Pinball

Platform: Android

RATING:
3 out of 5

PRICE:
FREE

TASTY:
Magma Mobile serves up a solid, if plain no-cost pinball experience for your DROID.

BUMMER:
Physics engine is simple, overall gameplay feels stiff, advertisements fill the top portion of the screen.

COOL:
Sound effects take this app from ho-hum to pretty good. It’s pinball on your phone, anywhere you go!

Read all of my past Android app reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech -- click here.

REVIEW:
In 2009, the good folks over at Magma Mobile dropped their ad-supported Pinball app into the Android Marketplace. And for the better part of a year now, it’s ranked high in the top free downloads category.

For good reason; Pinball serves up a plain vanilla (some might say uninspired) pinball experience that you can take with you anywhere. The tables are well-rendered, with the usual suspects of bumpers, traps, and bonuses, while the controls are one-tap paddle triggers and slide-down and release for ball launching.

The physics engine makes the whole game feel downright stiff, especially compared to the iPhone and iPad pinball titles.

After working your way through the tables – including bowling, underwater, soccer, space invaders, android land, sixties, and Christmas tree – you’ll quickly discover that a few work better than others. You’re also bound to run into some pathing and lost-ball issues here and there.

All of that said, Pinball is a free game that deserves a try. Unless you’re a certified pinball wizard, there’s some solid time-wasting gam eplay in this no-cost app.