ABSOLUTE PINBALL

When it comes to pinball machines, 21st century Entertainment has had an impressive track record. The company wrote and designed some of the most popular pinball games of all time, including “Attack from Mars”, “Star Wars”, and “The Simpsons Pinball Party”. But after publishing a number of excellent pinball games that they developed in-house, 21st Century decided to outsource the development to a third party company, in this case UDS of Sweden.

ABSOLUTE PINBALL (APB) is the first game that UDS released on behalf of 21st Century, and it is a great example of what can be done by a talented studio given full artistic license. UDS did not disappoint: APB is an excellent game that shows off everything that makes pinball fun.

For starters, its table design is very well-rounded: each section feels unique from the others and still contributes to the flow of the gameplay. It also has plenty of what many people would describe as “tricks”—special mechanisms or effects that give APB its own personality. For example, there’s a part near where the ball rolls into the ‘redemption city’ where you can shoot it up at various angles to make it go through a series of spinning gears

21st Century Entertainment’s history with pinball was one of success. In the 80s, they released a number of great products in the genre that were well-received by players. They seemed to have the magic formula down pat.

But then, in the 90s, something changed. Rather than releasing new, innovative titles for their established audience, 21st Century tried to cater to a more ‘high-tech’ audience with games like “Spider-Man” and “Star Wars”. Both were commercial failures, and it was clear that 21st Century would have to change their approach if they wanted to continue releasing pinball machines.