Flipper Volcano

Flipper Volcano is a 2D pinball game where you start in the bottom of a volcano where you have to escape through the top as you flip yourself up the volcano making sure that you outrun the rising lava. Earn gems in order to buy new characters each containing their own skills such as increased jump, larger size and even a second life. Graphics- Meh Soundtrack- Not bad Audience- kids or teenagers Difficulty- Not too hard to understand Story- Not really a story Game time- okay length Price- Its not too expensive for what you get 5/10

First thing first, I don't like this game, but if your buying it on sale in bulk with other Sockpop games in the bundle than it's a worthwhile experiment. Buy only in both of those scenarios. I want to like this game. It's a neat concept, but its execution is so unpolished that it's falls apart quite quickly. The physics aren't tight enough and the bizarre choice to make the camera move around to focus on the ball instead of stabilizing on the play area makes it so difficult to judge where the ball is on the paddle, so it feels like the it's going to go in a random direction no matter what. Only one character(Ivy) feels like my skill at pinball has any effect on how likely I am to win. The breakable block gimmick is infuriating when you can't determine where the ball is going to go. It makes Ivy the only viable character, and it makes the ghost checkpoint system downright necessary to win with most of the other characters. If you need a checkpoint system for a game as consistent and straightforward as pinball, there's something fundamentally wrong with the way you built the game. That's not even touching on how all the physics objects are somehow broken. The barrel launchers have a fire box that doesn't keep pace with the exit hole. Even determining which side is the exit is difficult because the arrow isn't pointy enough to see clearly while it's spinning around. The random placement of moving walls can make games unwinnable because the timing is too tight and the exit can be placed behind awkward tunnels. Even if you get the ball to the exit, many times the paddles of the next room just physically push you back down. The triangular bumpers are the only hazard that is in every room, and it's often the worst obstacle because it directly blocks the exit, or gets you stuck against other objects which spawn in ways that suggest they don't account for the bumpers' space, or will even soft lock you by putting you in an infinite loop with holes. Extra balls don't count as extra lives, but can block your ball from the exit while you try to break blocks with them, so there almost more of a hazard using them then just letting them fall. This is such an interesting concept, but none of it is executed right. The good news is, that it's achievements are short and simple, so if you're like me and need to get them, it's not too time consuming, and I did like the idea enough that I would like to see a version of this game done right. Just remember, it's a sale and bundle only game.