Pinball games are hard to review. Or at least, this is true for me. They tend to be good for a quick, fun, yet uneventful romp through the imagination. The game's physics and layout tend to vary from pinball game to pinball game, and the lack of those two things can quickly kill it. Ultimately, they tend to be accessible games for everyone. I personally do not really get pinball games because it requires lightning-fast reflexes and a mind that can handle college-level physics. It is the latter that confuses me no end. Imagine my surprise when I was sent a copy of Dream Pinball 3D. And I must say, I somewhat enjoyed it for several hours.
Installation was rather painless, being that it is a PC game. It quickly and effortlessly installed itself onto my computer. A product key was required to install it, which is not too unusual these days in computer gaming. (Back in the good old days, you had to look through the game's manual for the proper word on the proper page counting down from the top of said page to find the proper sentence...) The odd part is that the game required me to go online to register it to gain full access. Otherwise, you get to play for an hour on one board. For me, this defeats the purpose of having such a key. Why do I need to go online when the product key was supposed to prove I own a valid copy? Furthermore, when registration was going on, the cancel button was still printed in German. That sent a red flag to be raised in my mind, but thankfully, nothing too major came from it.
Gameplay is, for all intents and purposes, classic pinball. You try to rack up as many points as possible by making sure that ball goes everywhere, hitting everything it can. There are six pinball boards: Monsters, Knight Tournament, Aquatic, Dino Wars, Spinning Rotors (an air force/helicopter themed board) and Amber Moon (is this a mistranslation or misprint of the "Two Moons," which is seen in the digital manual? Or did the manual get misprinted or mistranslated?). What is important to note about all six boards is that this is classic pinball fun. There is no "immersion" into the game world like a console game would treat it: There is no greatly detailed game world with animated bad guys or interesting events on the board. Nope, this is pure old-school pinball fun with artwork on the board, with the score printed on the headboard.
If you have a strong enough computer, the game will feel like you own a classic pinball machine in a fictional basement. I have two complaints: First, there is nothing going on in this said "basement." It would have been neat to see some concept art when the game goes for an overview of the board, or even the opportunity to read about the inspiration of the board. The second complaint is that it is really easy to "over power" the graphics card. When this happens, the game claims to have turned down the graphics so the game will run smoothly. This does not always happen, and when it fails, flipper control suffers. Thus, the game quickly turns into a "pretty game" and not an old-school pinball game. I will say this: Kudos for having a customizable control scheme.
Board layout, for the most part, is done well. The only board I truly hated is the Dino Wars. I thought the setup was poorly done and other items were not that accessible. It just did not feel right to me, and it was not fun to play. The best board is the Amber Moon. This board has the most "stuff" going on: Bumpers are in interesting places; there are several lanes and buttons to push and a well done fantasy theme; and the best part is that there is a little-used second level (it sits right above the usual board). It also may be because this is the official board of the 2007 Pinball Tournament.
My only major gripe about this game is that having multiple tiers of in a board is not used. Also, the flippers only have two options: flipped and down. Otherwise, everything is alright. The physics feels fine, and the ball does not do anything unexpected and odd. Furthermore, there are seven camera angles. The default (number 6) follows the ball around and takes a bit of time to get used to, and it works really well. The other six camera settings range from overview (as if you were looking at an actual board) to dynamic. Hypothetically, there is a camera setting/angle for everyone.
The audio also is alright. For my computer, I find it to be on the soft side. Thus, volume is turned up maximum. Nothing is really annoying, except for the Dino board, but nothing is really awesome either. For example, the Aquatic board's audio annoyed me. Eventually, the squeals of dolphins and other fish grew on me. The voice acting, which is slightly different for each board, also grew on me as well.
Ultimately, this is a really solid pinball game. Depending on where you pick up this game, you might pay from $15 (official Web site and Amazon) to $20 (Best Buy). Regardless, this is a good value for what you get: five (six if you count the mess known as Dino Wars) well-done digital boards that can get as realistic as your computer can handle, upload scores to the Web site to see where you stand, four levels of difficulty ranging from easy to expert and offline multiplayer for up to four people on one computer (if you can find three people to play with).
I would not recommend this game for the uninitiated pinball fan. This is for the folks who have a decent level of skill and who have not been spoiled by more modern pinball games. When it comes to recommending this game, I feel rather torn. On the one hand, I really want to recommend this game for pinball fans, because it is a really solid pinball game, but on the other hand, this is not a game I would personally chose. In the end, the game found a quick and decent spot on my digital gaming shelf that I probably will not touch for another year or two (at least) until the "pinball mood" strikes me.
