Devil's Crush 1990 By: NEC

Overview:

If battling undead armies, pentagram circling wizards, demonic reptilians, and gothic succubi is your idea of a good time, you've found a winner in "Devil's Crush". Just don't get caught tilting the machine (yes it really is possible) or you'll lose a... Ball?! That's right! "Devil's Crush" is a free scrolling, three screened pinball game wretched from the nightmares (or maybe fantasy) of your favorite '80s death metal band. "Devils Crush" is the second installment in the Crush franchise, and by far the most metal. The game is played to a back drop of music that can only be described as Norwegian death metal being played on a children's Casio keyboard, and it pretty much rocks.

I've never been big into pinball, as a kid, if I had some quarters to spend they were going into something with a screen and a joystick. My lack of pinball experience did not impede my enjoyment of "Devil's Crush", nor did my lack of pinball skill prevent me from becoming immediately addicted to the banging of flippers. This game is one of the best procrastinating facilitators I've ever discovered. It's extremely fast paced, and I suck at it, which makes it even more fast paced. "Devil's Crush" is kitschy, but it makes no apologies for its kitschiness, nor should it.

Directions:

The object of "Devil's Crush" is to defeat the devilish organisms in order to rack up the highest score possible. Admittedly, without a high score chart some of the incentive is lost, but the two player mode is a viable motivation option. The player mode choice is available at the start screen, as are options for selecting ball speed and music.

"Devil's Crush" features three, stacked screens of a living background, as well as three flippers. The player can shake the machine (I love that) to try to nudge a ball in the right direction. If a player nudges too much they will lose the ball that they have in play. In addition to the main stage, there are four bonus screens that can be accessed by sinking the ball into the Dead Bones Locks. The bonus levels give the player the chance to earn huge amounts of points. Every enemy is worth a specific amount of points, and the player can further access the level by clearing the screen of certain enemies (killing all of the same type of enemy will unblock an obstruction, typically revealing a new path for your balls). Extra balls can be earned by scoring and stacking points. The game will end when the player is out of balls.