Customer Reviews

Flipnic: Ultimate Pinball

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're a pinball fan, I highly recommend Flipnic. This isn't a simple mock-up of a pinball board. It's a fully 3D pinball style action game, including fun multiplayer.

First, the pinball. You get a number of "worlds" to play in - natural, metallic, light based, and so on. You play on a number of different boards in each level. The boards are all attached to each other by ramps, so the current board you have on screen is always manageable and visible. You can easily get to the ramps to send you off to another board, and rack up the points. There are a number of cool interactive features on each board, including special multi-ball and other situations. You really get the hang of each board combination and style.

The visuals are really quite nice, from the bumpers and flippers to the surrounding environment. The sounds go well with each world, too.

Just as good, though, are the multiplayer games. Each world offers one. There's a basketball game, a 3-tier pong game, and a game that is in essence two simple pinball maps side by side where you try to get your opponent to lose balls faster than you do. The one that shines is the foozball game, though. It looks simple enough at first - you raise and lower your bumpers to move the ball into your opponent's goal. Once you get the hang of it, though, it is amazingly fun.

Well recommended for any pinball fan!

I was hoping for more of a traditional Pinball game. This wasn't it. Although the Graphics and Physics are comparable, it quickly becomes just another idiot box. Being a 58 year old Pinball fanatic for about 48 years I have come to enjoy the finer skills of Pinball such as catching the ball, passing it from one flipper to the next, bankshots, etc.. Although you can do those things with this game, they serve no benifit. You are better off just to flip away. You don't have to worry about low scores, getting extra balls is so easy it is almost automatic, in fact after an hour or two of playing the same game, I purposely just let my balls drop just to be able to post a score. It seems that you spend more time watching the ball travel around the field and going from one level to the next than actually flipping which in my opinion, makes this game more of a roller coaster ride than a pinball game. I suppose there are some people this game would appeal to, the graphics are adequate and the actual ball physics are pretty accurate accept that you don't seem to be able to control the english or rather the spin of the ball off the flipper.

Great game with many levels. It takes some time to play all of the levels. As an older player (58) I really enjoy this modern pinball game.

actually, i purchased this game because of a good review on G4tv. as a general rule, i am not a pinball video game fan; however this has something for everyone! the sights and sounds alone took me back to my youth in the 70's! even if your a diehard rpg, platformer or sports game diehard; this is definately worth the price of a rental looksee, and for myself, was worth every penny to buy. you won't get tired of this one quickly!

i was very excited to play this game, and it is visually awesome to look at, but extremely frustrating! there is a definite delay between when you hit the button and the flipper actually moves! several seconds! i had to give up planning shots, and just hit the buttons repeatedly. i'm surprised no one else has mentioned this in a review, it would have been helpful. i've since seen the same comment on other websites, and i wish i would've seen it before purchasing.

First a bit about me: I'm currently 42 years old and I cut my pinball chops beginning with the final wave of electromechanical pinball machines in the late 70s. I started playing a lot when I was eight, and by ten I was approaching a wizard level of skill, often able to roll over a 6-digit score display two or even three times. So, I do know my pinball.

Once video pinball games started becoming popular in the mid 80s, I played a lot of those too, both in arcades and on computers and consoles. Obviously, these early games were no substitute for a real pinball machine, but games like NES Pinball, Night Mission Pinball and the legendary Pinball Construction Set were still hugely entertaining to me.

As for Flipnic, I didn't even know about its release, so finding it in the used section of my local game store came as a bit of an unexpected treat. I was expecting something along the lines of one of the Pro Pinball games (and those are still among the best video pinball games of all time behind only Pinball FX2 or Zen Pinball for the latest console generation). For better or worse, that's not what I got once I popped it into my PS2 and started playing.

First the pluses with Flipnic. To begin with, there are awesome tutorials about advanced flipper techniques, to help new pinball players learn how to control shots rather than losing balls frequently to random shots and bounces. That is a really nice touch. Next, the ball and flipper physics are far more than adequate, though not quite stellar. The trajectory of the ball from the flippers is generally very close to what you would expect on a real game. And by far the coolest addition to this game would be the retro Pong/Breakout hybrid game included in this package. If you are familiar with the earliest Namco arcade titles such as Cutie Q or Gee Bee, where you're playing a pinball type game using breakout style paddles, then you know what to expect here. There is a HUGE playfield with unlockable areas (you literally roll the ball over keys to open more parts of the game up), and all kinds of colored rectangular bricks to take out. Paddles are everywhere too, giving lots of options for controlling the ball. And the best part is that they didn't take the cheap way out with the paddle control, where a press to the right on the d-pad moves the paddle at a set speed to the right, and likewise to the left. Rather, you use the left analog stick much like a dial. Twist the stick right and the paddles will all move right relative to how quickly you twist the stick. A truly excellent setup which is inexcusably lacking in other modern games like the old Arkanoid revamp put out by Taito for the XBox Live arcade a few years ago.

That's a lot of good news. However, the game does suffer from a major design flaw, in my opinion. That is, the main pinball "tables" are actually set up to be like a whole slew of mini tables, which are all connected by a massive apparatus of ramps and rails. This too would be awesome, EXCEPT that nearly all of the mini tables are truly tiny. Like maybe 1/6 the size of a regular pinball table tiny. But, the flippers and bumpers are still calibrated to the strength of a full size table, so the result is that you can hit the ball with a flipper, have it bounce at lightning speed off a stationary or moving target the equivalent of mere inches away, then have your ball rocket down the drain before you even knew what the heck happened. Couple that with the fact that each table has a number of missions spread out all over the place, and you have a very frustrating situation on your hands. Some of the objectives become next to impossible due to this problem, and frustration mounts very quickly, as other reviewers of this game have also attested.

I do recommend buying this game for the novelty of the breakout hybrid "table," and also recommend it to veteran pinball players who want a very steep challenge and don't mind trying to maneuver a ball in a cramped, claustrophobic amount of space. Those who are less experienced with pinball, but who would just like to give it a try, would be better served by starting out with games like the Pro Pinball series for PC and PSX, or Pinball FX2 for the XBox 360. Then once you are confident on something more like a normal modern table, by all means pick up a cheap copy of Flipnic and enjoy what are some amazing graphics and insane table layouts. Just remember it won't be an easy title to beat.

If you love pinball, then you have to have this one....it's not perfect because it's not an actual real life pinball machine, but if you keep that in mind, then you'll think it's a great game as I do!

this game is a far out adventure of any pinball game
out there. i truly recommend it if you like pinball.

Based on a few customer reviews, I purchased this game and WOW!! --I'm glad I did! This is NOT your ordinary pinball game but a 3D game the likes of which I've never seen before. It reminds me a little of Mario Galaxy the way the table turns around, the ball can "jump" to collect coins, and the table themes (biology, metallurgy, optical, et al.). The first day I had this game, I lost track of time and played for about 5 hours straight, never bored once.

I'd recommend it to anyone who wants something visually appealing, challenging (without being too difficult), and just downright awesome in a pinball game.

I've always enjoyed pinball games. I've been looking for a game for years. Amazon rocks!

Phil