Pull the plunger back and fire the ball into play. The more bumpers it hits, the more points you rack up. But don't let the ball leave the table - doing so three times ends the game. (Atari, 1981)

I'm just not a huge fan of video pinball simulations - see my review of Thunderball! for Odyssey² if you have any doubts - but having tried out Atari's Video Pinball, I can say that it's more fun than Thunderball! Itself a home version of one of Atari's more obscure late 70s arcade titles, Video Pinball offers some finer graphics than you'd expect from the early waves of VCS titles.

As pinball sims go, it's fairly run-of-the-mill: you can't move the table, so aside from any flipper action that might be needed, and without the ability to move the "table" at all, you're basically just a passive observer once the ball is in play. Somewhat surprisingly, Video Pinball does a good job of replicating the arcade game's video display (but not its mirrored background artwork). For what it is, Video Pinball really isn't that bad.

Rating:  Three quarters - worth repeat play, but with some annoying features that might alienate less patient arcade veterans.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster