''Pro Pinball: Big Race USA'' is an

action video game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...

developed by Cunning Developments, published by

Empire Interactive Empire Interactive was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in London. Founded in 1987 by Ian Higgins and Simon Jeffrey, it was acquired by Silverstar Holdings in 2006 and collapsed in 2009. History Empire ...

and distributed by

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major Imprint (trade name), publishing labels, Rockstar Games, Zynga and 2K ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

. It is the third game in the ''Pro Pinball'' series, and is themed around travelling around the United States in a car, similar to the Williams physical table ''

Red & Ted's Road Show ''Red & Ted's Road Show'' (also known as ''Road Show'') is a 1994 widebody pinball game designed by Pat Lawlor and released by Williams. It is part of WMS' '' SuperPin'' line of widebody games. Country singer Carlene Carter provided the voice ...

''.

Background

It is notable for having a lot more "simulation" features than its predecessor '' Pro Pinball: Timeshock!'', such as ability to configure table angle, flipper strength and how "worn" the table should appear to be. It also features a skill level setting, perhaps in response to ''Pro Pinball: Timeshock!s difficulty. It also has improved graphical features including a subtle texture on the ball (so you can see how the ball is spinning) and motion blur.

Reception

The PlayStation version received "average" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. In Japan, where the same console version was ported and published by Syscom as part of the ''World Greatest Hits Series'' on 13 June 2002, ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' gave it a score of 22 out of 40. The PC version received the "Special Award" for "Quick-Fix Gaming" from ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' in 1999. The editors wrote that it "set a new standard in PC pinball" and "proved so incredibly addictive it might as well have shipped with a set of cranial meat hooks."

References

External links

* {{Pro Pinball series 1998 video games Action games Cunning Developments games Empire Interactive games Multiplayer and single-player video games Pinball video games PlayStation (console) games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Windows games