''Dream Pinball 3D'' is a

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

simulation game developed by

TopWare TopWare Interactive – AC Enterprises e.K. is a German video game publisher based in Karlsruhe. The company is best known for publishing the '' Two Worlds'' series developed by its Reality Pump Studios division. History TopWare Interactive w ...

and published by

SouthPeak Games SouthPeak Interactive Corporation, doing business as SouthPeak Games, was an American video game publisher based in Midlothian, Virginia. Founded on March 1, 1996, as a subsidiary of SAS Institute in Cary, North Carolina, it was sold and moved t ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, first released online in 2006, and then ported to

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

and

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

in 2008. ''Dream Pinball 3D'' features six tables to play on, each with a distinct theme, including a medieval table, an aquatic table, a monsters (zombies and vampires mostly) table, and a dinosaurs table. Apart from the different visual styles, each of these tables pose a different challenge because of their varying flipper, ramp, and bumper positions.

Gameplay

As in the majority of pinball simulation video games - the objective is to gain as many points as possible by hitting the correct bumpers and obstacles. Bonuses included - point multipliers and extra lives - they are gained by hitting particularly hard shots. The games also features six different pinball materials - such as gold and steel - which affects the ball's physics. The

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

version features an online high score list - in which the player can compare their performance with others. The Wii version can either be played with the

Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with ...

and Nunchuk, with controls similar to '' Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection'' released a few months prior, or just the Wii Remote itself turned on its side for classic control. The Nintendo DS version is played entirely with buttons, with the

D-pad A D-pad (short for directional pad or digital pad; officially referred to by Nintendo as a +Control Pad) is a flat, usually thumb-operated, often digital, four-way directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern vid ...

being used to nudge the table. The top screen is used to represent the table's backglass, limiting the main dynamic camera view of the table to the touch screen.

Reception

The DS, PC and Wii versions received "mixed" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Sequel

Five years after the game's initial retail release, TopWare released a sequel to the game, ''Dream Pinball 3D II'', in Europe, targeting next-generation Nintendo platforms, as well as the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

. However, it was only known to be available on

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

and Xbox 360.

References

External links

* * {{moby game, id=/nintendo-ds/dream-pinball-3d_, name=''Dream Pinball 3D'' (Nintendo DS) 2006 video games IOS games MacOS games Nintendo DS games Pinball video games SouthPeak Games Video games developed in Germany Wii games Windows games Multiplayer and single-player video games TopWare Interactive games