PC: WildSnake Pinball: Invasion 2

Ratings

Graphics:8.00 [Bar of Width 80]
Sound:7.00 [Bar of Width 70]
Gameplay:8.00 [Bar of Width 80]
Replays:8.50 [Bar of Width 85]

Our Take

WildSnake Software knows how to make games. Their last title covered by us (Invasion Waves) was excellent, and WildSnake Pinball: Invasion 2 is no exception. If you were a fan of their previous titles, want a new arcade game, or are a pinball fan, you need to go check the game out.

Invasion 2 looks great. Now truthfully, the backgrounds and enemies you may have seen in Invasion Waves, but there is no denying that everything still looks great even a couple months later. One thing that is noteworthy is the excellent sense of scale though. Levels are at an angle, and as enemies and your ball get towards the edge, they get smaller. This is a small detail, but it adds a lot to the game’s presentation. Finally, the frame-rate remains smooth throughout the entire play session; a necessity in a pinball game.

Music isn’t bad, but unfortunately feels a little more generic than the music in Waves. While Waves had a more professional techno feel to its background music, the sound here ends up feeling like your average space theme. While this certainly isn’t a bad thing (and it does fit the game), it just isn’t as memorable as the music in some of the other Invasion titles.

Gameplay is typical pinball, with some nicely added twists. First, you have destructible flippers. This means that if an enemy shot hits your flippers, they could possibly break in half. Fortunately, there are plenty of power-ups available for players to collect and use. These include the standards like multi-ball, but also include shields and fireballs. Unlike in other pinball games where you just hit bumpers and targets to earn points, here you hit aliens to destroy them, all while they move around and fire back at you.

The game includes over 100 levels spread out throughout five missions. New missions aren’t unlocked until you’ve played through the previous one, giving players some incentive to keep trying. Thankfully, as long as you have some lives left, you can quit the mission and resume from the last level you were on at any time. This is handy for players who may have to suddenly leave and quit the game. These levels are excellent as well. In most pinball games, you simply hit a few targets and earn points. But in Invasion 2, enemy formations vary greatly from level to level, and you’ll really have to hit a specific spot on the board on each one to go on. It’s excellent, and fun and players will have a lot of fun beating the levels and trying to earn high scores (which can be posted to WildSnake’s website).

As mentioned before, if you’re a pinball fan then you should definitely go and give this game a look. And even if you’re not, you may find Invasion 2 different enough from your average pinball game to make it worth checking out. A worth entry in the Invasion series from WildSnake, and we look forward to seeing where they take the series next.

http://www.wildsnake.com

Overall Rating: 8.00

Chris Dahlberg
September 20, 2005