Flash Game Review: Power Pinball

A classic arcade game after a makeover, Power Pinball is a flash game that keeps your eye on the ball as it zooms back and forth across the screen.

Just like any other pinball game, all you control are flippers (left and right arrow keys), tilting the entire screen (up arrow key), and the spring that fires the ball to start each round (down arrow key) - only this time, there are more than two flippers! The playing field is practically split in half so you only really have to control two at a time, but there are actually about five flippers, making it essential that you keep track of where the ball is (yeah I know it’s fast). Collecting fruits and mushrooms around the screen gives you points, and everything else, like the dragonflies and flowers, is something that the ball bounces off of. If the ball enters a hole, it comes out another hole, so be especially careful with those.

Having jumped from running Windows XP to Windows 7, one of the first things I noticed missing was, you guessed it, pinball! So I started playing Power Pinball in hopes that it would be just as good as, if not better than, the timeless classic I played on my ancient desktop computer. This flash game didn’t disappoint. The screen was much larger, making it more challenging to keep up with the ball (especially with those holes!). It also seemed much faster than I remembered pinball to be, making it even more fun to watch the ball dart back and forth. Instead of boring bumpers and other obstacles, Power Pinball has flowers, mushrooms, and dragonflies. The game can be paused to show controls, or you can return to the main menu at any time. The music and sounds weren’t too big of an annoyance, but those can be toggled at any time too.

Of course, the game isn’t flawless. In addition to the flowers, etc., other things clutter up the screen that I have yet to find a purpose for. The special bonuses that are unlocked when you accomplish certain things aren’t too clear, though I was a little too focused on keeping the ball alive for that to be a major issue. I would have preferred if the ball didn’t always start on the left side of the screen, but that was only a small issue as well.

As far as pinball goes, Power Pinball is pretty much as good as it gets. Decent graphics, good gameplay. I’m giving it a score of 7.0/10.0. You can try it here for free!