SpawnPoint - Where Game Begins

The third in Sierra's 3D Ultra Pinball Series, this time The Lost Continent attempts to actually tell a story.

We all know that the secret to creating a killer pinball game on the PC lies in recreating the look, feel, and excitement of a real table. There�s one drawback, though: How do you see the whole table? You can either squeeze the table into the middle third of the computer screen, or you can follow a narrower view that follows the action of the ball. Or, if you�re Sierra, you can dump both those ideas and create a table from scratch, as they did with the suprisingly good 3D Ultra Pinball.

In 3D Ultra Pinball, Sierra created three space-themed boards made up of one center table and a mini-table on each side. The boards were fun to play because of the added gimmicks that you can�t find in a real pinball table, but the action was pretty slow and somewhat unrealistic. Now, Sierra is back with 3D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night, which greatly improves upon its predecessor, and the action is faster, more realistic, and incredibly fun.

Creep Night gives you three boards to play. The castle board pits you against the castle and all its forces of evil: ghosts, goblins, spiders, and more. The tower board places you inside a scientist�s laboratory where a squid lives in a water tank and a monster hangs from the ceiling. The dungeon board puts you in the dungeon where you frequently have to stop prison outbreaks.

Aside from the creepy theme, the best part of Creep Night are the extras that you couldn�t find in a "real" pinball game. There are flying gargoyles that carry your ball to new places, bumpers that spew fire when hit, creatures that scurry around the table trying not to get hit, evil spirits that take your ball (or eat it) -- these are just a few of the evil gimmicks to be found in Creep Night.

In reality, there are two ways to make a great pinball game on the PC: Create a realistic board that captures the feel of a real table or create a board that includes gimmicks you could never find in a real table. Creep Night takes that latter option and turns it into an incredibly fun pinball game.