Right off the bat, you're presented with some incredibly busy art. There are drawings and lights everywhere, which furthers into the structural design of ramps, traps and holes galore. It doesn't help that the front panel lights get displayed across the top portion of the field. You'll never see where the ball is going, once it's up there. Visual clutter can kill a board and this comes pretty close to that. Legibility gets a failing grade, for sure. The audio is a little better, considering the use of the Worms sounds you're familiar with. In particular, there's a spinner that simulates machine gun ammo as it gets activated, which is pretty clever. That little spinner is my favorite part of the game.

There are a few major sins on this table, with the first being the visuals. The second is that the trough is wide as a canyon. In itself, a large gap isn't a deal breaker, but the physics of this game are also loose enough that a ball can't ever be trapped by a flipper. Any attempt will see the ball either fly to the other side or flop into that chasm. The same can be said for slipping down the outlanes. If you need to make a certain shot, you'd better be confident, because you won't be stopping or guiding anything in motion.

As for progression, I've never been able to figure it out. I read the manual, which details different areas and missions, but the legibility is so poor that I never made it out of the first stage. That's a huge bummer. Luckily, there are some silver linings. The content that's packed in just one area is pretty versatile. Multiple minigames see you playing card games for points or guiding a sheep through a maze on the display. Then there are special missions, where you need to hit some ramps, probably. When it's trying, the Worms table can be remarkably entertaining, until it unceremoniously speeds another ball down the gutter. A multiball state happens frequently, for added chaos, though it disappears just as quickly. Getting an extra ball is a little harder, so after three tries, you're done.

You can buy this standalone game for €7.99 on Steam. I personally wouldn't do that, since I paid five bucks for this disc and still felt like I had to squeeze my enjoyment out of it. I would return to this, however, if just for the sounds.

Rating: 5/10

In terms of structure, these two tables are the same, so expect a lot of similarities shown above. Once again, the sound of WRF is the biggest attraction, with lots of guitar riffs, revving and blaring announcements. Even the clutter gets a little cleaned up. This feels more like an actual pinball experience, at a glance.

In practice, however, this is shockingly the worst table here. The aforementioned issues of slipperiness get amplified by every lane pointing exactly at the gutters. Every single shot, if not perfect, results in a lost ball. As a reminder: you cannot stop play to trap a ball. You have to be perfect with every shot; it's insane. WRF has the easiest multiball, which requires just hitting two or three immediate targets, but balls instantly go down the drain anyway, so what's the point?

There's a neat shop mechanism, where players can enter to refuel, but given the massive odds of the ball coming back to die, it's not worth the risk. As appealing as the table looks, there's nothing other than a strong presentation to like here. If I saw this thing in real life, I'd play it once and only play it once more to break it as much as I possibly could. I can imagine why the video game equivalent never picked up, after a stinker like this.

Rating: 2/10

Camelot is the main table and where your quest starts. It's a good thing that my copy came complete with a manual, because that's the only place where the name of this table is mentioned. In-game, this is just where the title screen dumps you. While the visuals are grimy, even by PS1 standards, the medieval fantasy setting is kept neat. Board structure is standard fare, with ramps pushed to the side, a second left flipper to direct the upper board and a fun bumper maze up top. For what it's worth, it works.

Sound design further drives home that this is a budget title. Pinball Power adds a few barks to lead the player in their quest, but it is surprising just how much dead air there is between hitting spots. There isn't a whistle to be heard, until some progression shouts that you now possess "advanced bravery." Sporadically, you'll get a sword clank, take it or leave it. I've never heard a quieter board in my life. Emptiness constricts this game like a vise.

The most baffling aspect of this game, however, is the feel itself. It must be hard to make pinball physics, because the balls here never roll fluidly. The flow is more like quicksand, where momentum doesn't quite go fast enough, until it hits a breaching point. This means that, not only will gameplay move erratically, it's also going to be a lot slower than you'd imagine. Luckily, I was able to get a hang of it eventually, but even then it felt more turn-based than it should. It fits the role-playing nature, but this is one sluggish pinball experience.

Maybe Pinball Power knows its limitations, because the trough is fairly small and the outlanes almost always have a saver active to send the ball back. There's a big margin of error, so I guess that comes with a lot of leeway. A multiball can last ages due to these buffers, but you'll need to get there.

It is difficult to hit shots effectively without consistent momentum and every table wants you to clear at least ten missions to proceed. You'll be trying endlessly to hit this one tiny angle, while pixel skips will ruin the attempt every time. If successful, a little story panel comes up that details what feat you've conquered. You're slaying dragons, freeing wizards or obtaining better equipment. It's a story device, but these tidbits perfectly cap progression.

While the actual pinball feel here is some of the worst around, I eventually settled in a groove that at least let me justify my time. That said, the several barriers in place here, to get to a more enjoyable place, is not something one should ever put themselves through. This exists purely as an oddity to sink a few days into, just to say you've done it.

Rating: 5/10

Considering that every table is built to be the same, there aren't many differences, other than the structure. This is the sturdiest of the three versions, with most spots being clearly visible. Additionally, the extra flipper is now on the right side and the upper field is more centrally available, without having to ricochet the ball there.

What's remarkable about this table is the sheer cacophony of sounds this produces, when multiball is active. There are about five different sounds going at any given time, each with a dissonant ring. The noise is so bad that it's good. Seriously, it's a nightmare to hear, but kind of in that remarkable way where you can't understand how someone thought this was fine. Sadly, the emulated version cuts this part out and, at most, just gets grated audio static instead.

I don't recommend buying a PS1 copy, just to hear this assault on the senses, but this audio aspect and the clearer field made Land's End (misspelled Lands End in-game) my favorite. It's too bad that you won't ever play it as more than a one-off, because completing every mission on a table is nigh impossible. I've tried.

Rating: 6/10

This is the clearest, but also most mundane table. Ramp left, ramp right, bumpers up top; you've seen this before. Strangely enough, this has extra flippers on both ends, though they rarely feel like they service more than one specific shot.

This board really hammers home the emptiness of Pinball Power. It's fine, but nothing ever happens. There are no turns in momentum and barely any sounds. As the grand finale, Fisher King needs more than the castle construction on the top of the board and the presentation of a real table. Once again, you can only do one-off runs, so I didn't do more than a handful. It's so anticlimactic that I have no additional things to say about it. It's Pinball Power, just less entertaining.

Rating: 4/10