The Pinball Arcade Review
Farsight Studios brings gamers a wide collection of digital versions of real, classic, pinball machines on almost any platform and preserves pinball history.
The Pinball Arcade
Players: 1-4 Offline Players
Publisher: Farsight Studios
Genres: Pinball
Publisher: Farsight Studios
Genres: Pinball
Release Date: February 9, 2012
Developer: Farsight Studios
MSRP: $0.99
Developer: Farsight Studios
MSRP: $0.99
Pinball Arcade features exact recreations of the all-time greatest pinball tables from Williams®, Bally®, Stern Pinball®, and Gottlieb® together in one game. Every flipper, bumper, sound effect, and display pixel has been painstakingly emulated in astonishing detail.
The Pinball Arcade Review
Posted By Stephen B. about 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve played the silver ball. From Cleveland down to Nashville, I thought I’d played them all. But I ain’t seen nothing like this, in any amusement hall. This small, smooth, and sweet app…
SURE PLAYS A MEAN PINBALL!
| PROS | Variety, physics, table recreations, and more… |
| CONS | Slows down whenever someone texts me, takes time to find comfortable way to grip iPhone. |
| WTF?! | I can’t imagine how they digitized the hologram for the Creature from the Black Lagoon table. |
From miniature golf courses, to roller skating rinks, to hotel game rooms, to the last remaining arcades in the USA, I’ve grown up playing pinball here and there whenever the chance presented itself. I remember back when my age was a single digit how fascinated I was watching all the lights, models, and sounds of the various pinball tables. Even if I didn’t play them myself (what with being 5 and all), I still got a kick watching people play, especially the really good players. These days, pinball tables, like arcades, are slowly becoming a thing of the past as home computers and video game consoles dominate the market arcades and game rooms once held.
Apologies to Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, and the rest of The Who.
But even so, there’s a strong and dedicated pinball fan base who dedicate their free time to purchasing, restoring, and playing pinball tables. These pinball aficionados often stay in touch and communicate through the Internet Pinball Database; a website that not only provides a gathering point for the champions of pinball (and the pinball champions), but also allows them to list, review, and rank various pinball tables to determine which ones are the most awesome. For them, Farsight Studios has provided a downloadable game that anyone who has played pinball, has a passion for pinball, or even a passing interest in pinball will enjoy. This is The Pinball Arcade.
Back in 2003-2004, Farsight Studios developed a relatively average action-puzzle game called Mojo! for the PS2. It got them thinking about making pinball emulation software, and over time they released Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection and Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection which gamers are likely to have seen sitting in bargain bins or used game shops. However, the folks at Farsight Studios are such devout pinball fanatics, that they continue to modify and enhance their pinball emulation technology to this day. The Pinball Arcade is the result of their hard work and dedication which shines through in the game, and continues to improve with each update. Just check out this video from their official YouTube account to see how much effort they put into recreating physical pinball tables in digital form:
Now that we know a little bit more about the background behind the development of this game, how does it play?
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The Pinball Arcade Review
Posted By Stephen B. about 9 months, 3 weeks ago
The Pinball Arcade Review
Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve played the silver ball. From Cleveland down to Nashville, I thought I’d played them all. But I ain’t seen nothing like this, in any amusement hall. This small, smooth, and sweet app…
SURE PLAYS A MEAN PINBALL!
| PROS | Variety, physics, table recreations, and more… |
| CONS | Slows down whenever someone texts me, takes time to find comfortable way to grip iPhone. |
| WTF?! | I can’t imagine how they digitized the hologram for the Creature from the Black Lagoon table. |
From miniature golf courses, to roller skating rinks, to hotel game rooms, to the last remaining arcades in the USA, I’ve grown up playing pinball here and there whenever the chance presented itself. I remember back when my age was a single digit how fascinated I was watching all the lights, models, and sounds of the various pinball tables. Even if I didn’t play them myself (what with being 5 and all), I still got a kick watching people play, especially the really good players. These days, pinball tables, like arcades, are slowly becoming a thing of the past as home computers and video game consoles dominate the market arcades and game rooms once held.
