FCB Pinball, from Legendo Entertainment, is a new table top pinball simulation for the Apple iOS. The game is themed for the FC Barcelona football team, so the background shows some of the players and the various bumpers and routes are named after elements of football.

It’s visually detailed and plays a good, smoothly flowing game of pinball. Although if, like me, you have bananas for fingers you may well cover up the bottom bumpers at crucial moments, loosing track of exactly where the ball is heading. The bumpers stand in for your lack of ability to actually kick the ball and the table contains a little goal for you to aim at as well as targets for a side kick and a whistle target, to annoy the ref. On the audio side the game does a good job of simulating playing football, with a continuous commentary track.

The game simulates the look, feel and sound of a real machine and also includes the chance to trigger multi-ball play. FCB supports both landscape and portrait play. Personally I found that the landscape mode showed off the 3D engine best, but it was more difficult to play the game than in portrait which displays nearly all of the table.

Even if you’re not a particular fan of Barcelona, FCB still provides a solid game of pinball.

7

Charles Packer