Dream Pinball 3D

Perhaps I'm spoilt on the Pro Pinball games, but none of these tables really seem to have any heart. There's no real depth to them; I just feel like I'm flipping aimlessly most of the time. No video modes, no 'story', nondescript special modes... Don't get me wrong, this game IS fun, but only for a while. I've played the Pro Pinball games for hours, really getting to know the tables. None of the tables here make me want to do that. For a pinball game with multiple tables, I'd much rather see Balls Of Steel on GOG.

The basic engine here is quite good - and suspiciously similar to the engine of the free Future Pinball framework, which has been around since at least 2006 if not even earlier. Regardless of whether or not this is a completely-original engine or not, it's definitely better than the Pinball Gold engine, and on par with the engine found in the Pro Pinball series. No licensed tables here of course, just six brand-new tables. The trouble here is that each of the tables feels depressingly similar, as if the developers created just one basic playfield and copy-pasted it over and over again with new background graphics and slightly altered lanes. Each table has a bonanza of flippers, each table announces "combo!", and each table follows the same basic pattern - shoot ramps, get "combo!"s, eventually trigger a timed mode, complete all timed modes for jackpot. It's competent, thanks to the excellent game engine, but hardly what I would call "thrilling". Pro Pinball, despite the clunky, oftentimes-frustrating physics and oftentimes-even-more-frustrating lane layouts, offers ten times the excitement of this game, despite being over fifteen years older. The production values here are just absolutely atrocious, too. Generic fonts, unimaginative displays, terrible soft-jazz music permeating each of the six tables (even the supposedly-heavy metal Two Worlds table), and the voice actors show even less excitement than the Female Computer Voice in your average science fiction movie. The action is "spruced up" with - you guessed it - generic, bland-sounding sound samples to fit the table's theme (jungle noises for the dino table, planes going WOOSH WOOSH for the helicopter table, and so on). The table art is bland too - a good pinball table makes it obvious which ramps you want to shoot and why. Here, all sense of direction is lost in a sea of pastels and cheesy renders. It really feels like one of those bad budget titles you'd find from Strategy First, or in the $2.99 bin at Fry's or MicroCenter. The one good thing I can say about the table design is that the shots are generally simple enough to make - nowhere near as frustratingly impossible as some of the tables on the Pinball Gold pack. I have nothing against difficult, old-school tables, but the tables here in Dream Pinball hover in that uncanny valley - too modern to be a simple test of reaction time and skill like the old tables, and far too sedate and boring to pass as modern-day tables. You could do a lot worse for $5.99, but you could also do a lot better. Pinball freaks who already have the Pro Pinball series here on GoG should probably set up an installation of Visual Pinball and Future Pinball - they may take a bit of effort to get set up, but they're free, and there are plenty of hardcore pinball fans who meticulously recreate actual classic tables right down to every last detail. Visual Pinball features a much wider selection of tables, and Future Pinball features a 3D engine - an engine that, like I said before, is suspiciously similar to Dream Pinball's, and which has been around since years before Dream Pinball 3D was ever shoveled out the door.

Almost an excellent pinball game. despite of some minor design errors Dream Pinball 3D is an exceptionally good pinball game sometimes undeservedly under-valued by critics. This pinball game makes real pinball tables just more fun in ways a computer can help this instead of making it super-realistic, although not leaving realism behind. Excellent mood, design of tables and a really nice collection of music pieces. Although I have never had problems with the DRM of the original disc I'm sure GOG makes it easier to launch. I can only advise this game to all pinball-lovers. Trivia: The original PC title featured a Two Worlds table of the Two Worlds RPG game. The table was redrawn with an Amber Moon theme due to marketing issues around console implementations. The two tables are almost identical. So there is no surprise the Amber Moon table is of somewhat RPG style. Tip: If you want the game to look even better, pull down the HDR slider in graphics settings. It will make the environment darker and will let light effects prevail even more.

I must admit, I held off purchasing this game because of all the reviews I saw on the internet regarding the nasty DRM in place. Now thats its on GOG.com I can finally play this game without having to worry about product activation. The tables and graphics are amazing and its a shame there are not anymore pinball sims being made for pc. Worth every penny of the $5.99 spent.