“Picture me rollin’ through the realms, busting fools with helms. Balls flying everywhere, fools dying in the town square. Level up my game as I get more power, then go home and take a gold piece shower!” If I were writing a rap song about this unique pinball RPG mash up, it would go like that. But I’m not writing a rap song, I’m writing a review, and I can review this game in one word--Fun!

Why is it fun? Well for one thing, it’s unique. Probably the only pinball RPG ever made. Pinball and RPG actually go really well together, maybe because they're both complex. Anybody who’s played a lot of pinball can tell you that it’s a complex game. Sure the premise is basic—hit the ball with flippers and try to not let it go down the hole between them. But if you want to get high scores you’ll need to know your table. And each one has a set of specific scenarios that do things like: give you more balls, release more balls at once, multiply your score, etc. RPGs are also quite complex, specifically the battle systems. If you want to do a lot of damage then you have to know the system, especially with the harder bosses. You’ll need know which attacks to use when, what items you need, when to block, and a lot more. And randomness plays a factor in both. Essentially, both have complex mechanics that require a great deal of knowledge to succeed at. 

In Rollers of the Realm, your characters are balls, each with their own set of stats and special abilities. Some balls like the Knight are bigger and do more damage. Others can build mana faster to bring lost balls “back to life.” Some have a built in multi-ball, etc. As the game progresses, you’ll get more balls through the story and also be able to buy them. The story-based balls have their own personality, which are revealed through the plot and the voice-overs.

The RPG elements are basic, but will suffice to level your balls up by giving them more weapons, armor, etc. And like many RPGs, the story is presented through talking portraits and random events on the screen. It’s a fairly straightforward fantasy tale, which works great for a pinball-based RPG. However while the art, the world, and the character designs feel competent, they're a tad on the generic side. Like someone looked at the cover of an R. A. Salvatore book and said, “Yes, that looks nice, let’s use that.” But it’s not without charm, especially some of the “Ye Olde” voice acting (get ready for copious “Miladys”).

The pinball tables/levels are really where the game shines. I’ve played tons of pinball in my life, and my favorite tables are the ones with “a lot of doo-dads." Stuff like dual levels, ramps, big ridiculous things to hit with the ball, and tons of flashing lights and noises. Some of my favorites are Theater of Magic, Medieval Madness, The Addams Family, White Water, and Funhouse. And that’s where Rollers of the Realm excels—the complicated and fun table designs. Some are really straightforward, but others are quite complex with multiple areas, enemies to destroy, and hard to hit secret spots. And they're not just tables, they're part puzzle, making you use your noggin a bit to figure out how to get the ball to the exit. While I’m of the belief video pinball will never be as good as physical pinball, for video pinball it’s not bad.

All of that being said, this game still has the same “problem” pinball does—sometimes you just get unlucky. In real pinball, bad luck means that the ball flew right between your flippers and there ain’t nothing you can do about it except curse the table and launch a new ball. But in Rollers of the Realm, bad luck means doing a whole level over. And some of these levels take a good chunk of time to complete. It can be very frustrating. Especially in the beginning, when you don’t have that many balls yet. But later you can offset this by getting more gold and buying more balls. Still, having to do a lengthy level over isn’t fun now matter how much you love pinball. 

I’m always happy to see wacky ideas get made into games and it’s even better when it works well. And this is a great example of someone with a crazy idea that was just crazy enough to work. Well.

Hint: The trick to any pinball game is your ability to stall, that is, rest the ball on a flipper until you're ready to shoot it into a specific area. Practice stalling, save you it can!  

by Urian Brown