In the middle of the summer, it arrives... The Mail!
Well, this might be late to inform that Pro Pinball: Timeshock! has been released since many of you probably already know about it. But I'm not sure how many of you who already got it, so I have included a review of it here (...and this is after all the biggest thing that has happen during this half of the year...)
The mail also includes a small summary of releases this half of the year and the Upcoming list along with additional reading about Addiction Pinball and Balls of Steel. Hope you like it.
And hope I didn't make the mail to looong this time... The next club mail will probably get out during the release of Addiction Pinball and Balls of Steel.
(no.members:106)
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(2) - New release - Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
It is here... the hyped and well awaited pinball, the second pinball in the pro pinball series. The PC version of the pinball was mastered during week 23, mastered is when the pinball is burned to the first cd, after that making copies and shipping is all that is left.
According to the programmer is the MAC version about 1 month away and the PSX version a few months away.
The pinballs release has already started in Europe, during week 23 it was released in Germany and under the following week the distribution in the rest of Europe started. Unluckily the release in the US will be delayed until September, but you will be able to order it from Empire in US.
If you can't wait you can try ordering the pinball by phone Empire in UK: 0181 343 9143
- Further reading
* http://userweb.interact.se/~sui/news/pr1t!.html
* http://www.empire.co.uk/propinball/
(Review below)
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(3) - Review of Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
In case you haven't tried it yet, I am including this review if Timeshock in the letter. It is also available at the following url:
* http://userweb.interact.se/~sui/recs/ppt!.html
- The pinball
Realistic looking table, magnificent sound and lovely feeling. That is just some things that describe the table. The pinball is the second one in the Pro Pinball series, it has been awaited for a long time and as those who have played it can say, it was worth the wait.
The table futures lots of things found in real pinballs, a Advanced Operators Menu, Ballsearch, MagnoSave, Tournament Mode and more I wont bother to list here. The table is the most realistic one to have been released so far. It feels right, you can do Dead Catches, you have been able to do that in some other sims too, here it really feels natural and correct when you do one.
What more can presentate it, the sound, the music (good music, some parts are not the best but most of the time it is very enjoyable), the sound fx and the mechanical sounds (ball rolling sounds and similar). And the fact that you can really hear the ball hit the glass cover (love it when it happens!).
The table can be configured in all ways, it simply don't miss anything (so far I have noticed).
- Interesting futures
- The Operators Menu
This thing really makes this pinball unique, you can customize it, reset hiscores, check it is working and in all do everything you can do in a real pinball machine. The Operators Menu holds all the settings for the pinball, the number of balls you play with, in this case what timezone you start in, the sort of play (Novice, Tournament, Challenge, Normal) and so on.
From the beginning most settings are locked and can't be altered, but as you advance in the table more settings are unlocked and can be altered. Only settings at Factory default will qualify for the hiscore table at Empires site (when it is set up).
If you see no use with this future, think of all the fun you can have with it, like changing ball numbers (have many!? ;). There is also a future that tests if the different parts of the table is working, rather pointless on a sim but fun anyhow.
- Playing styles
For those not happy with only being able to play in one way, you can choose between these styles: Novice, Tournament, Challenge, Normal. These can be set trough the Operators Menu.
Novice Mode .. One ball in play with a Ball Saver active for 120 seconds.
Tournament Mode .. Disables random and bonus game adjustments, allowing score obtained on different machines (simulations) to be compared more equally.
Challenge Mode .. Shares all game features and memories among all players in a multi-player game.
- The Table:
Timeshock!
The background story for the table is imo wonderful, here is a part of it...
" I have created - God help us - a shock wave of anti-time which is travelling back to the dawn of history. The wave has nearly reached your time already. We must return to the beginning of time and bring together the crystal fragments from the future to create a counter-shock wave. "
" My past has gone already. but, if we succeed, we can save your past.. and your future... "
How do I describe the table... in the middle is a big Time Crystal which can be activated during play. Also on the table is the Timemachine, which locks balls using a neat robot arm, of course you also timetravel with it. The main theme is to reach the Wiz mode where you during timestress have to save the world...
As the background tells you there are crystal pieces to be collected, these are spread out in different time zones that are accessed using the time machine. Collecting these gives you access to the Wiz mode, The Dawn of Time... If the Shockwave of antitime reaches this place, The Dawn of Time, everything is destroyed, so when reaching it you must complete it or...
To reach the Wiz mode you need to do lots a things that can't be described easy, complete different explorations that might give you crystal pieces, unlock time periods, collect pieces of Tachyonium and most important of all, stay alive. You need to learn the secrets of the table that gives you extra balls and those extra high scores... it all gets kind a though... to say it in a kind way.
