PS2 Ultimate Pro Pinball - New Import

NCS Synopsis    Three pinball tables are lovingly created in digital form for play on the Playstation 2. The beautifully designed tables are: TABLE #1 - Big Race USA Motor to 16 major cities across the United States and hit taxi cabs and police cars for bonus interaction points. The top of the table shows monochrome videos of cars racing. The table shows a map of the USA above the flippers and a couple of red and green cars above that. Big Race simulates a trip through the USA and gauges score by the targets hit which it counts as miles traveled, destinations visited, and other objectives as one's ball rockets around the screen and strikes targets. Tracks above the table for the ball to slide down upon when its been pushed through one of the receptacles up above. There's a yellow cab ornament that may be hit to fulfill certain conditions and a Police Frenzy and Passenger Frenzy mode where multiple balls are thrown onto the playfield and one has to whack them all to accumulate mass points. TABLE #2 - Timeshock! Time travel through eras that include the day of the dinosaurs to futuristic scenarios. Mount Rushmore serves as the anchor decor in the back of the table and a diving helmet from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea sits on the left side of the screen. Next to the helmet is a mechanized arm which plucks trapped balls and deposits them into a metal wire receptacle. Mini-games featured in the table include Robot War where rotating video of 2 robots face off and Chariot Race. In both mini-games, targets must be hit in order to either win the robot battle or the race. In this particular table, when the "Ball Save" light is flashing, you may lose as many balls as possible without being penalized.  TABLE #3 - Fantastic Journey Creaky English voices announce the action as the Age of Steam is recreated with a journey to the center of the Earth, sojourns underwater, and treks to the highest peaks. Monsters such as serpents, vampires, triceratops, and a big ape dot the screen. Highlights include Ultra Spinners, Steam Jackpot, Magno Boost, and Fast Frenzy where multiple balls are shot onto the play field. Controls    Press the TRIANGLE button to insert coin. Shoot the ball by hitting the "O" button and flip the flippers with the top R1, R2, L1, L2 triggers. The D-pad is used to nudge the table but nudge too much and you'll TILT it out. Ball movement is superb with realistic gravity and motion as it is bounced with the flippers. Watch as it doggedly runs down the table while the light illuminates its outer shell with silvery luminosity. As the ball is bumped around by the bumpers and spinners, realistic sound effects reverberate as the ball ricochets with convincing momentum around the table. Options There is a table set up option in-game where one may set the slope of the table, the condition of the actual table (as in New, Maintain, Neglected) and also set the flipper power of each flipper in the game from 7 gradations of power. The default flipper power is four which is good enough for most hustlers. There's also an Operator Menu to check the book keeping of the table. NCS Game Notes *   We weren't expecting much when we first booted UPP since we've been disappointed often with video pinball games. Ultimate Pro Pinball however is a superb simulation and we can safely recommend it to pinball fans.    * After going through the memory card save process, the Taito logo pops up and shows the available tables there's Big Race USA, Fantastic Journey, and Timeshock! * An options menu allows the setting of controls, graphics, sound, and an opportunity to view the staffers who created the game. The graphics option allows the setting of Dot Matrix (Transparent, Permanent, Solid, etc) and the Nudge Scrolling for 2-way and 4-way or disabled. The table view may also be set from low, medium, or high. * Four players may play the game by alternately taking turns. A different voice (in the Queen's English and other accents) announces a player's turn.