The best way to describe this game's graphics and sound is "surprisingly spectacular," and the game itself is as good as the presentation. Midnight Magic is easily the better of the two pinball games released for the Atari 2600, and is in fact one of the best pinball games released for any video game console in the 1980s. Only one thing keeps it from being a perfect video pinball experience: the lack of bumping the table. Any pinball enthusiast will tell you bumps and nudges are as essential to pinball as the flippers. Even earlier 2600 game Video Pinball had nudging and the danger of "tilting" to go with it. Without any ability to use a little body English, you are completely at the mercy of the table, with only the limited power of the flippers to keep the ball from draining.
Midnight Magic thankfully remains very entertaining even without table bumping. Pinball purists will scoff, but Atari 2600 fans will remain wowed by one of the best games released during the console's "second wind" of the late 1980s.
Grade: A-.