Score
Gameplay:	9
Graphics:	6
Sound:	7
FunFactor:	10
PlasmaFactor:	9
Overall:	8.2

Mile High Pinball Review
February 4, 2006 by Christian Costa

by Christian Costa - February 4, 2006 Pinball has been around since the day of my father being a gamer. It was very crude with four flashing lights, two flippers, and a hole you fall in that takes you nowhere. As the years pass the pinball machine became more advanced and harder to play. Themes began to arise in pinball such as X-Men, Star Trek, and The Terminator. It was a gamer's dream no doubt. However with the release of video game consoles pinball income steadily decreased and the pinball was in danger of extinction. Then Mile High Pinball came along and saved the pinball world single handedly. This game for the Nokia N-Gage takes everything and anything people love about pinball and puts it into a small compact gaming device.

I Can't Put it Down

Pinball is a great game for maybe a day or so because it gets repetitive usually, right? Hit some buttons and move some flippers, sounds ok for a day out at the arcade. But Mile High Pinball makes you want to play more! I am playing now as I write this review. The gameplay is absolutely amazing. The first awesome aspect is you can't lose. Some people (much like myself) don't like pinball because we only get three lives. If you are ADHD then forget about playing pinball. Staring at the lights will be fun until you lose your ball. But in Mile High Pinball you CAN'T! It also gives you a change of scenery every time you beat a segment of a level. You don't have to look at the same board the whole time like in the arcade. It ranges from a forest with a wolf's den, space, and a battlefield. The controls are very simple with assigning two buttons to the left and right flipper along with a pause button. You can pause the intense action! So as you keep going up you get points, money and (the coolest part of the game) calculates your altitude!!!! You can even pick what your pinball should look like and name it. Ballz, I'm sure is a very popular name!
 

Back to the Past

The Nokia N-Gage has the same 3D Graphics Processing Unit as a Nintendo DS. This game is 2-D however. I was disappointed but happy as well to play a good 2D game once again. Surprisingly the colors in the game range from very vibrant to dull contrasting to the level. The enemies actually seem to look very dull though. Almost no detail is added to them so sometimes you are not sure if you are fighting a robot or a blue human. The backgrounds to the levels are very detailed though. If I am at the WWII level (which surprisingly looks like Call of Duty) then there are wrecked tanks, trenches, gravestones, and guns. This game, and yes this will sound cliché, makes you feel as if you are playing pinball in that setting. It rocks!
 

Happy Music Fun Time!

This music is catchy! I have rarely put this game down but when I have the music is still going on in my head. Yes it can get annoying but you really don't care sometimes because this is such an awesome game. The music tends to stay the same with slight differences during some levels. It does change when you fight bosses. Yes, this game has bosses. The music changes from a happy tree friends type of melody to a DUN DUN DUN Darth Vader type of rock. Besides getting a little annoying this game's music is really good for it.
 

It's a George Forman Grill too?!?!

Mile High Pinball is the epitome of funfactor. There is almost nothing that is not fun about this game. Secret levels, destroying robots, flying high into the air, and bragging to friends is what this game offers. I have been playing it non-stop since I woke up this morning and now it is nearly 10 p.m. I would like to compare the fun of this game is the fun you get from just jumping off a mountain or white water rafting. Every time you bounce the ball into a secret level or make that nearly impossible bank off the wall you get a rush! I have yet to even beat the game! I have played it for almost five days straight now. If there is no ending then I won't cry. I will rejoice and rise up to put pinball back to where it belongs, on the top of the charts and the throne of all video games everywhere!
 

Powerups+ Bosses= Dead Bosses

The bosses in this game are very interesting. There is a huge tornado, a lightning man, and a mecha robot. Well from the ones I have found so far. And they are all hard to beat. They send minions to mess up your ball and make you fall down into the past level. They also have an ability to shock your flippers so you can't use them and a lightning ball technique that drops your ball upon impact so it no longer bounces. However you can pick up power ups in the game! Not just the multi-ball power-up like in the old games. Mile High Pinball has many power-ups ranging from your ball bouncing higher, it doing more damage, you gaining more cash (so you can later on buy more power-ups) and my favorite, turning your ball into a rocket so it blasts everything in it's path as it raises in altitude! None of my friends have been able to beat my altitude score yet.
 

 

Pinball, You are My Lover

This game is what every pinball and some regular videogames should be. It never got boring, not even for a second. Even if you fall three levels you want to get right back up there and play till you have no fingers. This will probably be my most favorite review for a long time. For all those who play pinball religiously like I will now, well I salute you good gentleman. We are the future and the past. Stay strong!