
So I Tried… Pro Pinball - Big Race USA
Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never tried before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time I went for the PC version of Pro Pinball - Big Race USA.
What I thought it was
No mysteries here - a pinball game based around cars. I know there are lots of pinball games around and about, but the old-time charms of this title from 1998 were too much to resist. I haven’t played many pinball games since Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies in the early ‘90s on the Amiga, but they all do the same thing. Ping, bang, bounce, slide and down the middle.
What it actually is
A pinball game more based around a Brooklyn taxi than anything else. The simulation of the table caught me off-guard at first, because it was surprisingly realistic for a game that’s getting on for 20 years old. I was unsure of the buttons, so I managed to begin a game with four players, but that just meant gameplay lasted longer. And Player 3 won, in case you were wondering...
It really was just like stepping in front of a real pinball table, in fact. No idea which runner goes where, being surprised when you realise there’s a third flipper, being even more surprised when you notice the fourth flipper, hoping the game will give you an extra ball because your first one flew straight down between the flippers… But you grow to learn the table eventually.
Will I keep playing
It was definitely more fun than 3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet, the pinball game everyone used to play up to Windows XP. However, like that game, Big Race USA is something I might come back to when I’m supposed to be working. With only the one table, although brilliantly made, it’s not enough to keep my interest. I’m not one for trying to hit a high score - I prefer the overall experience. So no, I won’t be continuing on with this. But if you’re a huge pinball fan, definitely check it out.
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