Apologies to Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, and the rest of The Who.
But even so, there’s a strong and dedicated pinball fan base who dedicate their free time to purchasing, restoring, and playing pinball tables. These pinball aficionados often stay in touch and communicate through the Internet Pinball Database; a website that not only provides a gathering point for the champions of pinball (and the pinball champions), but also allows them to list, review, and rank various pinball tables to determine which ones are the most awesome. For them, Farsight Studios has provided a downloadable game that anyone who has played pinball, has a passion for pinball, or even a passing interest in pinball will enjoy. This is The Pinball Arcade.
Back in 2003-2004, Farsight Studios developed a relatively average action-puzzle game called Mojo! for the PS2. It got them thinking about making pinball emulation software, and over time they released Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection and Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection which gamers are likely to have seen sitting in bargain bins or used game shops. However, the folks at Farsight Studios are such devout pinball fanatics, that they continue to modify and enhance their pinball emulation technology to this day. The Pinball Arcade is the result of their hard work and dedication which shines through in the game, and continues to improve with each update. Just check out this video from their official YouTube account to see how much effort they put into recreating physical pinball tables in digital form:
Now that we know a little bit more about the background behind the development of this game, how does it play?
Pages: Page 1 - Page 2
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August 02, 2012 at 08:41am
Thank you for this review! I didn’t know this wonderful game existed until now.
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July 30, 2012 at 11:55pm
Coincidentally, you gave this game the same score I did when I reviewed it awhile back: 9/10. As an avid pinball player, there was no way I could pass this up, even after owning multiple versions of the previous FarSight collections (Williams and Gottlieb).
I happen to own the PS3 version (and have also played the 360 version). While it’s not a perfect emulation of the real thing, it’s certainly the closest I’ve ever experienced and sometimes it’s just as brutally unforgiving as the real thing. Overall the package is stunning with crisper visuals than the previous collections by FarSight and true emulation of the sound ROMs.
Prices for the PS3/Vita/360 versions are approximately $10 for the base game (four tables: Tales of the Arabian Nights, Theater of Magic, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and Black Hole) and usually $5 for DLC (two tables each), effectively bringing the price to $2.50 per table thus far. As of this post the PS3/Vita version only has two of the DLC packs available with the third on the way. The 360 version hasn’t received any DLC packs yet (FarSight recently blamed Microsoft and their XBLA publisher for the delay), but they are expected any time now.
I really only have this to say: if you love pinball games this is definitely a must-get for you. If you like classic arcade-style games that you can pick up and play, give the demo a try and see if you like it.
Also note that there are other versions available, including Android and future plans for 3DS, Wii U, and Windows PC.
Thank you for this review! I didn’t know this wonderful game existed until now.
Coincidentally, you gave this game the same score I did when I reviewed it awhile back: 9/10. As an avid pinball player, there was no way I could pass this up, even after owning multiple versions of the previous FarSight collections (Williams and Gottlieb).
I happen to own the PS3 version (and have also played the 360 version). While it’s not a perfect emulation of the real thing, it’s certainly the closest I’ve ever experienced and sometimes it’s just as brutally unforgiving as the real thing. Overall the package is stunning with crisper visuals than the previous collections by FarSight and true emulation of the sound ROMs.
Prices for the PS3/Vita/360 versions are approximately $10 for the base game (four tables: Tales of the Arabian Nights, Theater of Magic, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and Black Hole) and usually $5 for DLC (two tables each), effectively bringing the price to $2.50 per table thus far. As of this post the PS3/Vita version only has two of the DLC packs available with the third on the way. The 360 version hasn’t received any DLC packs yet (FarSight recently blamed Microsoft and their XBLA publisher for the delay), but they are expected any time now.
I really only have this to say: if you love pinball games this is definitely a must-get for you. If you like classic arcade-style games that you can pick up and play, give the demo a try and see if you like it.
Also note that there are other versions available, including Android and future plans for 3DS, Wii U, and Windows PC.