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The Most Realistic Pinball Simulation Yet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 21
Date: February 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I'm a pinball fan, and I've spent the last few months trying every computer pinball game I could get my hands on. Most of them are terrible, with poor ball and flipper physics, choppy animation, etc. A couple are okay, but still aren't that fun to play.

And then there is Timeshock. The physics is very realistic, and it feels like you are playing on a real table. Furthermore, the table is very well designed, with a seemingly limitless supply of challenges for even the most skilled pinball aficionado. The other pinball games pale by comparison. It is the sweetest pinball simulation around.

Bottom line, if you are going to buy ANY computer pinball game out there, buy this one. I tired of the rest within a day or two. Timeshock has kept me coming back every day for several months, and it still has many challenges I haven't beaten. I love this game!

Great game for pinball enthusiasts

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: July 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Owning this game is like owning an actual pinball machine. The table graphics, the ball movement simulation, and the various mechanical sounds on the table are incredibly realistic. The internal record-keeping, table settings & features, and testing modes of the table can be accessed or adjusted just as you would a real machine. Even the manual resembles a real pinball machine's operation manual. And of course you get great gameplay, since the table design is terrfic.

Casual gamers beware. This is HARD game to play. Missions and quests are lengthy, and subquests are abundant, including a video game mode on the matrix display which I've never passed 2nd level. This is also, I think, the hardest game in the Pro Pinball series. You can make it easier by adjusting table settings such as giving yourself extra balls and so on, but you won't be able to do those unless you've completed several hours of gameplay.

Simple perfection.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: March 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Timeshock! is as good as video pinball can get. It's as simple as that.

Beautiful graphics that'll make you think they photographed a real machine (ah, if a real Timeshock only existed!) Hordes of modes, bonuses and hidden features. Near-perfect ball physics. Lots of targets to shoot at. Fun for the novice, and configurable so that novices can practice and improve, but still challenging for the wizards among us. What more can I say? It's on a par with the classic tables from Williams, and that's something I never thought I'd say about video pinball.

(This game is difficult at first, but persevere. It feels so much like a real machine that if you're not good at the real ones, a sim this complex can be daunting -- but the rewards are WELL worth it.)

Necomer in Wichita, Ks.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: March 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is, I think, for the advanced player. In my opinion it's to complex and doesn't offer a variety of optional tables/games. It takes to long to advance levels. Sound effects and music is very good, though. Definitely not for beginners, like me.

Very addictive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: February 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I love computer pinball games, just as much if not more than the real thing. You can have up to four people taking turns. Just the other day three of my friends and I could not stop playing this game, sweat little competition we had. Its a good addictive challenge, trying to beat the different continents and time periods. There's a really fun video game mode you can reach as well that just racks in the points. Last but not least the host is a sexy woman computer voice. Give this game a shot. Everybody likes pinball.

READ THIS BEFORE BUYING TIMESHOCK

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Timeshock is the ultimate pinball simulation (this is NOT an exaggeration). Not only is the pinball table and balls hyper-realistic, but Timeshock has great music and fantastic game play. And even though this game is almost ten years old (!!), the graphics are absolutely phenomenal, and any current (up to the year 2006) pinball games utterly pale in comparison. WARNING: However, a warning about this title: Make sure you purchase the ORIGINAL Timeshock CD as sold by Empire Interactive only, as this is the one and only version of Timeshock that I know of that includes the music sound tracks. All other Timeshocks (in pinball CD game compilations, such as that of the "Gamefest" or "Pinball Madness" CD series) disks that are re-packaged and re-sold by other companies exclude the music on the CD for a reason that is unclear. (How important is music while playing Timeshock? Well, try watching your favorite movie with the sound off, and then you'll get the idea how important music is...). Another issue is that on some systems -- no matter how fast or modern the computer -- the game can become unplayable due to jerky (and/or blurred) ball movement. This can be fixed by: 1. Make sure you have patched the game with update V1.07 (available on the Empire Interactive Website); 2. Turn off "screen flipping" in the Timeshock setup menu; 3. Defragment your hard drive; 4. then, if all that does not work: Reduce the amount of hardware acceleration (NOT your video resolution) on both your accelerated graphics card and on your sound card to the lowest slider level, and then start to increase the acceleration to just below the point where the ball hitches during movement. Now sit back and enjoy Pro Pinball Timeshock: It is the greatest pinball game that ever was, and that ever will be...

