Obsession

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Though a pure pinball, Obsession's tables have their own little storyline. The "Aquatic Adventure" has Bobby Bubble heading for the Sitnala archipelagos, escaping from Captain Notpoite's secret dungeon and stealing his secret map. The map apparently leads to a strange and uninhabited island surrounded by a great coral reef called Shark's Nest. Bobby straps on his diving gear and enters the warm -but deadly- water. Next up is the mysterious "X-ile Zone". This is set in the year 2058 when a nuclear disaster left the surviving humans into warring tribes of savages. Your objective on this very table is simple: Kill the enemy tribe leader! Next table is the "World Series-based Balls & Bats" where your baseball team starts off in the American league and must progress up to the quarter finals, semi-finals and ultimately the World Series! This table boasts some highly original features such as the Pitcher’s Box. If you crack the ball into this, the game will halt for a second before the pitcher throws one of his three available specials at you (Fast Ball, Slow Ball or Curve Ball). Use your reflexes to catch the ball on one of the flippers or it will go out of play, counting as a strike. Next is the "Desert Run" table and its story takes place in the Paris-Dakar Rally! This table is a bit lacking the originality and variety of the rest and it's a simple old-style pinball.
Well, Obsession pinball is surely great and a nice ST treat, but it unfortunately falls behind the Digital Illusions pinball series (Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies titles) mainly because it's slightly less polished. Nevertheless, it plays the same.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
Obsession's visuals look great and use the STE's advanced graphics hardware. All tables are beautifully designed, with their own storyline based graphics and have up to 40 colors on screen (on the STE). Each table's scrolling is good though occasionally sluggish and the balls move smoothly. Note that the Amiga and Atari Falcon versions offer the same table details but in 64 and 256 (!) colors respectively with table scrolling fluid at all times. The game's sound is great too, with some well composed tunes along with a variety of sound effects that suit the table's storyline.