World Cup fever rears its ugly head again! This time its pinball!? Pinball Games Ltd. brings us this latest installment of game companies trying to cash in on soccer nuts'. Some of you might remember Judge Dredd Pinball a few months back from the same company. Well, this game is quite similar, same basic frontend, just put a new table down for this one. Don't get me wrong, Judge Dredd was pretty cool, but I just don't think Soccer Pinball has what it takes to satisfy the pinball freak. The game itself is pretty straight forward as far as pinball goes. It takes little or no time to figure out what to do, basically score a GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

Graphics: 13/20

Graphic options are nice here, you get the standard 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 modes in 8, 16, or 24 bit color. No complaints there. As far as the game goes, again, not bad. The table is set in a stadium with a nifty little roving TV camera that follows your ball everywhere. The ball graphics are nice too, the soccer ball is completely animated, looks quite real. Unfortunately, you cant change your view, you get the standard angled view of the table, so you better like it.

Sound: 11/15

The roar of the crowds, the little horns that the bozos blow, its all here. Sounds a lot like an actual soccer game! Standard pinball sounds round it all out. Overall, sound is pretty good, there is always some type of sound to keep the action moving.

Gameplay: 15/25

Quite realistic, but it does seem that the table is a little steep. I had the same feeling with Judge Dredd pinball, so they must not have read my review!! Those bastards! Unfortunately, there just don't seem to be all that much stuff to hit. Seems to need more of something, more ramps maybe. Every now and then a referee wanders around the field, and some HUGE ball comes out on the field, but as far as the middle of the field goes, its pretty empty. What it really needs is maybe a fight or even a riot after the game, heh, then it would be real :) There is a huge goal at the end of the field also to score on, but it seems the US team is guarding it, since it is EASY to score on :) One odd thing is that you get stuck with 5 balls per game, cant set 3 balls for the pinball experts.

Fun Factor: 14/20

Hey, I know its just World Cup fever gone awry, but it still pretty fun. Could be better, but overall, its a fun little game to get your soccer fever in high gear for the finals.

Packaging: 5/5

Multiplayer: 3/5

Remember Star Trek Pinball? It had that weird 2 player mode, well, they ripped em off and did it here! You get a split screen type view, with a player on each side, with the object being to score more goals than you opponent. Its weird, but interesting.

Overall Impressions: 7/10

Not bad, not the greatest pinball ever, but its fun. If you are a soccer freak, you will dig it. As far as the pinball purist goes, this one falls short of some of the other titles out there. Its just basically cashing in on the soccer craze, like every other game company practically this year. I just wish it had that nut that yells GOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!!!