Alien Crush is back. Alien Crush. Seriously.
Having a new entry in the classic pinball series is something that I don't think anyone expected. I wonder if sales of the TurboGrafx originals on Virtual Console is what inspired Hudson to craft this WiiWare update? No matter how it happened, Alien Crush Returns is pretty nifty.
*Crush *does have a purely score-based "Arcade" mode, in which you select from one of three tables that are designed to resemble the gross inner workings of an alien. But Hudson adds more play value with a "Story" mode that takes you from table to table, asking you to accomplish smaller goals: Eliminate all the aliens, defeat a giant boss monster.
It feels pretty good: The camera is dynamic, moving between a few different pre-determined positions depending on what part of the board the ball is on. The ball physics feel alright, although at times when I think I'm really going to smack the ball, I just end up nudging it, and vice versa.
You control the game with the Wiimote and nunchuk, using the Z and B buttons to control the left and right flippers. There is no option to customize these controls that I found, nor can you use the Classic controller, which is kind of disappointing -- it's a bit tiring to have to use your index fingers the entire time instead of your thumbs.
There are three different kinds of "action balls" that you can use during games. One gives the ball a speed boost. Another gives the ball a burst of speed -- in the exact opposite direction that it's currently traveling. A third, judging by the onscreen icon, puts you into multiball mode. These are activated by pressing the A button, and once you activate them, a meter in the upper-left-hand corner of the screen slowly fills back up, letting you know when you can use them again. In the Arcade mode, only the first two were available.
That's the high-level overview from about half an hour of play. I'll likely have more later.
Alien Crush Returns is available today in Japan. It will likely come to America one of these days.
Image: Hudson