From the start (if you haven't read the manual, excellent manual, seen the slide shows) you have basicly no Idea where to shoot in the table. But as in reals (after having wasted a gigantic staple of coins) you soon begin to understand the table, seek the secrets (there are a lot of hidden things in the pinball, supposedly a hidden Wiz mode) and get the hang of what to do. If not you can look at the instruction card (one like those on real machines)
This is in all a interesting and challenging pinball, new things to do all the time, new Time zones means new modes and so on, it all just gets better and better and in the end it is simply the best...
It is a lasting table, hard, you learn to master it and you will most definitely return to it.
- The Feeling:
If you played The Web (the first pinball in the pp series) and found the feeling good, it is improved here, not just improved, totally different and better. Catching the ball is a chapter for itself, now you just don't raise the flipper and let the ball bounce down on it, you can for example do Dead Catches and Live Catches. It all turns out to depend more on skill and feeling for ball handling than simple aiming and shooting by flipping the flippers.
In a real pinball (funny to be able to say real and unreal pinballs?) the ball can get a uncontrollable speed or similar, but you might be able to reduce its speed or get back control of it different neat flipper techniques, possible to do in here. Controlling the ball is possible in most ways, nothing that has been either easy or natural to do in any bigger way before.
You never really think about how you flip, you do what you find natural, realistic, yes... What does realistic mean, natural feeling - nothing strange - simply the way it should be...
- The Whole:
Want a pinball just for fun, think 3D Ultra Pinball was the greatest, well this might be to advanced then (no harm meant to fans of 3DUP, it is good in its own way). Timeshock! is hard, it takes time to learn and master and most of all realistic. It gives more pleasure in playing and when you master it, you will still have more to explore. Thanks to the Operators Menu you can really make this pinball feel like "your own" (eh?).
There is really no minus with it, can't complain about anything, they thought of everything (most at least)... if you have played it you know how to start explorations and lock balls. When starting a exploration you prefer to go for the loop/ramp combination, when lock is lit you shoot into that loop but instead of it rolling out to the right flipper so you can shoot the ramp it gets locked. Irritating, but then there was a future so you could disable the lock a while and thereby get to do your loop/ramp, nice...
...but one minus I guess is that it demands a computer that at least is a pentium 60 (see sys req below)... The switch between different sound tracks is at least smoother now than it was in TW.
A pinball I recommend, and that simply because it feels so good...
I .. love .. it - the past can't be altered - the future will get interesting if not...
- Sys. Req.
Available for: PC CD-ROM, Windows 95
(DOS, Win95) Min. sys.req: Pentium 60
8MB RAM
1MB PCI/Local Bus Graphics card
10MB hard disk space
CD-ROM drive
(DOS, Win95) Rec. sys.: Pentium 166
(to run it at 32MB RAM
max. detail) 8MB PCI Graphics card
10MB hard disk space
CD-ROM drive
Soundblaster or windows 95,
compatible soundcard
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(4) - Released 1997
In case you haven't seen it, here is a copy of the released list for 1997...
*Pinball Deluxe
The pinball package with Amtex's three pinball classic
*Slamtilt
The european release, it should appear in the US soon. A very nice and good pinball indeed.
*Doka Pinball
A rather boring and lowscoring pinball. Small and empty tables results in little playing value.
*CyberPinball
A MorafWare pinball, strange looking one that can be played in many resolutions. Try the demo if just have to try it, I doubt you want to play much more after that.
*Absolute Pinball (US release)
A good pinball, got all the classic things and uses it well. Still it IMO miss something.
*Pro Pinball: Timeshock! (EU release) You know what it is...
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(5) - Upcoming
A copy of the Upcoming pinballs list.
*Addiction Pinball
The Team 17 pinball that is looking very promising. (read more below)
*Balls of Steel
One word, Duke Nukem, one of the tables will have that theme will be fun to try out that table. (read more below)
*2UP-Tilt!
A demo of this one is supposed to have appeared on the coverdisk of the May1997 issue of PC Review from Future Publishing (according to a rgp post).
*3D Ultra Pinball 3: The Lost Continent
Go to the url below to read about it
* http://www.sierra.com/titles/3dupb3/
As the other titles in this series it seems to be windows based with lots of strange sprites walking around on the table making it difficult to play. More a game than a pinball simulation, but who knows, it might be fun, but personally I don't favour this pinball serie so much.
*Slamtilt (US release)
Well, the US release should happen anytime now, if it hasn't already happened when this mail get out.
*Pro Pinball: Timeshock! (US release)
Should occur in September. You will be able to order it from Empires office in US before that.