Stunning

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

PRO PINBALL TimeShock is a pinball addict's dream. It has many challenges and goals that are played on the table's video screen. It can run quick on even the slowest of computers. It's audio and music is all done in Dolby SurroundSound to produce a very amazing effect when using your stereo earphones. It is truly a state of the art experience. This is a cheap way to relive the excitement of the past's exciting pinball machines, which unfortunately, are few and far between nowadays.

BEST PINBALL GAME EVER!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Pro-Pinball Timeshock is the best game because it's so realistic, and now there's no having to go out to try and find a pinball game to play. With this game you can have all the fun of playing pinball right at home. My husband and I just can't get enough of it, we spend endless hours playing it. It's the best thing that Empire Interactive invented.

INCREDIBLE game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I played this game almost nonstop for a week! If you love pinball, heck, even if you DON'T love pinball, this game is AWESOME!! The physics are VERY realistic, the graphics are INCREDIBLE, and its just a BLAST to play!

There is a large variety in what can happen in this game, so replay value is very high. You can play this game hundreds of times and just not get bored of it!

I HIGHLY recommend this game!

Rollin' Silver Through The Ages

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I gotta admit, Pro Pinball: TimeShock! is amazingly true-to-life: the games tend to be frustratingly short and low-scoring, and the ball never quite goes where you want it to, just like real pinball!

But seriously, I am amazed by how closely this baby imitates its three-dimensional brethren. And I'm not just talkin' bout the painstakingly detailed and amazingly realistic graphics, either. The ball travels around in a way that you'd expect it to-- though not necessarily in a way you WANT it to-- as if it was the real deal. It even gets hung up on the more remote parts of the machine on rare occasions, and may require a bit of a nudge to dislodge. Just don't `nudge' it too hard, or you'll activate the TILT function and lose the ball you'd intended to keep alive! Also, sometimes the silver sphere can get trapped in the gap between the third flipper and the right wall. But the real kicker that seals the deal: I've noticed times when the sphere goes `airborne', and I can actually hear it hitting the `glass'! Now, THAT'S payin' attention to detail! The only thing missin' is the bumps you feel as the silver orb caroms off of the flippers and between the pop-jets. Timeshock! even makes that annoyingly loud `snap!' whenever you earn a free game!

Please note, however, that the action on the table ain't necessarily the only action around. There's also a Video Mode where you use your flippers to maneuver your time vehicle down a tunnel. The object is to avoid the mines and pick up all of the reward icons. If you collect all of the reward icons in the first two levels, you win an Extra Ball. You can only hit three mines pre level-- if you hit a fourth, the video game is over and the table game resumes. I've done a pretty good job of mastering the first two levels of the Video Mode- I manage to grab the extra ball about two-thirds of the time. This game usually pops up when you start play on Ball 3-look for an orange light on the floor in front of the big green crystal; if it's on, then Video Mode is ready for activation-- and shoot the hole right in front of the crystal.

Of course, there's also a few side games that involve shooting the ball through the system of ramps in order to win various artifacts that can help up your score. These various games modes commence when the sphere is shot down the side-flipper ramp. When the side game starts, the player has a minute to shoot the ball through all of the lighted ramps in order to win the round. I rarely do well at these matches-the ball usually drops outta play before my time is up!

There's four table views one can choose from including looking straight down from above. But for me, the `standard' three-quarters view (the way it'd look if it were a real machine, and I was standin' up and playin' it) is the only way to go. Hey, call me old-fashioned if ya wanna, but that's the way I play it...

`Late

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