Impressions
I'm a big fan of real pinball in the arcades. There's rarely a time when I go into an arcade and don't play at least one game of pinball if there is a nice table available. With that in mind you can see that I would have fairly high expectations for any pinball game. Honestly, I did not think that any pinball game on the Pocket PC would be able to deliver the same level of entertainment that I could get from a real pinball table. After playing this game for a while I have come to realize that, although the Pocket PC may not be able to capture the full experience of playing on a real table you can still get a very rich user experience with a well designed game.
4Pinball is a very good pinball game. It is one of the best examples of video pinball that I have played - on any platform. The movement is smooth, the sounds are appropriate, and the graphics are amazing. The game is full of 'internal challenges' which raise the bar and keep the game interesting. This is more than a simple pinball game where you use the paddles to keep the ball from falling off the table. You need to direct the ball at specific targets, and up different ramps in order to score points and raise your bonus.
Adding to the realism of the game is the built in ability to tilt the game in one of three directions. For experienced pinball players the ability to give the table a little nudge at critical times during game play is a definite plus. Be careful not to use the tilt feature too often or the shock sensor will go off and the game will lock.
A game as detailed and expansive as 4Pinball is bound to have its flaws. 4Pinball doesn't have many flaws, but there are a few things that I disliked about the game. The first thing that I didn't like about the game is that you must reload the table every time that you play it. If you're playing on a table and your game ends I wish that there was the option to replay that table without having to reload it. It's a very minor inconvenience, but it can get a bit annoying if you're playing the same table for an extended period of time.
Another thing that I wasn't impressed with is the way that multi-balls are handled. If there was a situation with different balls being on different screens the game seemed to slow down quite a bit, and you could also see only one section of the screen at a time. There may not be any way around this problem, but it makes it very difficult to keep multiple balls in play.
Conclusion
I am a big fan of pinball games, and I think that 4Pinball is an excellent video pinball game. The fact that such incredible game play is available on a Pocket PC is simply amazing. The developers of this game deserve a lot of credit for turning out an excellent product.
4Pinball is the type of game that appeals to everyone at any age level. There is no violence and the game is simple enough for children to play, yet there is enough complexity to keep even the most skilled pinball masters busy for some time.
I award 4Pinball a score of 4.5 out of 5. It is definitely a title deserving permanent placement in the continuous rotation of games on my Pocket PC.
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