Metroid Prime Pinball Review

Game_Name: Metroid Prime Pinball Review
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Fuse Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Pinball
ESRB Rating: E
GamePlay Rating: 8
Graphics Rating: 7
Replayability Rating: 7

Samus Aran’s latest adventure isn’t quite what you’d expect. Read on to find out if Metroid Prime Pinball is right for you.

Last year, new born studio Fuse Games stumbled onto the gaming scene with Mario Pinball Land for the Game Boy Advance. Not a great way to jumpstart a career. Luckily for us though, Fuse Games doesn’t know when to quit. For their second go around, they decided to give pinball one more shot. And thus, Metroid Prime Pinball was born to shouts of confusion all across the land…

Shockingly, Metroid Prime Pinball is quite a faithful spin-off, even for a pinball game. Samus is still traveling the galaxy, fighting metroids and collection bounties. Of course, all this is done by whacking her around in ball form using two flippers, but still, the attention to the source material is amazing, especially considering that fans probably didn’t expect much of anything from a pinball game.

The term “Pinball-Adventure” would suit Metroid Prime Pinball because it is essentially an adventure game played like pinball. You explore various areas, defeat enemies, recover artifacts, etc; You start off with two tables and you can unlock more as you progress through the game. You can trigger timed missions, where you will have to defeat a set number of enemies within a certain time limit, and yes, there are boss battles. Of course, the way you defeat all of these enemies is the same. You slam into them repeatedly in your ball form.

Of course, there is also a little mode called combat mode, where Samus morphs back into humanoid form and battles evil with her arm cannon. Needless to say, this ain’t your daddy’s pinball game. It’s yours. Don’t give it to him.

The two screens from one long table, which is pulled off beautifully. There is a minor blindspot in the middle of the table, but it rarely has an effect on anything. The touch screen is used to nudge the machine from left and right, a familiar technique to hardcore pinball players. This will take some practice, however, as controlling all of the flippers while using the stylus on the touch screen isn’t an easy thing to do. Still, it’s a clever way of utilizing the touch screen and makes for a very realistic pinball experience.

Multiplayer mode only offers one table where up to eight players can compete for the high score, all off of one cart. Still, it doesn’t stay fun for long.

Metroid Prime Pinball both looks and sounds great. The graphics are pleasant and crisp, and sound effects and music are both easy going and catchy.

While not the best game in the universe, Metroid Prime Pinball is great for what it is. Simple enough to kill time with and fun enough to keep you coming back for more. If you are a fan of anything Metroid, pinball, or are just looking for a decent Nintendo DS game, Metroid Prime Pinball is a good choice.

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