Customer Reviews

The Pinball of the Dead

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pinball of the Dead is a strange combination of a modern day pinball machine and the House of the Dead arcade shooter. The graphics and design are stunning and the gameplay is good too.

There are 3 different machines to play, and they are all pretty different from each other. Before you shoot any ball you get to shoot a zombie via roving cross hairs. Hitting the zombie will net you some type of bonus, like multipliers or lost ball kickbacks,etc.

Within each machine (not really levels) there are the standard pinball sequences to hit like spelling out words to get big bonuses. More interestingly though, is the House of the Dead flair. All kinds of zombies are roaming the table. If the ball is going slow enough the zombies can deflect the ball. If the ball is going fast enough it squishes the zombies in a great big splat of green goo (color is configurable).

There are also special zombie battles and boss battles. The zombie battles are engaged by squishing a bunch of zombies and then dropping the ball in a hole. This will take you to a mini-game in which you have to squish a variety of flying/running/floating zombies.

The boss battles are even better. By engaging the right combination of table features (hitting areas, balls in holes, etc), you can cause a boss to rear his...ugly head in the middle of the table. Your immediate task of couse is to pound his ugly mug with the ball until he dies/goes away.

Of the 3 tables, I like the 3rd one the best (has hands for flippers) although the 2nd table has this neat pulsating heart/molecule thing that grows/changes as your ball rides the rails around it as well as a 2nd level area with extra flippers underneath the main table that see via a glass window in the main table. The first table is good too although I seem to have difficulty getting the ball out of the bottom area and up into play. The 2nd table is definitely the hardest to play.

Game play is good. Flipper action is accurate as is ball motion. NOTE: you HAVE to use "nudge" to be good at this game. The other note is that pinball tables are vertical and the GBA (SP) screen is horizontal which makes for a bit of machine controlled scrolling. There are plenty of times that you ball will drop between the flippers too quickly because the scrolling is not fast enough to keep up.

All in all this is an addictive game with a broad area to explore. The unlockable elements just add to the exploration.

This is a game definitely worth owning.

Whoever came up with this must have been on some quality Hydro. I have been a fan of House of the Dead games since the Arcade shooter came out and I have to say, Pinball of the Dead keeps up with the theme. The graphics are great, grisly and clear. The Sound is choc-full of "house of the dead" sounds from the cheesy music to the horky comments. The game comes with a save feature, music, custom options... and what I like the best, It keeps a toll of your damage. Zombies killed, bosses beaten... ect. You can unlock added features as well as you get better and better with the game.

The game plays like a normal pinball machine, flippers, bumpers, ramps.. all the stuff. But with a added fun feature... Zombies and Creatures, LOTS of Zombies and Creatures. They move about on the screen and after a little practice you can kill them with a hard hit from the Ball. It comes with 3 different pinball machine layouts, all crusty and grizzly looking with 3 dimensional graphics and layers.

If you like freaky weird games... You will like The Pinball of the Dead. It's entertainment value is high and very enjoyable.

This is a fabulously detailed pinball game, detailed with graphics, good music (especially for Gameboy), good voice-overs, and easy to use controls (L button for left paddle, R button for the right one, up to tilt the machine). Pinball of the Dead combines the horrifying graphics of Resident Evil, with multi-level pinball tables and just a twist of "use the pinball to destroy creatures." The game focuses around three major pinball tables, the first with a 19th century England theme, the second with a high tech sci-fi theme, the third with a ghoulish red cemetery theme and various hidden tables you can unlock. The tables also adapt, move and live, such as little creatures constantly appear in open spaces waiting to be run over by the pinball for points. Along with secret tables to unlock there are also cinematic horror scenes which can be unlocked through points, hitting something a certain amount of times or discovering a secret area. There are also secret areas with bosses for you to defeat by hitting it with the pinball several times. The gameplay is smooth, and instead of having the entire table viewable on one screen, the screen scrolls up and down following the pinball. It's a good pinball game, but although the graphics are for mature audiences, the game is quite easy. You can play for ten minutes on a single ball! After all is said, pinball is pinball.

This is the most long lasting fun on GBA ever. Lots of variations and it's got all the same bad guys you love from the Arcade House of the Dead 2. Destined to be a classic.

I could'nt put this one down for a second. I did not sleep, eat, or do anything but play this game since I got it. All the other reviews pretty much sum up the specs, so all I got to say is if you can find this game (it's becoming a rare find) cop it - you won't be disappointed.

Pinball of the Dead is highly addictive. The board setup and creatures in this game were very original. With themed boards, bosses to destroy with your pinball and user selectable blood colors, how can you go wrong?

Those of you craving a pinball game with an added bit of replay value should look no further than Pinball of the Dead for the GBA. An oddball game derived from Sega's arcade and Dreamcast hit series House of the Dead (another oddball HOD game is Typing of the Dead for Dreamcast), you play pinball on different zombie themed boards. Sound effects are taken from the House of the Dead series and sound surprisingly good on the GBA, while the graphics are much better than I expected and are sharp and nicely rendered. The gameplay is pretty much straightforward pinball action with side boss battles thrown in as bonuses. The controls respond well, but more time could have been spent on the boss battles, most of them are too similar to each other. All in all, if your looking for a good game in the recent wave of GBA titles, Pinball of the Dead is a good pickup.

This is a perfect example of an area where the GBA shines and the backlit screen of the SP model does it great justice. It's a cross of pinball and the arcade shooter HOUSE OF THE DEAD. You kill zombies walking around a pinball machine with the ball. It's easy to learn, fast fun! Good for a 10 minute break or an hour of smash em up time killing. The game is a little dark for the normal GBA, but the SP handles it very well. The graphics are good, and I liked how the zombies explode into a bloody mess. It's violent pinball, and very twisted and fun. I could see Goth kids screaming "Finally, a game made for me!" I really liked it. It was as if Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson made a video game.

well the game balances out to be worth the money if you actually like pinball. of course it doesn't really compare to real pinball but still not a complete waste. graphics were done well, things are taken directly fromt the arcade game and don't show with slow down or grainy voices.only complaint with the game is that you get unlimited tilt use...because it doesn't do a damn thing to the ball in motion. the final outcome of this game is that if you enjoy pinball, it's worth the money to find it. if you are unsure about how enjoyable to find pinball, don't buy a pinball game altogether.

Yea everything about this game is excellent. The graphics and sound are impressive, the gameplay is right on (several very good sets of controls). The tables are great and so are the boss battles; this game is very innovative. If you like pinball you MUST get this game. The physics in the game are excellent, and the long tables with scrolling are done very well.. nice and smooth and it does not interfere with game play at all. The innovation for the tables is that there are actual zombies and other critters moving about on the table.. hit them hard and the ball goes straight through.. hit them light and they can change the path of the ball. Mini-bosses can pop right out of the table and big ones are fought on mini-tables of their own once you unlock them. Excellent pinball game with great replay value.