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Title Pinball Mania
Publisher 21st Century Entertainment Ltd (1995)
Game Type Sport
Players 1-8
HD Installable Yes
Compatability AGA only
Submission Dennis Smith Profiled Reviewer

Review
After the Pinball Dreams-Fantasies-Illusions trilogy, 21st Century released
this fourth pinball simulation from newcomers Spidersoft. Four new tables
featuring plenty of flippers (four on each table), cool LED-display
and some tables with great ideas - but there's a catch, and it's a big one.
Pinball games stand up on how realistic the ball calculations are. Pinball
Mania doesn't let you down too much around the table as a whole, though it
plays more 'heavily' than most, but the reaction of the ball to the
flippers is, quite frankly, atrocious. After a while you can start to get
used to it, but you won't like it and it renders any kind of skill-shot
a trial of chance. If at the end you've got a high score, you'll wonder how
you got it. It's very unsatisfying, very unsatisfactory. Your shots vary
from low-powered to somewhat random. Occasionally you can send the ball
right back up the table but the trial and error required to achieve this is
totally unrewarding. The game could have been so much more with some proper
beta-testing. The 'Casino' table is especially interesting, combining
pinball with gambling games of skill and chance... As it is, you should
steer well clear of this one.