Ruiner Pinball

Pinball may sound like a strange fit for a 64-bit console, but given the success of games like Alien Crush and Devils Crush, I was ready to be proven wrong. Ruiner Pinball has a cool looking board, plenty of things to do and a name that just screams action-packed, but something about it doesn't quite gel like it should.

In this pinball game players must defend their home turf from attack against up to three other players on three different tables. The "Ruiner" level allows you to change the DEFCON setting from one to five to really intensify things. Tower takes things up a notch with even more elaboration and length.

The emphasis isn't as much on the physics of the ball as it is on the various kinds of wackiness that are triggered by hitting certain things. There are of course lots of flashing colors, strange noises and over-the-top reactions. In this sense, Ruiner Pinball resembles most 16-bit pinball games like the aforementioned Alien Crush or Devil Crush in that realism is done away with. It's not such a bad thing if you're only a casual pinball player, but diehards will yearn for more of a simulation.

Ruiner Pinball is an alright game, but not good enough to be recommended. The stories aren't terribly compelling and the graphics seem washed out and look like they're straight out of a 16-bit release from the early 1990s. But if you're looking for a pinball game on your Jaguar you can do far worse (Pinball Fantasies anyone?). Ruiner Pinball is the pinball game to get on the Jaguar.