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(6) - More about Balls of Steel
- Release
Since there has been rumors about July releases of BoS I mailed one of the programmers of the pinball, Joel Finch, asking about it.
" We're going to start putting tables through beta next week (comment: week 27), although the final table isn't completely finished yet, and will be the last to enter testing. There is almost no possibility of getting the game out for retail release any time in July. August is more likely, but I can't say for sure until we see how long the testing it likely to take. "
- Shareware table
Most likely will the table Darkside be the shareware table. It will hopefully be out before the full retail release.
- The E3 Show and BoS
BoS was displayed at the E3 show (some kind of big gaming show event), there was some problems with getting the pinball setup on the display machines there, which has led to some comments about its stability. It runs fine on the programmers machines and the problems that occurred on the display machines has been hunted down and eliminated.
btw. Keep looking into the Wildfire site about BoS, hopefully we will soon find a very interesting interview with a certain D.N there.
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(7) - More about Addiction Pinball
- Tables, etc
You might wonder whetever it will stand up to Timeshock! Well, the rules and themes seem to get as complex as in it but when T! is hard and complex and something for real addicts, Addiction seem to become something more for us normal players.
One of the more interesting tables (at least in my eyes, well worms is worms...) is Worms, the table will be designed traditionally and be mode based with lots a subgames.
Rally Fever is build up alot on combos and multi-ball. Eight modes and 4multiball-modes (not counting the Wiz mode) and alot of feature modes.
Alien Breed (based up on a movie that became a game that is becoming a pinball, the ailiens are invading us) is more mode based then the other tables. The rules is going trough a lot of altering right now.
- Release
When will it be released? No release date has yet been officially set, so it is hard to say, but it probably wont be released this month or so. Although when it is released, MicroProse will handle the distribution in bort EU and US.
- Pictures
Pictures of the pinball has been showned at the Coming Soon page, those pictures where old test rendered pictures not from the actual game. If you have seen them, take in mind that the pinball is looking completely different now.
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(8) - Current pinball list*
This is by no means a complete list, but it is as complete as I can get it. I hope you have some use of it, it is just here to show what pinballs exist... (Depending on your mail client the list will line up differently)
Pinball Developer
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3D Pinball Vcr / Total Pinball Spidersoft
3D Ultra Pinball Sierra
3DUP2: Creep Night Sierra
Absolute Pinball UDS
Alien Spaceball Brian Porter
Crystal Caliburn Solid State + Little Wing
CyberPinball MoraffWare
Doom Pinball James Pickering
Dynamix Pb / Take a Break Pb Sierra
Eight Ball Deluxe Amtex Pinball Classics
Epic pinball Full Edition Epic Megagames
Extravaganza Brian Porter
Extreme Pinball Epic Megagames
Full Tilt Maxis
Full Tilt 2 Maxis
Gerpeas Pinball Squid Productions
Impressions Pinball Impression Software
Julietta Pinball v.4.0 Hubert Achthaler
Living Pinball Bitewise Computer Software
Loony Labyrinth Solid State + Little Wing
Michael Suhrs Series Michael Suhr
Microsoft Heart Pinball Microsoft
Moraff's pinball Moraff's Ware
PCS Pinball Virtual Tecnologies
Pinball 2000 Expert Software
Pinball 4000 Expert Software
Pinball Dreams Digital Illusions
Pinball Dreams 2 Digital Illusions
Pinball Fantasies Digital Illusions
Pinball Illusion Digital Illusions
Pinball Magic Noone seems to know...
Pinball Mania Spidersoft
Pinball Prelude Effigy Software
Pinball World Spidersoft
Pressure Pinball Math McKenna
Pro Pinball: The Web / Virtual Pro Pinball Empire Interactive
Pro Pinball: Timeshock! Empire Interactive
Protec W. Lottermoser
Psycho Pinball Codemaster
Royal Flush Amtex Pinball Classics
Screamball / Ultimate Pinball Teeny Weeny Games
Silverball Epic Megagames
Slamtilt UDS
Spider Pinball Michael Suhr
Sport Pinball General Admission Software
Starball Volume 11
Steel Shoot Elkware
Take a Break Pb / Dynamix Pb Sierra
TDK The Pinball Machine TDK
Thomas the Tank Engine PB Spidersoft
Timehunters Pinball WSP Software
Tommy's Flipout Tommy's Toys
Total Pinball / 3D Pinball Vcr Spiderdoft
Tristan Amtex Pinball Classics
Ultimate Pinball / Screamball Teeny Weeny Games
Virtual Pro Pinball / Pro Pinball: The Web Empire Interactive
