Necronomicon (Impressions)

[bbobb]

Originally posted by Mr_Furious
Necronomicon is fun and funny but I'd have to say Akira Psychoball is better.

I think you're the first person I've ever seen say that. I really liked Akira... but to me it just doesn't have that special something that makes Necronomicon great. Don't get me wrong... it's still an amazing game and Kaze's second best IMO, but I just think Necronmicon is more fun... For one thing I liked the table layouts of Necro better. BTW whatever happend to that US release of Akira Psychoball that AIA was going to do... hell whatever happened to AIA?

[salt_peanuts]

having played a lot of the video pinball games, I agree Necrinomicon is great, but I still think the PC Pro Pinball games have the best tables....also, the physics in Last Gladiators are WAY more whack than Necrinomicon....you lose balls down the center WAY too often because they seem to roll at messed up angles...by the way, where can you still get the Akira game (for cheap possibly) and is it still coming out over here?

[Mr_Furious]

Originally posted by bbobb
I think you're the first person I've ever seen say that. I really liked Akira... but to me it just doesn't have that special something that makes Necronomicon great. Don't get me wrong... it's still an amazing game and Kaze's second best IMO, but I just think Necronmicon is more fun... For one thing I liked the table layouts of Necro better. BTW whatever happend to that US release of Akira Psychoball that AIA was going to do... hell whatever happened to AIA?

I guess I just prefer the tables in Akira more. There's not enough variety in Necronomicon for me. The overall presentation in Akira is also better than Necronomicon. But hey, that's just my opinion. Oh and I emailed AIA about Akira Psychoball and actually got a reply. They said that it silently got canceled and the reason why no one's reported it is because the press doesn't care. Sad state of affairs indeed. Anyone that wants this game should snag the JP version soon.

[MrKasualUltra2000]

dont forget Devils Crush you gaylords!

[bbobb]

Originally posted by Mr_Furious
Oh and I emailed AIA about Akira Psychoball and actually got a reply. They said that it silently got canceled and the reason why no one's reported it is because the press doesn't care. Sad state of affairs indeed. Anyone that wants this game should snag the JP version soon.

Damn them... and the press to hell. We need video pinball games in the US.

[Clash!]

I like Pinball for the NES, guess I am crazy.

I have been meaning to get Necro. for a long time, too much coming out right now so it will wait.

Alien Crush is a damn fine Pinball game as well, the little mini bosses are fun to fight. Its got a pretty cool theme as well.

[flux=rad]

I think the best thing about Necronomicon is the FMV intro with the dude all in robes. I guess it's supposed to be really intense and scary, but it's just absolutely ridiculous. And I thought John Petrucci (sp) did all of the in-game music. All of the stage music sounds really Dream Theaterish to me.

[skelly]

Well, the boot-up screen says John P. did the intro and ending tunes, while some sound company did the in-game stuff. That's all I'm going on.

[Shooting Love]

I'd searched this game out, and had affordable opportunities, but cut myself off after discovering that Necronomicon was developed by Kaze.
Last Gladiators was one of first Saturn games, and I always thought it sucked. The full table perspective has everything shrunk so small that the action is too far removed to excite me. And even though it was to be a true arcade-experience pinball table, the ball physics certainly aren't right (I don't know about Necronomicon).

My main beef is

the graphics generally reflect nothing more than what a real pinball table would look like

What Alien and Devil's Crush have going for them is that they fully animate the playworlds and allow interaction that isn't possible on a mechanical arcade table, along with bonus elements and warping to other playfields these games provided something evolved from the arcade pinball experience. Without having your hands on the side of the cabinets and employing some hip shaking ball save action, what is the point of bringing arcade emulated pinball home? Videopinball should be so much more. Take 2600 Pinball for instance; it had a square ball, now you won't see that in any arcade real soon. Seriously though, Sonic Spinball was along the right lines, and I was damn dissapointed to learn that Pinball of the Dead didn't pan out to be an adventure action game. For some true videogame pinball on your Saturn I highly recomend Fantasic Pinball (yes, Fantasic) it's an early Technosoft game, and seems like it coulda been pulled off on the SegaCD or SNE, but the delight of wacky ass characters and colorful graphics will outwiegh any misgivings of a technicaly lacking physics model. My only complaint is the loading times -they suck! Go get Fantasic Pinball
<$30.00 imo