around the corner. When you've got a franchise like this, there's always the temptation to throw together a spin-off title and see how well it does. These can range from awesome, as is the case with Typing of the Dead, a re-make of the original House of the Dead where keyboarding skills take precedent over itchy trigger fingers, to meh, as is the case with Pinball of the Dead for the Gameboy Advance.

In Pinball of the Dead, you'll be playing through the events of one of the House of the Dead games. Don't ask me which one, though, because, honestly, do you need a story for a zombie pinball game? The game consists of fairly typical pinball action with the addition of flesh-eating monsters are various other unpleasantries. You'll rack up points in a fairly typical way over the course of three boards: Wondering, Movement, and Cemetery. The boards are all multi-level and fully functional, but they're not all created equal, Wondering lacks color or variety, and Movement gets old quickly. Of the three, I prefer Cemetery simply because of how populated the board seems with bumpers, switches, and lights. It looks better and seems to be more enjoyable.

Pinball is one of those genres that's surprisingly hard to pull off: if you've ever played pinball in real life, you know what pinball “feels” like. When games don't get the physics right, it's very easy to notice. Unfortunately for Pinball of the Dead, the developers didn't quite get things right. There are tw speed settings for the ball, but even the fast option leaves the ball moving at a snail's pace, but even that can be inconsistent, with the ball suddenly speeding up or slowing down for no reason. The hit detection seems to be a little off on the flippers, too, as sometimes the ball will fly off in the opposite direction. In general, the physics just aren't right, and in a game that relies on predicting where something will go, you need to have consistency.

The game isn't all that pretty to look at, either. Keeping in mind the age of the game and the platform for which it was released, it's still not a beautiful game. The graphics aren't terrible, but they're undefined in the way of that awkward transition between all 2-D and 3-D capable consoles. The music isn't anything special, and the sound effects are similarly unexciting. The voice acting is fairly well done and not overused. It actually seemed like the sort of one liners that might be delivered from the speakers of a pinball table. A saving grace, if only a small one.

By this point, you might be thinking that I'm going to conclude by trashing the game and saying that you should probably purchase something else if you want to get a pinball fix, and while this may be true, don't dismiss Pinball of the Dead out of hand. This is the sort of game that grows on you -or perhaps more aptly, creeps up on you- and when you start to get into it, it's not all that bad. I found the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts, but that might not be the case for you. I would be lying if I said there aren't better pinball games on the Gameboy Advance, but I wouldn't be lying if I said that there are few with more character.

--Tom