Pinwar is a unique combination of pinball and air hockey. Just like pinball, trigger the flippers by tapping on the left and right sides of the iPad. You can also shake the iPad to ‘tilt’ the table. A single player can challenge the CPU or another person. The second player controls flippers on the other side of the field by holding the same iPad and tapping in the opposite corners. Whoever sends their pinballs into the other player’s hole the most wins.

You can do a quick battle against another player or the CPU, or earn coins by playing to buy new tables to battle in the regular Battle Mode. You can also design your own tables, too! Last is Mission Mode. One or two players can work together to complete missions like breaking blocks on the playfield (pinball meets BreakOut), beating the computer, or surviving a wave of multi-balls. There are tons of other unique missions, too. By completing objectives, you’ll earn coins and unlock medals that can help you get more goodies.

As a free-to-play game, you can only try a certain amount of missions and battles, and then you must wait a few minutes to play again. But it’s really not that bad unless you like to do marathon gaming sessions. You can use real money to buy extra plays and coins, too. But it’s really not needed to have fun with the game anyway. The only other problem I had with the game is the ball physics felt a little weird. Your ball tends to stick to surfaces, and it’s hard to wrap your head around how the playfield works at first (it’s like playing pinball on a domed arch surface. But otherwise, it’s a neat creative little pinball diversion and I also liked the TRON styled graphics.

Kid Factor:

It’s pinball, no violence or reading skill needed whatsoever. Kids will have fun making their own tables and two can even play together, just as long as they don’t mind sharing the iPad.

Tags: Game Reviews