I try to find unique takes on games to play and I can certainly say Arcade Sundown fits that bill. Its a 1-4 player combo sports games that takes place… inside a pinball table?! This one takes some explaining so let’s dive in!
You play as a character shrunk inside a pinball table tasked with scoring the most points in 2 minute matches against your opponents. The way to score points is to grab and keep hold of the pinball. The pinball itself has arms and legs and a mind of its own so you’ll need to use your moves and skills to keep the pinball in your possession, but also keep it away from your opponents. Once the ball is in your position you need to throw it at bumpers or take it down lane shots to score points. Whilst this goes on a combo meter rises. Survive long enough and you’ll be able to smash the pinball into your coloured jackpot goal and collect bonus points. The key is to know when to cash in and when to hang on for more points.
Whilst you may be in control of the ball, your opponents won’t be sitting idly. To get back the ball they’ll cut you off, tackle you or try and get into position for when the ball shoots out of a special lane shot or flipper bounce to grab the ball before you can. Everyone has a dash ability and that’s tied to a stamina bar so you can’t spam it forever and since the pinball tables are tight, things get very messy very quickly if everyone playing “gets” the idea of the game. It is bit like basketball and hockey but inside a pinball table and its a fantastic idea.
Where Arcade Sundown works best is in the 2v2 mode where teams need to work together. Suddenly you’ll be attempting daring passes, throwing balls down lanes for points hoping your partner will catch it on the other side and making use of the special high score lane when it opens up to bag big points. There is a hint of retro NBA Jam about its concise and taut gameplay where simplicity and limited options means you need to think on your feet. The 2v2 modes work well on three additional game modes too. The basic game I’ve described but there is a pinball mode where gravity drags the ball down, runner mode where the pinballs legs means it runs (slowly) towards the controlling teams goal and radio mode where you control the pinball itself and not your character when you take control. Radio mode really switches things up and causes a few extra laughs as you about turn away from a mate who thinks they are about to steal you back.
Not everything is rosy though. By design the pinball table are small and lack tactical options. I feel like games are over in two minutes because once you’ve used a few viable solutions for scoring big points, everyone then knows how to block or defend a table. Then it becomes a bit of a messy back and forth of stealing, which is fun for a while but feels a little less skill dependant than maybe it should be. Tackling also seems to be hit and miss too. Sometimes it works, something you can just run through the other team and nothing happens. After several hours I was still scratching my head over whether it was just poor collision detection or if the timing of everyone’s actioned just seemed a bit off.
AI range from standing still doing nothing to suddenly being very competent for a few seconds across most matches too. That said I was able to get Steam Remote Play to work well with Arcade Sundown to get matches going with friends. When alone, there is a single player mode where you have to score X amount of points to unlock new character skins and thankfully all six pinball tables are available from the outset. This lets you waste time in online leaderboards trying to rack up a perfect 2 minute combo run with all the biggest scoring moves.
I’m delighted that Arcade Sundown exists. It has lots of great ideas and feels unique to play too. Whilst the gameplay can descend into a bit of a scrappy back and forth like a button mashing rugby game, there are moments of great gameplay too. Some more expansive tables and perhaps some character specific moves or traits would really elevate this game in the future (or in a sequel) to make it a strong recommendation for local multiplayer gamers. For now, this is a slightly uneven but promising entry into the lesser known designs of multiplayer sports inspired games.
Review copy provided by developer. Out now on Steam.
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