Metroid Prime Pinball - Nintendo DS review

Cash in or one to own?

20 June 2007 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Metroid Prime is a Nintendo classic, so when it spawns a pinball game is it a case of taking the brand to far or actually a perfect fit and one that you should be signing up for? We fire a few balls to find out.

Played over two screens, the idea of the game is like any other pinball game to score as many points as possible before you lose your ball.

Not breaking any genre boundaries, Metroid Prime Pinball sees elements from the games, ie robots, on a pinball table. Hit certain zones or elements and more stuff happens like aliens coming to get you or big bad robots trying to shoot your balls.

Every so often you'll pick up power packs, so to speak, and these will give you more balls, extra life or other bounties.

In an attempt to make it more exciting, Nintendo has included its Rumble Pak, which plugs into the secondary expansion slot. Activating when the pinball hits a bumper or when enemies attack the end result isn't going to rock your world.

Pretty lacklustre on touch screen interaction, the only reason for getting out the stylus is so you can job the table if your ball gets stuck.

Most interesting is the wireless element to the game. Featuring a Wireless Mission, gamers can play up to seven other players using DS Download Play with a single game card. The idea is to hit targets to release Metroid enemies on opponents' tables similar to battle Tetris.

Verdict

If you are a die hard pinball fan then this will get you excited, to a point, however if you are looking for something to just entertain you on the train and aren't normally into this type of game there isn't much to offer over every other pinball game you've looked at.

Not utilising the power of the DS enough, this is only for the serious pinball fan.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Nintendo
Price as reviewed: £35
Latest price: Compare prices
The good: Simple and fun
The bad: It gets a bit dull after about 5 minutes
Quick verdict: Not utilising the power of the DS enough, this is only for the serious pinball fan
Score