Pinball Dreams On PSN Minis

So one game that came out on the PSN minis is Pinball Dreams, a game that I had a long time ago on the Amiga. I don't remember much about the game back then, but I did remember the machines, and the fact that my uncle's favourite machine was Steel Wheel.

So yeah, I got it for £4 off the PSN Minis:

The machines:
So the machines: Ignition is alright, those three lights that you have to hit to get the "Ignition" letters to light up? Yeah they are pretty easy compared to the lights of the other levels, but when I do I can't seem to hit the jackpot, and it only lasts for that one ball when you do. If I eventually do hit that jackpot I'll probably get a massive boost to my high-scores. Also I've found that if the ball falls down one of the drains, I can lift up one of the flippers and use the tilt to nudge it back up... not sure if that technique works on any other machine.

Steel Wheel is definetly not my favourite but I always end up getting the most points on that level. For example, I spent a while trying to reach 10 million, and in my first time being able to do this I somehow ended up with 19 million.

Beat Box I'm finding has the catchiest music of the lot... I can't remember it off-hand though. This machine appears... "empty"? I say that cause all of the stuff seems to be on the top half... or is that just me?

Nightmare I would say is probably my favourite, though I can't tell why exactly. For some reason I like the way that the ball doesnt start directly at the top, rather it gets shot out from the side. This particular machine seems to not have any specific "hard to hit" areas, except for the letters at the top but that's a standard.

The PSN Minis version:
Slight differences that I notice in the Minis version. First of all is a slight alteration to the graphics, just a slight upgrade. I don't notice too much of a difference. The main two things that are noticable are the way that the score boards are saved (which is great) and that a side-ways view is optional. What this basically means is that you can press select and the screen will flip on it's side. This makes X the button to control the left flipper and triange to control the right. On the PS3 this is pretty pointless, but on the PSP its great. It means you can see more of the machine at once (almost all of it) having the PSP flipped on its side. Only complaint about it is that it means the score display is cut-off at the edges, and if I'm wanting to lie down on the side, it gets top-heavy.

The peg:
I'm not sure if this is a standard for pinball machines, or if it's just in this game but the peg is a brilliant idea. Allow me to explain: on every machine, just below the gap between the flippers is a peg. What this means is that if the ball was to travel directly down between the flippers, the ball bounces back. However if this happens and the flippers are up, its more likely that the ball will just bounce back down (from hitting the bottom of the flipper). If the ball just fall down naturally cause the player messes up then the ball will just fall down the side next to the peg. What this means is that the player doesn't just have to think about "when" to flip but also "if" to flip

New Blog

Ok, so I don't know how this will turn out, just experimenting with it... see how things go