The Pinball Of The Dead

''The Pinball of the Dead'' is a pinball video game developed by Sega's Wow Entertainment division and published by Sega in Japan and THQ in North America. It was released for the Game Boy Advance on June 19 and July 4, 2002, in North America and Japan, respectively. Based on Sega's ''The House of the Dead'' series of light gun games, particularly ''The House of the Dead'' and ''The House of the Dead 2'', the game contains three tables and includes a "Challenge" mode. Full-motion video sequences and audio samples from previous games were also added. The game was first announced during the 2001 Nintendo Space World. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto was involved with making the game's music.

''The Pinball of the Dead'' received generally positive reviews from video game critics, receiving an Editor's Choice award on ''GameZone''. Critics praised the graphics and sound while its gameplay physics was more mixed. It also received several comparisons to other pinball games like ''Devil's Crush''. In 2005, the game was later called one of the best games of all time from gaming magazine ''Nintendo Power''.

Gameplay

''The Pinball of the Dead'' is a pinball video game. The game has three tables based on locations from ''The House of the Dead'' and ''The House of the Dead 2'': Wondering, Movement, and Cemetery. The player launches the ball into the table via the "Skill Shot", where a crosshair moves onto a zombie and bonus points can be earned by successfully hitting a zombie. Each table has zombies moving around that the player must kill to score points. Scoring enough points unlock new areas and eventual boss battles. Hitting certain objects or characters spell out words such as "Escape" or "Chaos". These words can result in obtaining extra balls or unlocking special events.

There are six bosses in the game, based on ''House of the Dead 2'' bosses. Losing a boss battle results in being sent back to the main board, where the player must regain access to the boss. The game also features a "Challenge" mode, increasing the game's difficulty. Full-motion video sequences and audio samples from previous entries in the series appear in the game.

Development

The game was developed by Sega's Wow Entertainment division. ''The Pinball of the Dead'' was first announced as ''House of the Dead Pinball'' in an interview with Rikiya Nakagawa, the CEO of Wow Entertainment, at the 2001 Nintendo Space World. Sega later announced that the game would be co-published by North American video game company THQ as part of a joint agreement to publish and develop games for the Game Boy Advance. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto was involved with the game's music. It was shown as part of THQ's E3 2002 booth. ''Pinball of the Dead'' was released in North America on June 18, 2002, and later on July 4, 2002, in Japan.

Reception

Previewing the game at the Tokyo Game Show, ''GameSpot''s Jeff Gerstmann spoke positively of the game's animation while criticizing the ball physics and the strength of the flippers. Upon release of the game, ''The Pinball of the Dead'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Critics compared the game favorably to ''Devil's Crush'', ''Alien Crush'', and ''Kirby's Pinball Land''. The game was selected as the "Editor's Choice" by ''GameZone''. It was a runner-up for ''GameSpot''s annual "Best Sound on Game Boy Advance" award, which went to '' Aggressive Inline''.

A writer for ''GamePro'' called the game's graphics "clean, detailed, and animated with flashing unlife", while being unimpressed by the bosses. Suzanne Ashe from ''GameSpy'' also called the graphics "terrific" in spite of the limitations on the Game Boy Advance. ''IGN''s Craig Harris noted slowdown in the graphics when multiple objects move on-screen. Reviewing for ''GameSpot'', Greg Kasavin, also noted the slowdown in the game and mentioned it throws off the timing in making shots. The sound and music to the game were also well received. Harris considered the sound effects to be a mixed bag, however.

The gameplay physics received mixed reactions. One writer from ''GameZone'' described the ball physics as "accurate" while the GamePro writer thought it to be "spot-on". Both Craig Harris and Greg Kasavin thought the physics to be "floaty". Harris and ''AllGame''s Scott Alan Marriott recommended '' Muppets Pinball Mayhem'' over ''Pinball of the Dead'', with Harris saying it had more realism in its physics and Marriott saying it was made engaging and there were more things to do in it.

Writing about spin-off games, Justin Towell from ''GamesRadar'' called it "a solid and fun pinball game". In 2005, the game was later ranked #137 on ''Nintendo Power''s list of the top 200 best games of all time. It was also listed as one of the best games for the Game Boy Advance by ''Den of Geek''.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinball of the Dead, The
2002 video games
Game Boy Advance games
Game Boy Advance-only games
Pinball video games
The House of the Dead
Sega video games
THQ games
Single-player video games
Video game spin-offs
Video games set in cemeteries
Video games developed in Japan