3D Ultra Pinball Thrillride
| Article Published: Tuesday, October 31,
2000 (Vol. 6 No. 211) |
| Game Review By Alex Dennis |
| E-mail: alex_bigballer@yahoo.com
|
| |
| Devleoper: Sierra
Attractions |
| Category: Arcade - Pinball |
| System Requirements: P133, 32 MB RAM, Win 9x |
| ESRB Rating: Everyone |
| |
What do you get when you mix plain, old Pinball,
an exciting amusement park and 3D technology? 3D Ultra Pinball
Thrillride! Of Course! Contrary to the usual pinball game
of merely using flippers, to direct a ball into special areas
to gain points, without allowing it to fall between the flippers
and out of play, Thrillride presents a more interesting challenge.
The main table is based on the famous Hershey Park in Pennsylvania,
USA. And a number of the rides and attractions of this park
have been miraculously integrated into game-play. There are
15 amusement park rides that appear on the table when appropriately
triggered and each one presents its own challenge. There are
two main zones worthy of mention namely the Fun Zone and the
Thrill Zone. When you successfully direct a ball into the Fun
Zone, the challenges that you may encounter are the Kissing
Tower, Bumper Cars, Canyon River Rapids, Virtual Coaster, and
Flying Falcon. Two of these put you on separate full-screen
mini-tables: in Virtual Coaster you build your own roller coaster
and then ride it (this is done from a first person perspective);
and in Canyon River Rapids you aid floating rafts to escape
by using the pinball to hit interfering rocks. The Thrill Zone
consists of various roller coaster rides. These are the Great
Bear (you attempt to hit passing roller coaster cars), Lightening
Racer (featuring two coaster cars racing to the finish), Sidewinder,
Sooper Dooper Looper, and Tidal Force (you direct the ball up
a ramp). There is also a special mode called the Thrill Ride.
There are 3 clocks positioned on the table and every time you
hit one of these you decrease the initial waiting time of 50
minutes by 5. When the waiting time reaches zero you automatically
go into the Thrill Ride mode. In this mode, bright flashing
arrows appear on the table pointing to various ride entrances.
Your aim is to hit the ball into these rides as hard as you
can. The trill ride meter then becomes active clocking the velocity
of the ball for each ride you take on. When the reading on the
thrill ride meter is at its maximum you then earn a thrill point.
Presenting another great challenge is the multi-ball mode. This
triggers automatically at periodic intervals and when it does
you are challenged to keep track of three balls instead of one.
With all this available activity, one is bound to get hungry.
Knowing this made it fitting for Sierra to include a Snack Bar
on the main table. Each visit to this facility will earn you
a treat that is worth points!
Ratings (on a scale of one to five)
Graphics (****): For a pinball game, Thrillride
excelled in this area. The designers did a good job of fitting
the amusement park theme into the table. All the usual pinball
chutes and bumpers have become coaster rides and bumper cars.
A Ferris wheel and merry go round are also part of the ball
movement. The only things that retain their original orientation
are the flippers. My only problem was the rare occasion when
it wasn't that easy to locate the ball's actual position among
all these obstacles.
Interface (****): This title features a
large host of customizable features. The menus are simple, following
the ordinary windows format, making them easy to use and to
understand.
Gameplay (****): This game is fun and
addictive. I'm right now trying to finish this article quickly
in order to play it one more time before I delete it.
Multiplayer (***): I see pinball as more
of a single player game than a multiplayer game, so it was surprising
to see such an option. Thrillride presents two multiplayer options.
It allows for four players to compete on one computer, but not
at the same time. Each player takes turns, going one after the
other. The other option allows you to post your high scores
on the Internet.
Sound FX (*****): The sound effects are
the best part of this game. All the interactions of the ball
with its environment are well represented. An announcer is present
informing the gamer of the rides triggered and also presenting
short instructions at the start of each challenge.
Musical Score (***): The music for this
title was nice to listen to at the beginning, but I was not
so enthused after playing the game a couple times. Generally
the music doesn't affect game-play though, because the sound
effects are far more important when playing pinball.
Difficulty (****): The level of difficulty
can be customized in the options, but generally this game is
full of difficult challenges. No matter how difficult the challenges
seemed, though, they never became so difficult that they appeared
frustrating and insurmountable.
Overall (****): In general, I believe pinball
games are boring, which is why I was surprised to find Thrillride
actually worth playing. This game is especially well suited
for people who can't handle (or can't afford) games that require
a lot of time and effort to learn. Such people are often condemned
to playing simple card games like solitaire or FreeCell (Ugh!).
If you fall into this category and you're becoming increasingly
tired of playing these card games, then 3D Ultra Pinball Thrillride
is the game for you. If you don't want to take my word for it,
then you can download the FREE DEMO from the 3D Ultra Pinball
Thrillride website (http://www.sierra.com/attractions/titles/thrillride/)
and try it out for yourself.
