The Icon Bar: Review_-_Silver_Ball: The Icon Bar: Review

Pinball action from the 4th Dimension. Reviewed by Jon Hall.

	This is a pinball game, and forms part of 4D's 'value for money' range of budget games. It comes on 2 DD discs, and runs on any Acorn running RISC OS 2 or higher. A HD installer is included, and this is the preferred option as it takes ages to load from disc. No 'key' disc is required.
	There are a total of ten quite nicely ray-traced tables to play and these vary in difficulty from a basic set-up to tables with many hidden features. Things to be aware of are: Ball traps, Black holes, Bonus multipliers, Ball multipliers, Spin and magnetic effects. The F keys are used to select options, and controll is by keyboard or mouse. The sound effects are apparently taken from real pinball tables.
	I found the game fun to play, and movement was smooth and responsive. It is quick on S/A, but not at all difficult to play. It's quite interesting playing with mouse control - hey, one handed pinball! But for a more "real" game, I would select the keyboard option. I liked the graphics a lot - much work and thought seems to have gone into them, and the sound is acceptable - some music might have improved the game's atmosphere - but this is a small complaint. All in all, a fun game and worth investigating if you are a pinball wizard! At £12.00, it fits into the budget category.


*The good...* Price Feels 'real' Lots of features Key disc not needed	*...the bad* No music Split screen can be destracting Difficult to remember set-up keys

Review - Silver Ball