There are six tables, which become increasingly cluttered with obstacles and scenery until you’ve got a giant helicopter in the middle of one and a second table level on the last. Graphically it’s wonderful – you’ll be too busy at first trying to work out what the heck you should be doing and trying to keep the ball on the table, but after a while you’ll notice the little details, like the reflections off the glass and the lovely ‘flare’ effects when you hit certain targets. ![]() Dream Pinball 3D (what a very mid-90s title) has them in abundance. I’m probably a sucker for flashy lights and shiny things. If there was some kind of award for making large ball-bearings disappear at speed, I would win hands-down. It’s less ‘lost balls’ and more ‘lost marbles’. And it will only be a few minutes, for I not only love it but am completely, categorically useless. If I’m walking past an arcade I’ll generally find the table with the most ridiculous-looking construction and try my luck for a few minutes. I’ve owned various virtual tables from the day that I played Pinball Dreams on a friend’s Amiga and became hooked. Last modified September 18th, 2023.I love pinball. Includes information about the game, screenshots, patches, and cheat codesĪre you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history!Īdditional contributors: Xantheous, jean-louis, Maw, Patrick Bregger. Wildfire Studios official homepage for Balls of Steel.Very informative, info on the game, screenshots, shareware demos, patches and more Apogee/Pinball Wizards official homepage for Balls of Steel.John, the official voice actor for the Duke Nukem character. Icing the cake is the recording of original Duke-y quips by Jon St. In any case, the references went both ways, as Balls of Steel includes a Duke Nukem 3D-inspired table, with ramps and bonuses named after Duke enemies ( octabrain, pig-cop) and power-ups ( jetpack, HoloDuke). Since 3D Realms and Pinball Wizards are both divisions of Apogee, either this early appearance inspired the actual Balls of Steel product or was a leak / early promotion of their pinball video game that would come out of the pipe nearly two years later. The first appearance anywhere of a pinball machine named "Balls of Steel" is in level 1, "Hollywood Holocaust", of Duke Nukem 3D. Montgomery Burns from the TV Show The Simpsons done by a very similar voice. The table "Mutation!" features catchphrases of C. As of 2011, the Pinball Wizards name was never used again. Most of their new releases have gone under the roof of 3D Realms, but Pinball Wizards was created for Balls of Steel (after all, it's not 3D). In 1997, Apogee decided not to develop/release games under their own name, but rather specialized divisions of themselves. Pinball Wizards is actually a project group of Apogee. Also, it was distributed by Expert Software, rather than Apogee or GT Interactive. It was finally released in early 2000 as a seperate product - not an add-on. With fast action and all kinds of different missions to master, it's about the most fun you can have in 2D.Ī sixth table, Devil's Island, was made but not included with Balls of Steel. But, if you're a fan of the classics', especially Extreme Pinball, you'll love it. If you grew a love of PC Pinball games out of the Pro Pinball series or similar, you can certainly give Balls of Steel a try but you may gripe about it having top-down graphics and not being "realistic" enough. A better intro screen would be nice, with more info on the table rules.Since the music wasn't tracked, it's not very strong and doesn't change much (mostly 20-second loops).Ball "nudging" seems excessive the ball visually changes course (also, the nudge keys are backwards compared to other games, but that can be fixed by the user). Gameplay is almost TOO easy - granted, I don't mind playing longer than in other games.The music is appropriate for each game, and the sound effects are very well done (even Duke Nukem returns with a few new quips). The gameplay seems just about right for each table, but they have enough differences to make playing each one worthwhile. Even when events are activated in rapid succession, the animations and sound effects play out smoothly. They did a great job of testing the game - it seems virtually bug-free. Each table is chock full of incredible graphics, special modes, dot-matrix video games (just about everything you can do with 2 flippers and a plunger), and funny random add-ons ("moo"). BoS is just plain fun as hell to play - although to truly appreciate it, you have to be of the scrolling-pinball generation (Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions, Epic, Extreme, etc.), and of course play it in scrolling mode.
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