The Classic Pinball Machine (Slam Tilt)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Slam Tilt
Date:	17/04/04 (161 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great graphics and sound, Diverse levels and options, Highly addictive

Disadvantages: Can get tedious, 'Ace of Space' is disappointing

The key to longevity for a video game is originality and a high level of enjoyment, which is why PacMan and Space Invaders are still popular today. A breed of video game that isn?t seen so much any more is that of the pinball game, but the simplicity and fun of Amiga pinball releases means they can still be enjoyed by all generations today. Digital Illusions? ?Pinball Dreams? and ?Pinball Fantasies? were the most well-known, and developed the look and technique of the pinball machine for the home computer, but by far the most impressive was ?Slamtilt.?


THE GAME


Released in 1996, this game caught the tail-end of Amiga consumers as Microsoft?s consoles became increasingly advanced and dominant in the market, but this also meant it had access to faster capabilities.

The basic layout of the game is identical to the tried and tested format of Digital Illusions? releases, but features much more realistic graphics, a greater variety of options and much more diversity. The player views the pinball table from directly above, rather than the slanted perspective often found in modern equivalents, and the screen scrolls up and down to track the ball.


CONTROLS


The game is controlled in the same way as a real pinball machine, but with keyboard keys in place of things to pull and click. The Amiga keyboard is laid out in an almost identical way to that of a modern PC, so it should be easy to understand.

F1 ? F8 ? These keys at the top of the keyboard are used once the desired table has loaded to select the number of players. People playing a lone might be tempted to press F8 for many more goes, but it?s much more sensible to simply press F1; that way you don?t lose track of where you are, and once you lose your third b
all you just press F1 to begin anew.

ALT ? Those keys to the left and right of the space bar that are always there but don?t really do anything are used to control the left and right flippers. Pressing them also causes lit bonuses to alternate, which can be used to the player?s advantage in completing light sequences.

RETURN ? Also known as the big arrow button on the right, pressing this released the ball into the game. Only used at the start of the round.

SPACE ? This is used on the start menus to select the options (with up and down keys) and to load the level. When used in play, this shakes the table; useful if the ball ever gets stuck, which has never happened to me in years of playing, but pressing it too many times causes a fatal TILT.

These are the only buttons needed to play the game. The Amiga had two ?Amiga? keys, each featuring an italicised ?A,? and these could be used to shake the table left and right as opposed to up and down. Again, quite pointless. The Amiga keys were located where Windows keys are commonly found, perhaps on your keyboard; why not pretend to play Slamtilt now for a few minutes? Just be careful not to tilt the game as it may bring up the Windows start menu.


TABLES & FEATURES


Despite excellent graphics, the only way the game can truly distinguish itself is through its choice of tables on which to play, and the features available on these tables. More than any other pinball game, all of these tables are excellent to play on, although everyone is bound to have their favourite.

TABLE 1: MEAN MACHINES

Fast-paced automobile carnage done in a tasteful way. The table bac
kground is littered with car crashes, monster truck pictures and a large grey skull with an attitude, presumably. The music consists of some thrashy rock guitars which increase the adrenaline atmosphere, and the special rounds are all based around speed. As with all tables, ?Mean Machines? features a bonus round that is very different, and in this instance involves steering a race car using the flipper keys to avoid bends. This level is fun.

TABLE 2: THE PIRATE

Plenty of great multi-ball options and some fitting piratey music make this another fun board, but it does get tedious after a while. The common ?Shoot Ship? feature involves hitting a flipper when a cannon has a ship in its sight, the aim being to shoot the ship, quite clearly.

TABLE 3: ACE OF SPACE

The least enjoyable table, this still has its charm. The dark purple and blue prevent it from being very appealing, but it does have some great ?mission? options. Other than that, there is nothing remarkable about this sci-fi based board.

TABLE 4: NIGHT OF THE DEMON

My favourite table, this is based around a horror theme, with a comedy bent. Every time the ball hits a buffer, the score board flashes an animation of a man getting punched violently in the face, the repetition of which becomes very funny. Interesting sub-games for high scores include ?Gravehunter: Dig For Treasure (Or For Pleasure),? ?Attack of the Mega Mutant Meatball? and the very fun but impossible ?Wolfman,? which requires the flipper key to be smacked consecutively at very fast speeds. This also has a great horror-influenced soundtrack.


CODES



There are no cheat codes to advance the player?s score, and it is genuinely difficult to hit the high score board, especially to beat the top two scores, but there are a couple of codewords that can be typed in when the table is loaded but play has not started:

SMILE ? Creates a smily face for the ball

DRUNK ? Creates a ?drunk ball? that no longer obeys the game?s excellent gravity features, and hops around where it feels like it. Quite useless and hard.

RADIOCATI& #86;E ? Changes the colour scheme of the table and lights, often with nauseating results.


VERDICT


One of my favourite games of all time, there has not been a pinball game to match it in terms of sheer enjoyment. The sound, graphics and playability have all been accounted for with great effort, and the creators clearly had a good time designing the sub-games. This may be available for PC, but otherwise is only available for Amigans, as my Dad likes to call himself.

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