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Introduction
Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic is a 3D Pinball game with some story elements. It is developed and published by Sinomod Studios. I didn’t have any expectations before playing this game. But after playing it for a couple of hours I was really impressed. It was a bunch of fun and I would even consider giving the game a 10 as a pinball game, if it didn’t drop the ball in some aspects.
Gameplay
Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic(RRPP) is an easy to understand and play. The gameplay works just like a classic pinball. And for progression you unlock new tables as you play through the story and beat the score for each table. As you go further in the story the tables get harder and the scores to beat get higher.
The controls feel tight and good to play with. From the flippers to the environmental props around the table, everything works in perfect cohesion. I’ve had only a few frustrating moments while playing through the story mode. The gameplay never felt unbalanced or dull.
The Tables
Not long ago I had an itch to play some pinball. I had played it for the first time on my Windows XP as a kid and wanted to experience that feeling of arcade again. I mostly looked through the free/cheap pinball games on Steam. The games I found didn’t really feel much like classic pinball. They felt more like a casino version of a pinball with alerts and points coming out of every corner. The worst were the free ones. Almost all the tables were locked behind a paywall as you’d expect from a free to play game. Not long after that, I gave up on my search. But then I got a chance to play RRPP and it was a breath of fresh air.
The Tables start off quite basic, simple pinball with a couple of extra point chances, life saves etc. But after the second basic table, things started to get real fun real quick. Every table is different and has its own witch trials, gems, secret challenges and more. They have different designs and props as well as different places for flippers. Various animations and sound effects also differ from table to table. I felt excited every time I unlocked a new table and got to play with it.
Witch Trials
These are little challenges that exist within each table. You get bonus points for completing each one and also unlock customization options. They aren’t too basic or too difficult. Just the right amount of complexity for a pinball game.
Game Modes
There are many different game modes. These are the regular story mode, classic pinball, score attack, time attack, survival, and more. There is even another game mode called Rapid Ryan’s Arcade, which has 8 different tables with various gimmicks. The developers went above and beyond to bring replayability and variety to this game.
Story
For me this is the biggest mistake RRPP makes. The story adds nothing to the game, and even slows it down. While the rest of the game’s quality is quite high, when you get to the story parts, the quality drops. The cutscenes feel like a student project and they are a poor representation of what this game offers in the ways of remaining content. The story is unremarkable and the characters are basic. I don’t really have anything positive to say about the story other than the fact that I like our main character being a raccoon. However that’s simply because I like raccoons.
I believe this game would be a lot better without the story and cutscenes. The only real positive purpose these cut scenes have is the feeling of progress between tables. And honestly that could’ve just been done with a simple overall levels map.
Technical Side
This is another one of RRPP’s strong points. Let’s start with the cameras during gameplay. There are 8 different cameras you can switch between, and they even work together at some points. I absolutely loved this choice by the developers. I never had any issues with the camera, or not being able to follow the ball. It was simply great.
The second part of this section is the sound effects and animations. Each table has some unique props and sound effects that come with those props as well as animations. Once again RRPP nails this part, and I have no complaints about it. However, if we were to talk about the soundtrack and music of the game, I’d say there is nothing that stands out on that part. None of the soundtracks are bad but they also aren’t anything special.
There aren’t many negative things about the graphics also. Excluding the story cutscenes, the they are quite nice. The tables look colorful and bright. Each table has their own theme, and their look is designed to match it. The props on the tables also look great as well as their animations.
Conclusion
Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic is a great pinball game with many different game modes and superb game feel. The game also offers a story mode which could’ve been cut without much of a loss. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to play an actually good pinball game.
