![]() ![]() In a year or so, one of those things might be a special pinball companion app called “The Pinball Assistant”. Sometimes, for instance, it’s interesting what pinball related things you find when you search through smartphones and tablet app stores. Pinheads on the other hand can learn something about not taking oneself to seriously and keeping an open mind by trying out new things. This is a situation that doesn’t need to be that way though: It’s great to get people outside the scene excited to try real playing pinball because it’s easy for them to understand and something physical that people tend to love in a more and more digitally connected world. Fine work, Farsight.There is still few exchange between the dedicated pinball community that focusses on physical tables and casually interested people who know pinball primarily through software of the likes of “Pinball Arcade”, “ZEN Pinball” or older video pins. ![]() If you're a pinball fan, you've probably already stopped reading to immediately download the game, but if you're still with me, just know this - The Pinball Arcade is the finest virtual collection of pinball gaming ever created, and with so much additional content on the way, it is truly the retro gift that just keeps giving. Star Trek: The Next Generation and Attack from Mars are also reportedly in the works, with even more over the very bright horizon. Furthermore, Farsight has successfully secured the rights to reproduce Twilight Zone, thanks to a kickstarter campaign, which is incredibly cool since Twilight Zone is arguably the more revered pinball machine of all time. If that's not enough, 4 more have been announced for August DLC - Gorgar and Monster Mash in the first pack, Creature from the Black Lagoon and Black Knight in the second. As of July 2012, Farsight has made two DLCs available, each of which adds 2 more machines - Cirqus Voltaire and Funhouse in one, Medieval Madness and Bride of Pin-Bot in the other. ![]() The base game includes 4 - Tales of the Arabian Nights, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Black Hole, and Theatre of Magic. Speaking of which, some of you may be curious about which tables are included. Game menus also provide background information on each table's real-world history. It's hardcore, old-school, and tremendously challenging, but it also offers enough immediate gratification that newcomers to pinball can still enjoy themselves. Climbing the leaderboards is what it's all about, though generally I only care about beating my own top scores and learning the nuances of each unique table. As for the meat of the game, it's really nothing more complicated than using flippers, tilt-nudges, and some quick mental geometry to knock a metal ball into the right targets, but the controls are incredibly responsive and accomodates both touchscreen and button-only play styles. The Pinball Arcade, however, offered such an addictive, nostalgic museum of virtual classics that it managed to tear me away from massive titles like Mass Effect 3, Dragon's Dogma, and even my first Vita purchase Gravity Rush. While such throwaway, casual experiences may be fine on iOS or Android, I prefer packaged retail releases with deeper gameplay on the more hardcore consoles. Now to the second point - I generally dislike download-only titles on my PlayStation or XBox platforms. Not only was the game a great value, but I immediately downloaded my PS3 copy and got obsessed with looking up old tables that may get included with forthcoming DLC. Farsight Studios exceeds expectations on all of these points. Pinball Arcade got my attention by featuring cross-platform support between Vita and PS3, along with the claim that its historic machines were recreated with the same physics, measurements, and actual chip emulation of the original tables. First, I would normally pass by a pinball game without a second thought, not because I dislike pinball (quite the opposite, actually) but because I've never played a virtual pinball game that accurately recreated the real-life experience. The very next day, I snagged the reasonably priced base game along with both available DLC packs, thus unlocking eight of the finest pinball machines in gaming history, with plenty more planned for near-future release. I downloaded the demo alongside a half-dozen others when I finally purchased a Vita, but Pinball Arcade was the only one I kept coming back to. ![]() I downloaded the demo alongside a Never before have I seen such a low-profile title so soundly destroy the competition in its niche genre. Never before have I seen such a low-profile title so soundly destroy the competition in its niche genre. ![]()
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