21st Century Entertainment released Pinball Fantasies, the sequel to Pinball Dreams and the prequel to Pinball Illusions. It features play for up to eight people and is often thought to be the best Pinball Game developed by Digital Illusions CE. Many believe it to be one of the best of all times.
Like standard and video pinball tables, the goal of Pinball Fantasies varies by the table. There are goals, similar to missions, on each table. Primarily, the user needs to judge the angles of the ball and the power of strikes with either the flippers (paddles) or plunger and force the ball to strike off various objects on the tables. Bumpers will be hit, causing loud, active ricochets, flags will be dropped and lights will be lit, all scoring points and raising the user’s high scores.
Like its predecessor, Pinball Fantasies offers four distinctly different tables for the user. Party Land centers on an amusement park theme. There are lights beneath the words “party” and “crazy” that must be lit in order to set off the high-scoring events. There is a ramp that is easily accessible for points and many opportunities for easy scores, making this the most basic of the tables.
Speed Devils offers an action packed, fast-paced car racing theme. There are fewer high scoring targets in Speed Devils than Party Land, making this a more challenging table. The user must score points and take over several cars that are involved in a race at the top of the table. Speed Devils offers two ramps for point scoring.
Billion Dollar Game show features a game show format where the user has to navigate the ball into ramps in the appropriate combinations to score points, which are awarded in the form of “prizes”. This is a very difficult table, because losing a ball resets the progress in the combinations, and the user loses his or her accumulated prizes.
Finally, Stones and Bones takes place in a cool haunted house. Similar to Party Land, the user has to spell stone and bone by hitting targets. Each time a word is spelled, the player advances to a new mode, with each mode gaining in difficulty.
Most tables, with the exception of Party Land, offer extra bonuses in the form of extra balls, extra points and so forth. They can be activated by performing a variety of tasks.
Pinball Fantasies is a lively and colorful game, filled with action. In total, this is a great pinball simulation and should provide hours of high scoring action for the pinball adventure enthusiast. I highly recommend it to everyone!
Written by:
~dorento1
