Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Alan Au

Pinball on the DS seems like a natural fit. After all, it’s portable, the controls are simple, and you can just drop in for a quick game. What happens when you cross pinball with an RPG? You get Flipper Critters, a weird little budget-priced pinball-based story game. Unfortunately, the story aspect is kind of a bust, but at least the pinball part is mildly entertaining.

The graphics are okay for a DS title. That is, the 3D characters and objects are pretty blocky, but hey, it’s a pinball game and the pinball parts are just fine. That is, there aren’t any problems keeping track of the ball, and the flippers and obstacles are easily distinguishable. Everything is brightly colored, and there are guide arrows to highlight objectives and interactive parts of the board.

However, there is a little bit of quirkiness with the 3D parts of the board, but in the end the ball ends up at the flippers, and it’s all okay. No, this game isn’t going to win any awards for its graphics, but they work adequately for pinball, and that’s pretty much all you can ask for.

Music and sound are fine. The audio is a little bit tinny from the DS speakers, but they’re mostly pinball noises and you can hear everything just fine. The background music is chirpy, but you’ll be focusing on the ball and the visuals most of the time anyway.

The interface is pretty simple, which you would expect from a pinball game. The left and right shoulder buttons work fine for controlling the flippers. Sadly, there’s no option to bump the table. Sure, it’s a pretty advanced technique, but there are times when you need a little bit extra help keeping the ball in play. One of my complaints about the game is the poor use of the upper DS screen, which usually just shows an alternate view of the board. At other times, it contains little bits of story text, except that you’ll be too busy managing the ball to read any of it.

Of course, the dialog is terrible, so you aren’t missing much. Perhaps my one biggest problem with the game is that the manual doesn’t explain much about the board pieces, some of which are actually touch-screen activated elements. That’s right, you’ll have to poke at the screen while simultaneously keeping a ball in play. This turns out to be unbelievably irritating and ruins what would otherwise be a charming pinball experience.

The story mode is an unusual addition to what would ordinarily be just another pinball game. The idea is to progress through the stages by hitting specific targets and ramps. This is actually harder than it sounds, since some ramps will take you to completely different boards. The stories themselves are quirky little riffs on standard RPG quests, and the game regularly pokes fun at many traditional gaming clichés. The pinball itself is pretty standard stuff, and there’s good variety among the boards. The ability to transition between boards is also a nice touch.

However, the story parts are unforgiving, as you have to complete the entire multi-stage quest with a limited supply of balls. You can supposedly save your game, but it only really records which stage of the quest you are currently working on, so don’t expect it to save your actual progress through the pinball portion of the game. Another annoyance has to do with the mini-games, which aren’t terrible, but they feel completely out of place in a pinball game. I mean, a cheesy side-scroller really breaks up the flow when you really just want to play pinball.

It’s nice to see another pinball game for the DS, and this one has a couple of interesting tables. However, the story mode can be frustrating, since the limited balls makes it tricky to finish quests. The quirky interface doesn't really help much either, although the budget price makes this title a bit more palatable. In other words, treat it like a budget pinball title and you'll be fine. Just don't expect it to be a very fulfilling story experience.Flipper Critters is a pretty standard pinball offering for the DS, and it tries to mix things up a bit by adding a story component and mini-games. While the story part feels tacked on, it does provide a way to link together a set of individually interesting boards. Unfortunately, the game isn't very good as an overall package, although the budget price might make it worthwhile for pinball enthusiasts looking for a couple of new tables to play.

Gaming Trend Score

64

1. Graphics: 65
2. Audio: 65
3. Controls: 60
4. Gameplay: 65
5. Value/Replay: 65
6. OVERALL:64