Muahhaha, You are going to Die

Let's just ignore everything else and focus on this one thing, THE RELEASE OF FANTASTIC JOURNEY. I received a prerelease copy yesterday and spend... well I lost count of the hours. It's simply excellent (or at the very least it's fun). The table has a little of the BRUSA sense over it, with that I mean it doesn't look as serious as timeshock! did. I also think I mean that the contrast FJ - BRUSA isn't a big as the contrast BRUSA - T!. The table theme is quite simple to grasp and one quickly gets into it. The feeling is simply great, when the ball first touched the flippers it really "felt" right, the control over the ball is constant and never once do you get annoyed at the stupid unrealism of the flipper, except ofcourse when the ball misses a target (but that goes for any pinball sim I play, if I miss I blame the physics - or whatever I'm currently annoyed at - of the pinball, if I hit, hurray for my skills).

STEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAMMMM FRENZY

The table is quite fantastic (excuse the joke) looking (in high-res it looks very very shiny), nice layout with lots of lamps and ramps and loops and targets and thingies. The inflating airbag is gone and back is the good old midpost, also the extra flipper is gone and we are left with only the good old flipper pair. All in all, to be short I really like the table layout. The dmd is now in full fledged color, but still in dot-mation, it actually looks great in color (you can select a monocrome old-style dmd if you want, I actually thought I would prefer this to the colored dmd, though I found I liked the color one much more). Oh, the video mode is a good old rerun, I love it!

The table theme is build up around the works of Jules Verne. Parts of his stories have (loosely) been vowen into the table theme. When you first start the table you are at your starting point of travels, with this I mean the table is in a normal mode and you can shoot around and hit targets like you want. You then try to initiate different Journeys. There is no obvious special order in which you must conduct these journeys, you initiate them by shooting lit ramps/loops. During the journeys you travel to different goals trying to find crystal pieces. In one journey you travel in your cute little zeppelin, at one part during the travel you fly over a mountain and spot a mysterious creature who's rumored to live in the mountains of Himalayas, the dmd it's quite moody and the display on it changes frequently during your journeys. Also, when you initiate the journey a small zeppelin - through a hole in the table - will appear on the table! During the journey when you try to get your zeppelin to move around on it's journey (shooting lit shots and things), you still have access to most of modes you had access to at the starting point, if the ball drains while on a joureny you have to reinitiate your journey. It takes some skill to complete all four journeys. And what lies beneath the first four journeys? I can't help to think there is more to it than completing the four obvious Journeys (for which icons are displayed on the table). There is also a lot of modes besides the journeys, lots of extraballs and other things to attract your attention.

Well, anyway, the sound is excellent, the table looks fantastic (!), the flippers feel sooo realistic, I just have left to explore the table theme a bit more before I put up a review of it. I think this table is both as attractive to someone new to pinball as to old pinball gurus (are there such? :).

Fantastic Journey (PC) should get out during December, there is a Mac version though it is not known when or how it will be released. I was told FJ would be in the shops the 7th of December in Germany (I've been told the 2nd December too). I don't know of any other release dates though.

There's probably happened some other stuff, but who cares? ;)

No time to write, it's time to Journey!
Sam Gabrielsson