Kiss Pinball

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 2000 12
• Genre: Traditional
• Style: 3D Pinball
• Similar Games: Balls of Steel (IBM PC Compatible), 3-D Ultra Pinball (IBM PC Compatible), 3-D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night (IBM PC Compatible), Sci-Fi Pinball (IBM PC Compatible), 3D Pinball Express (IBM PC Compatible), Pro Pinball: Fantastic Journey (IBM PC Compatible), Pinball Madness 3 (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

Ace, Gene, Paul and Peter rock and roll your PlayStation with Kiss Pinball. Decorated by the familiar makeup-enhanced, cartoon-like mugs of the "hottest band in the world," the game features two tables: "Last Stop Oblivion" and "Netherworld." Four game modes are available: Novice, Regular, Arcade and Tournament.

The storyline for Kiss Pinball revolves around the band battling the Dark Lord and claiming the "Kissneth" as their own. Your objectives include getting past security to snag an autograph, lighting "PASS" to access backstage, collecting weapons, shooting a spinner to upgrade record sales, hitting the Statue of Liberty repeatedly to reveal the Destroyer Skull to start 3-ball, spelling "MAYHEM" to light video mode, collecting lost souls, discovering hidden power-ups, locking balls with Gene's tongue and much more.

Your perspective is directly above each table. You can see approximately one-third of the playfield at a time with the screen scrolling to follow the course of the ball. Each table has the standard two-flipper layout, with the ability to nudge the table up, left, and right to influence ball movement. But be careful not to "tilt" the machine!

Roots & Influences

Traditional pinball with two tables featuring the band KISS. This is the second pinball game developed by Wildfire Studios, located in Brisbane, Australia, and follows Balls of Steel.

Review: Overall

"You wanted the best, you got the best!" states the box cover of KISS Pinball, quoting a KISS trademark. But calling something the best doesn't make it so -- a budget game without accurate physics, KISS Pinball is at most an average game, one only a diehard KISS fan might really appreciate. Even a fan, though, is certain to be disappointed to learn that KISS music is absent from the game -- there's just a generic looping hard-rock style soundtrack.

Players familiar with modern computer pinball games won't find anything new here. Most of the normal features are evident, but there are no surprises and only the bare minimum in design has been accomplished. The physics are a bit shoddy, evidenced by ball movement that isn't quite as responsive as that in a real pinball machine or video pinball games of higher quality. The ball bounces off objects at a linear speed, rather than slowing down from friction and gravity and, at other times, doesn't bounce at all when it should, making it too easy to catch with a flipper. As a result, the game feels stiff and non-responsive.

Of the two views offered, the close-up view is basically unplayable. The ball travels so fast at times that the tracking camera pans up and down too quickly for the human eye to follow. Fortunately, the wide-angle, full table view is more playable but is too small and looks like a computer graphic rather than a pinball table. In this view, the entire table is shown on the left half of the screen while the dot-panel and a KISS graphic is shown on the right. An isometric viewpoint would have been a huge improvement.

If you're a KISS fanatic, buying the game is probably a must, simply to include it in your memorabilia collection, regardless of the mediocrity. Maybe it'll substitute for the original KISS Pinball coin-op machine that sells for thousands of dollars. But, if you don't have much interest in KISS merchandise and are looking for a good pinball game, many others are available with more gameplay and better physics, such as Empire Interactive's Pro Pinball series.

Review: Enjoyment

For a budget game, KISS Pinball isn't overly bad or good. Everything here has been done better elsewhere and even KISS fans will be disappointed by the lack of authenticity.

Review: Graphics

The tables look good in the unplayable close-up view while the wide view is too cartoon-like and unrealistic, in addition to not being centered. There are some KISS-like graphics along with badly drawn pictures of the band members. No photos or authenticity is evident and the graphics are basically a knock-off of the real thing.

Review: Sound

One would expect a KISS Pinball game to at least feature some music from the band -- this doesn't. A few samples from Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons along with a female groupie play when you complete certain sequences but that's all. The pinball sounds themselves are rather bland with occasional guitar riffs for sound effects and some explosions.

Review: Replay Value

Unless you're really intent on completing all the sequences in the game to reach the end of each tables' mission, there's nothing to keep you occupied for very long. Maybe a few minutes gameplay at a time will prolong game life but there's no compelling reason to beat the game.

Review: Documentation

The "manual" is a single sheet with basic instructions but not much is needed. Details of each table's missions can be read from the game's menu screens.

Production Credits