Pure Pinball 2 REDUX

...I'm not a huge fan of the tables. It's a fun pinball game, but nothing has so far touched the fantastic four on the Amiga (Pinball Dreams, Fantasies, Illusions and Slamtilt). Still, can't say I regret buying it.

For anyone who's enjoyed playing on pinball machines and really misses the look and feel of it, this is worth the purchase. There are other pinball games out there, and lots of them may be free, but very, veerrry few will give that actual pinball feel. They put so much love into this game that even the simple sound of a metal ball rolling across the board is authentic, and it's something you wouldn't hear unless music is off and no sounds playing.

Y`know I though this game might be as good as the Dream pinball one, but it isn`t. For a start, the music I find really ordinary. A pinball game MUST have good thematic music to get the `ball` rolling. For instance, the WW2 table just doesn`t come across as a War table. there`s no real marching, fighting music, just a boring, pleasant soundtrack like I`m drinking in a light pub. Sound effects are too functional. I could`ve thought of a hundred sound effects to give that `war` feel- a boom there, a `ratatat` there, the zooming engine of a P51 flyby, some soldier shouting `INCOMING!`, but no... The graphics are very good though which makes everything that fails stand out even more. the sexy girls on the cover don`t even feature on the table. I got bored really fast and went back to the Dream Pinball. It`s not a terrible game- It just doesn`t have that pinball magic, pizazz, kick that I get with the good ones.

This was a disappointing first purchase for me. The sound effects are really bad. Basically they consist of 3-4 sounds looped almost continually. So if you like the sound of screeching tires, bullets being fired, or train horns played over and over, this is your game. Secondly, the "effect" of glass reflections is way overdone (a close look at the screenshots should confirm this). If the reflection looks brighter than the actual table, there's a problem. Fortunately, this option can be turned off. Third, it's difficult to figure out what to do since the instructions are largely useless. Here is an actual quote from the instructions about one of the goals: "Hit the green bonuses (1st Gear, 2nd Gear, and 3rd Gear at #26). The lamp marked “1” near “Ready, Set, Go” at #28 lights up." So what's the problem? There are absolutely no diagrams pointing to the different numbers referenced in the manual. All instructions are similarly worded so you're on your own and the game's "demo mode" is no help. Fourth, in spite of the different camera views which are a nice feature, they didn't include one that combines a full table view with a zoom at the top of the table. In other words, either you can't see what's going on when you need to make some important pathways at the top or you have to do that motion-sickness camera view of following the ball. In spite of all the advertised camera views, they are just variations of these two and none give you a clear view of the entire table. Finally, the games are just not fun to play. The reasons are a combination of table design and ball physics. The flippers are weak (no adjustable settings) so most faraway shots need to be nailed dead on at full strength; especially the ramps. With no stopper in the center and the flippers being spaced far apart, there is little chance of saving the ball on a path down the center. And on, and on... If you have every other pinball game and just want to be a completist then you may enjoy this. Otherwise you'll probably be disappointed. I'd give this game three stars if we had complete instructions. Can't give this one star since there are many games worse than this. Any of the Pro Pinball games are a better alternative.

There are not many pinball games to choose from, especially ones with Physics as accurate as this game. Only problem is there is only 3 tables