Review by: David Laprad
Published: February 8, 1997

As computer technology grows increasingly powerful, games are becoming more and more realistic. Of course, Apogee Software, once a small shareware developer that released charming, unassuming titles like Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure and the Commander Keen series, has been keeping pace with the rest of the industry. The abstract designs of yesterday, such as the garish colors and bowling alley-precise hallways of Wolfenstein 3D, and the rustic, two-dimensional crudity of the original Duke Nukem side-scroller, have been discarded in favor of unbridled authenticity. Their focus on developing quality games in each respective genre, and their refusal to release a title that was not cutting-edge in some respect, has led the company to cancel more games than they have released, much to the chagrin of enthusiastic fans.

It is for this reason I skeptically anticipated Apogee’s first foray into pinball games. In recent years, the two-dimensional, scrolling pinball game has given way to a tilted, isometric perspective that is much closer to the real-world, arcade experience. Pinball games have become pinball simulations, and with each successive release, I expected the company to announce it had canceled its pet project, Balls of Steel, a classic, scrolling pinball game in every sense of the term. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. Following a few delays due to technical difficulties, the game was finally released, and man, oh, man, was it worth the wait. Balls of Steel is a scorchingly hot, highly addictive pinball game that assaults the senses with terrific table graphics and animations, and ear-shattering sound effects. More importantly, the tables are remarkably playable, and have been infused with an extraordinary amount of creativity, imagination, and (this is the best part) out-and-out fun!

There are five tables based on divergent themes, and each is packed with energy and spirit. The Barbarian table dares the player to slay enormous dragons and evil spirits in a quest for magical gems; in Firestorm, the player must work feverishly to defuse the work of a psychotic bomber; Duke Nukem takes on aliens with all his usual flair in the table based on his popular character; in Darkside, players must thwart an alien attack on a deep space research station; and in Mutation, an experiment in a top secret government laboratory goes terribly wrong, with gloriously gruesome effects.

As you can tell from the table descriptions, this is no mild-mannered flip off; Balls of Steel is brimming with mission objectives, subgames, special gameplay modes, and plenty of gut-splattering violence. Yes, violence. While blood is hardly a necessary ingredient for a good pinball game, this is Apogee Software; nothing gets out the door without the minimum quota of excessive gore. Fortunately, it is approached with a healthy measure of tongue-in-cheek enthusiasm, and fits very well into the overall scheme of things. In Darkside and Duke Nukem, players bludgeon aliens, smearing the screen like some kind of demented paint application, and the gore effects accompanying the Mutation table are — how shall I say it — highly memorable. There is a parental lock to safeguard young eyes, if you so choose.

Like an over-the-top Hollywood film, the game is heavily focused on eye-popping special effects. No opportunity for dazzling the player with some inventive and unexpected animation is left unexploited. Traditional pinball components like ramps and kickbacks were injected with a mutantous enzyme, and emerged performing the same essential function, but in ways you have never before seen or imagined. In Darkside, a squishy egg tube transports captured balls to an egg tube lock for holding until the player earns multiball mode; when a ball enters the left outback lane in Mutation, the table morphs around the ball, then moves it back into play.