Gameprom - Pinball HD Wild West

This was the first table from Gameprom, and one of the first games I ever got for my first iPhone. It featured all the traits that would become Gameprom staples: the bell triggering the start of "missions"; the flashing arrows directing you what to hit next; upper rollovers that trigger bonus multipliers; Outlane gates that can be set by hitting targets in the upper playfield; a ball trap that shoots out the ball in random directions toward targets; and a secondary playfield area.

The theming isn't anything revolutionary. The old west had been a popular subject for pinball machines from almost the beginning. That said, the theming is well done. I like the train track ramp that belts out a steam whistle. The secondary "bank" playfield has cleverly designed money bags for pop bumpers. And I really like the music, especially when going into multiball mode. Interestingly, the music has changed since the game was first released. Gameprom had apparently created the soundtrack on a Mac using Garage Band, because many of the riffs in the soundtrack (the banjo in particular) were pre-made loops in that program. I heard, however, that a pop band that had used that same loop in one of their songs forced Gameprom to alter their original soundtrack. I thought that was odd since they all got the music from public domain samples. Maybe that story is merely "fake news".

The only quibble with this table is, as usual, the physics. The ball is a bit too stiff and slaps against surfaces like a marble on wood. It needs a touch more rebound. Other than that, I still enjoy playing Gameprom's debut table.

These were the digital tables that got me re-interested in pinball. I played Wild West, the Deep and Jungle Style a lot — and I mean a LOT! — when I first discovered them. After many months of playing I harkened back to the last real-life pinball machine I had played and Googled Gorgar in the hope that someone had made a digital version; that’s how I found TPA.

Over the years the Gameprom tables have been tweaked and they are not as good anymore. The flippers were always a little funky but they were less funky in the beginning, and the camera settings were better. I had an old iPad on which hadn’t updated those tables in several years and I definitely preferred the old ones. Sadly, that iPad expired a year or two back.

I remained a loyal player through War Pinball, Arcade, Snow Pinball (which I thought was fantastic!), DaVinci; but the Mars one put me off a little bit and I think that was around the time they started tweaking the older ones.

I still play them once in a while and, unless I’m totally flipping haphazardly, the games last more than one session; but the good news is that you can turn them off and, when you go back, they’re there waiting for you. Wish that happened with TPA; I’d play Monster Bash much more often than I do.

JefferyD said:

Arcade, Snow Pinball (which I thought was fantastic!)

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I'm going to start threads on those tables as well (unless someone beats me to it). Arcade is a lot of fun and it's the first implementation of video games into pinball that actually works well. I love Snow pinball too, with clever theming. I think there was different music originally, but I can't remember. I like how the ball brushes against the bells as is rolls down one of the lanes.