Full Tilt Pinball is a well-accomplished pinball game from Maxis, a company more famous for 'the Sims' than classic pinball compendiums. The games controlling is much the same as any pinball game on a windows computer, mainly due to the fact that one of the game sets, space cadet, is already included in many windows computers, and although the game is superb, it lacks in a variety of boards, however it makes up for this by designing the three boards it contains into to being as intricate and complex as possible.
The first board I cared to try was space cadet. This is exactly the same as the pinball game installed on many windows computers, save a few graphical updates. In this set the aim is to further a career in a futuristic army (yes, through pinball) whilst gaining as many points as possible. This is done fairly simply, you hit buttons to gain missions, you perform missions to gain points and you gain points to win. The real joy of the game though is trying to survive.
The second board was a little more complex. This was Dragon’s keep. I still am not quite sure on how the game is supposed to be played, save that you have to slay a dragon by collecting spells.
The sheer joy of this board comes within the wacky designs of upgrades and obstacles, from bonus balls to +1 maces; it’s certainly an inventive and entertaining compilation.
The final board, and perhaps one of my favourites, is skulduggery. In this game your ball is a cannon ball, and the aim is to simply spell out ‘skulduggery’ form the letters discarded around the map. I simply loved this board because it was simple yet spontaneous; pirates would randomly call out walk the plank as you attacked enemy ships while trying to survive the Bermuda triangle. It certainly was a laugh and a half to play.
Finally, the game also features a new and revamped sound track, from wizards casting spells to pirates yelling crazy commands you’re sure to get a chuckle out of it. However, the music can only be described as irritating, as in all pinball games.
Overall, I’d rate the game with 8 out of 10; it sure is inventive, but there isn’t enough variety, but still, I’d say it really is an excellent game to download.
