Soccer Pinball Thrills

Physics are literally garbage and the game doesn't even look good. It's also impossible to nudge so you can't properly control the ball either. Save your money for better Pinball games. This one you're going to play once and regret purchasing.

Soccer Pinball Thrills is a pinball table sim with three Soccer themed tables. Because, uh, that's what pinball table sim enthusiasts have been crying out for, more Soccer themed tables. It says this is from 2015 but it looks and feels a lot older. You do get 4K support, which is good, but the game only displays in 4:3 stretched aspect ratio. It's possible they developed this using an old CRT they found in a dumpster, or this game has been specifically designed for people gaming on PC's from 1995... either way, this isn't really acceptable in the modern era of PC gaming. It looks absolutely awful on 16:9 displays, and I guess people who went for the ultrawide aspect ratio just to be nonconformists will really suffer with this one. The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts. These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player…

Fun pinball with a nice variety of tables. I am at a complete loss to explain all the hateful comments and ratings. Some are absurd. One person said you can't control the speed of the ball at launch. So what? If that's a deal-killer for you, ask for a refund and only buy tables which offer this feature. Don't write a nasty review. I love pinball and own almost every table available on Steam. I set up a game room in my home with a 55 inch UHD TV and X-Box controller. There are many tables "better" than these, which also cost more. There are tables not as good which cost more. If you buy something and don't like it just drop the drama, get a refund and move on. To quote Bart Simpson: "Don't have a cow, man."

The tables are pretty trash as far as good designed tables go. The exception is the second table seems to play fair without the random soccer players scattered all over the table that make it near impossible to play because every socket or ramp you try to flip the ball into gets blocked. Most of the table objects are poorly placed. The balls have a hard time activating the ball locks or having enough force to make it up a ramp. And, probably the most annoying feature, the bumpers seem to have a perfect aim for the kickback lanes. I never lost a ball from going down the center. It's no wonder all the seats in the stadium are empty.

Full disclosure: I got this game on the Winter Sale as part of the Thrills Triplle pack, which was $2.99 USD, so roughly .99 cents USD for this title. I honestly didn't know what to make of it at first. I enjoy the World Cup as much as anyone, but don't really have too many soccer themed titles. And the three tables are heavily soccer themed, with static defenders that "help" you score on your own net, moving defenders of the opposite net and so on. One table even had a sub table to score the multi balls on. Out of the three titles this one was fun but felt more simplistic in design. Still, back in the 80s, tables were simpler than this, so if you love soccer and pinball it wouldn't be a bad title to have in your library. Thumbs up if nothing else for the goooooal sound effect.

I think these tables are great, and I am really enjoying them.