3D Ultra Pinball (3): The Lost Continent	Sierra
Reviewed: 1999-02-03

- The game

Trying to stand apart from the previous titles released in this series this third title in sierras amazingly uninteresting series provides you with a lot of multitables (about 15 tables linked together) instead of 3 tables to choose between as the previous two versions did (although those three could be played linked together). The first table as the rest of the tables (even the last one) works as a multitable, you complete some silly goal on each table and is transported to the next table, then you try to move forward from that table and so on. The music and sound f/x isn't all that fantastic, no pinball simulation has yet in my opinion beaten the breathtaking mean music from the web or timeshock! (go the ultimate showdown and the timeshock! theme!). The graphics is pretty standard and feels very pixelated on my computer, I don't know if it is my resolution settings, graphics card or whatever but the same thing that I noticed in 3dup1 and 3dup2 is still there, whenever a ball rolls under a ramp or a sprite walks out on the table the pixels around the figure shimmer like water does when you drop something in it. Still for those who enjoyed the previous 3dup titles (which somehow are better in my opinion even though I don't really like them so much, I just don't find them so enjoyable to play) I belive this one will be appreciated. And children under 4-5 years might find the shiny and bright graphics funny too.


- The tables

- The Quest

No, none of the tables are called the quest, but the overall theme of the pinball is sort of quest. As you start up the game a video sequence is played (which is not even especially nice looking or artisticly made), a plane crashes on a continent where a lot of dinosaurs live for some unknown reason (maybe a mad scientist has been playing with his toys and created dinosaurs out of living creatures?). Anyway you and your group from the plane must for some reason penetrate the jungle and you do so by playing pinball now and then. There is a limited number of tables and you try to advance trough all of them and get to the last one where you... well, you face a mad scientist and his hordes of something.

All the tables are divided into three groups. Each group contains a number of tables linked together and you must advanced trough the tables in order to get to the final table where you face the mad scientist of the lost continent. You start out in the very first group at the very first table called the main entrance, you shoot some drop targets or do something, I'm not really sure what I did to leave that table (was a lot of dinosaurs or something running and flying over it all the time though, anyway I opened some gate and left trough it). This first table in the group is more complex than the others in the group, both in layout and in the fact you can start something resembling modes with multiballs etc. As you leave the main table the table you are linked to will be a little more simplistic, usually there is one challenge you are faced with, kill a T-Rex and you can enter a cave, shot colored caves in correct combinations to move across a cliff or you must shoot a ramp combination a number of times to raise a gate... or something like that, you get the picture.

To make things difficult, if you drain a ball on any of the sub-tables in a group you can choose between losing the ball (and thus get to continue the next ball on the current table) or going back to the previous table. If you drain a ball on a groups main table you will unconditionally loose the ball. Funnily enough if it is your very last ball and you drain it on a subtable you will still be asked if you want to loose the ball or go the previous table, if you choose to loose ball and continue on the current table it is game over (not the only stupid thing you will stumble up on when playing).

I played trough all the tables and I can't say any of them were that impressing to me either in layout or difficulty. All of the sub-tables with their very very simple objects you easily grow tiered of (I sort of did at least). The first two groups main tables are as wide as the screen and divided into a left and right side with the use of two flipper pairs on the bottom of each. There are some multiball modes to start on theses table, you can lock balls, you can start a couple of dinosaur related modes. Though there is very little motivation in trying to start a tables all modes, they don't score that much (well, they score but who cares, I don't really feel motivated to play for points in this pinball), they aren't that exciting or neat, just a lot of balls on the table and some new targets in the form of dinosaur sprites that have walked out on the table. There's no real change of music to put your attention to the new mode (though music changes between tables), no interesting jackpots or lovely super jackpots, no extraballs to go for (well ok there is some extra balls to go for if I remember correctly). But as I said you play more to advance trough all the table to the final table more than you play to score and explore all stuff on the tables.

You can select playing difficulty in the pinballs options menu. Depending on whetever you play with settings Easy or Hard you will either have a lot of credits (if you get game over at a table you can use a credit to buy 5, or whatever you have number of balls set to, new balls and get to continue on the table you drained on), limited credits, a less gravity sensitive ball (table slope?). I'm not sure about the point of the credit system, if Easy was set I could after having used up my credits and had game over just choose restart from the menubar and get to start over on the table I drained on. If you play with Hard you only have a limited number of credits and when those are over things are over.


The feeling

Oooh, noo, I don't want to talk about it. It is really not impressive, if the feeling, the movement of the ball and the realism of the flippers had been a little better the tables might actually have been a little enjoying to play. The tables do after all offer a couple of interesting weird layouts and strange sprites that can be fun to knock down the first time, as it is now you really just flip, it is pretty pointless to try to set up anything resembling a aimed shot or trick shot or whatever, hitting targets, ramps, lock holes feels quite hard due to the limitations in the physics. You can play trough all the tables though, you aren't really required to do any shots that are especially tricky. But when you for example in one of the subtables have to hit the right colored cave it could have been easier with some more work on the programming of the flippers. The ball moves, I can't say much more about it, it bumps and lives its own life. Not so fascinatingly realistic, but not that extremely bad, it is just not good or impressive. All in all the physics has in my opinion not changed much from the previous titles in the 3DUP series, so I'll say what I belive I said then, it's ok, you get by, hard to expect more from this style of pinball games.


- The whole

I'm not sure whom to recommend this title, I'm giving it the grade 3 which is maybe ok/good. I don't mean to say I rank this title over anything else I like, it just stands a little above the lousy mass releases over time. It is a little fun for a while if you haven't played any of the first two titles in the series but you will rather quickly grow tiered of it if you like more challenging pinballs, this is a pinball game by definition and all. It contains sprites in dozens, water and dinosaurs walking and flying around on the table, little robots and stoneage people and all in all lots of unrealistic stuff you're not likely to find in a real table. The best thing about this pinball though I though was the cow! Just keep your eyes open when you play with the big machine that shoots lazer beams on dinosaurs and transforms them back into whatever creature they used to be. Moo!! So to conclude, if you decide to skip buying this pinball I don't think you will have missed anything. If you liked the previous 3dup titles or fell in love with the demo for this pinball, well it's up to you, I've said what I think...

Platform: PC
Operating Systems: Windows 95/98

Also Available for: MAC

Heckla's Lab (Heckla's Chambers Group, main table)

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