AtariCrypt: Pinball

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Obsession

Obsession was released in 1994 for the Atari STe by Unique Development Sweden. Yes, I said the Atari STe for once - rather than its older brother. UDS has made magnificent use of the enhancements - Hardware scrolling moves the screen at 50fps for an ultra-smooth feeling. Heck, it's even utilising overscan too! The audio is a blast thanks to the DMA stereo - so crank up the volume!! This game is tremendously entertaining!! :D

It's loud, it's fun and one of the best "arcade" games I've ever played. Marvellous!!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Starball

It's all flippers and balls!

I've always liked playing Pinball in the arcades but I doubt you'd ever call me a serious addict of the genre. The ST seemed to receive a number of Pinball games back in the day with some possibly better than the real deal? Hmm, maybe not. But perhaps I'm tight with my money? Or I just love to see how much the Atari ST/e could impress me! ;)

Starball is different from the other competition because it was made by a couple of Lancashire lads who probably had desires to become bedroom millionaires. Now, I doubt that ever happened as many ST gamers had given up following the Atari ST scene by 1994. This is a shame because this game is blummin' brilliant to say the least.

This is a great game and I love Starball, it's not got the polish of a certain commercial offering, which is understandable. But it's still got its own style and oozes its own brand of character with such different tables. The graphics and sounds are gorgeous and everything scrolls down your SC1224 fast. Okay, I'm a little unsure about the physics behind all the glam because sometimes things don't seem to go as expected, but it's shareware so I must give it a break.

If you love Pinball, this is worth downloading and I'm sure you'll love it to bits. Too think £5 was the asking price back then - shockingly good value. What a superb "PD" game and possibly one of the best within the Atari ST's library.