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| Maggot Attack Pinball by PDAMill |
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The game of pinball is one of those simple classics. Basically, you hit a ball around a table, trying to score as many points as you can while keeping the ball in play for as long as possible. That's all pinball will ever be, and there's really no need to change that. What makes one pinball game stand out from another is the bells and whistles that are incorporated into it, and Maggot Attack certainly has bells and whistles. And, since I can't stick a full size table in my pocket, this will do quite nicely!
The underlying theme of Maggot Attack is that you are a mercenary hunter trying to rid your planet of a vicious horde of alien maggots. Pretty standard science fiction fare, but then who really even expects a plot in a pinball game?
In addition to the basic element of hitting the ball around the table, there are several mini-games to be played in Maggot Attack. One game has you knocking down three flags, and once those have been cleared a spider-like creature appears. You get 1, 3 or 5 million points for killing the creature, depending on how many times you played this game during the course of one ball. There may be even more levels to this game, but the 5 million mark is the highest I've gotten to. Another game involves three sensors at the top of the board. When you trip a sensor it turns green, and tripping it again turns it off. If you can turn all three sensors green you get a "weapon upgrade", and then the fun begins. Underneath the sensors are three maggot eggs. Once you receive a weapon upgrade, you have so many seconds to hit those three eggs a certain number of times. This is called the "egg hunt". If you reach the required amount of eggs you get a nifty score bonus.
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The other "game" I've run across is the track that starts on the middle left of the screen and travels all the way across the top of the screen. The numbers 1, 3 and 5 appear in circles in front of this track. The first time you hit the ball all the way around the track the 1 lights up. If you hit the track again in a certain amount of time the 3 lights up, and so on. Once you've successfully traveled the track 3 times you receive a 5 million point bonus. When you've used up your last ball numbers flash at the top of the screen, and if the number that actually stays matches the last two digits of your score you get an extra ball. This only happens once, and I've not run across any other instance of getting an extra ball. However, if you do lose your ball within the first few seconds of playing, it will "respawn" for you at the launch point, so they are forgiving from that perspective.
While I'm not expert on pinball physics, Maggot Attack does seem to do a very good job of modeling a real world table. The bumpers react appropriately, and the ball never quite travels the same path twice, which is what you'd expect. The flipper action is spot on as well. In the initial build I played there seemed to be a slight "buffer" that would allow you to get away with hitting the ball even though you didn't necessarily touch it, but they seemed to have fixed that with the current build I'm using, which is v1.1.1.
Graphically this game is very nice. Little touches like gun attachments that light up as your weapon is upgraded and a tunnel that crumbles as you destroy maggots within it really enhance the visual aspect of the game. I would imagine that if this were an actual pinball machine it would look pretty cool.
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The sounds are also just what you'd expect from a pinball experience. From the clack of the flippers to the electronic voice that lets you know when you've done something right, every noise seems to have been ripped straight from the latest Bally / Midway masterpiece. My favorite sound is the slurping a particular maggot makes when it sucks up your ball for a couple of seconds.
When I first started playing this Maggot Attack I was a bit concerned about the fact that there was only one table to play for your money. When I actually thought about that, though, it would be no different than going to your local arcade and dumping $15-$20 into your favorite machine, and at 50 cents or a dollar a pop, that wouldn't necessarily take long to do. Plus, you can play Maggot Attack from the comfort of your own home or in that motel room when your away on a long business trip.
Whether you're already a pinball fan or you're just looking for that next "casual game" fix, Maggot Attack Pinball is a great place to start. The simplicity of pinball combined with wonderful graphics, perfect audio and cool mini-games make this a top notch package all around. This title will definitely not disappoint.
Overall Score: 8/10
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