Pinball machines may have all but vanished from the face of the earth, much like the noble arcade cabinet, but they still have a place in hearts of many a gamer. The iPhone has caused something of a resurgence of the genre, when it hasn't really caused much of a stir on other platforms of late.

There are already a handful of pinball games on the iPhone, but it's not always easy to know which one to get. We took two of the top-selling pinball games available for the device, Freeballin' and Wild West Pinball, and saw what sorts of sparks flew off when we bashed their balls together.

We've split this head to head into sections based on what we think are the most important parts of any pinball game. When it comes down to it though, there can be only one pinball wizard.


Visuals

It's the most superficial of all the factors we'll be assessing here, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of visual flash. Both Freeballin' and Wild West Pinball don't fare too badly compared with their genre rivals.

Freeballin' in particular looks good in screenshots, but in the flesh, the tables have a tendency to feel empty while there's not a great deal of consistency between the game's tables. Each of the pre-rendered elements within the tables looks pretty good, but together they don't quite mesh together to make as nice a looking table as you might hope. Once again, apart from the game's flagship table, they all feel a little empty.

Wild West Pinball's table, on the other hand, is more compact, but full of textured 3D elements that make the game feel a lot more dynamic than Freeballin'. It looks a lot more like a real life pinball table too.

Of course, this isn't necessarily an innately superior thing- you could have a fantastic looking pinball game that didn't look realistic- but the wood grain on the table and realistic colour gradients push it above Freeballin's looser sprite-based visuals.

Winner: Wild West Pinball


Table quantity and game longevity

Freeballin' gains back some ground in the quantity stakes. Wild West Pinball features only one table, meaning it can't feasibly compete with Freeballin's four. As you might guess, Wild West Pinball's table bears a wild west theme, while Freeballin' has a Tiki table, a B-movie monster one, a ‘Dreams and Nightmares' table and the futuristic, Tron-style Neometric table.

Wild West Pinball offers a very straight pinball experience- to the extent that there's not really even a game menu, it just loads straight into the action. Freeballin' offers different modes for each table, Score Attack, Time Attack and Adventure Challenge. In each, you're still tacking the same table, but you're limited by differing elements

Although Wild West Pinball is arguably more addictive, this is one fight that Freeballin' wins.

Winner: Freeballin'


Table Quality

A real demonstration of the quantity vs. quality argument, Wild West Pinball's table is far more interesting than any Freeballin' has to offer. Although still a ‘real world' pinball simulator, meaning that the table doesn't feature anything too exotic, the ramps and areas create far more interest than the rather drab tables from Freeballin'.

Freeballin's tables end up feeling rather empty, as if they've missed a couple of stages along the design chain. This affects the game's tables to varying extents, with the Tiki table suffering most prominently. Each table does feature missions rather than being a set of benign bumpers, but the relative lack of care that's been put into them means that you're never quite drawn into the game as much as you are with Wild West Pinball.

Winner: Wild West Pinball


Physics and Realism

Once again, Wild West Pinball claims the crown on the physics and realism front. Freeballin's physics feel spongy and unconvincing by comparison. This does mean that Wild West Pinball is a little less accessible as a game though.

It also has the frustrating quirk that the screen scrolling is often not quite fast enough to keep up with the ball, meaning that you have to pre-empt which flipper the ball is going to land near rather than actually seeing it. This gets a lot easier on the nerves once you've gotten used to the game, but to start with it's a frustrating feature.

If you've ever played a real life pinball game, you'll know that they're simply not very easy though, making Wild West Pinball feel like the more authentic pinball experience.

The game's easy score uploading feature is great too, meaning you can see just how terrible you are at the game compared with the rest of the world. Freeballin' also features decent implementation of score uploads, giving global rankings for each of the tables.

Winner: Wild West Pinball


Overall

On first glance, Freeballin' appears to be the most complete of the two games. It has more tables, more modes and more visual variety. However, after a play test, Freeballin's strengths start to shrink under the shadow of its deficiencies. The tables aren't dynamic or crafted enough to hold your interest for all that long, while the ball physics aren't accurate enough to make the game feel like a convincing pinball simulator.

Wild West Pinball may do less than its competitor, but the things it does, it does well. Strong ball physics, a lifelike table and compelling gameplay make Wild West Pinball the one to beat. It's not easy, but it is addictive, and crawling your way up the global rankings offers scope for a good many hours of play.

Winner: Wild West Pinball