FarSight brings "The Pinball Arcade" to all major plaforms

[ace92678]

Farsights Physics are just fine

Actually there previous Tables physics were very accurate . I have played most of there pinball hall of fame games in real life Black Knight being the most . I have played it for over 20 years . There only problem is they play like a brand new freshly waxed table every time and never show any characteristics of being broken in, worn or used . As far as the graphics they are great to . Most people are probably watching no official trailers and not in hd . The tables on the Xbox 360's version of the hall of fame were very accurately 3d modeled an rendered . The same problem applied they also just looked to clean to be true but still they were pretty realistic looking . The ball animation wasn't shabby neither.

[shogun00]

https://www.facebook.com/pinballarcade/posts/324584767562590

The game is scheduled to come out on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in late March.

Android and iOS users will get the game later this month, while PS Vita users may get the game at launch (2/22).

[Thirdrail]

Farsight has fixed their engine, yeah. The psp and Wii versions of Hall of Fame were unplayable, but I grabbed the new 3DS one today, and it's quite good. Now I'm looking forward to this Pinball Arcade thing.

I still think Zen has slightly better ball mechanics, but Farsight has 10x better table instructions and game modes, so, really, both games make me hope the other's dev team is taking notes.

[Nautilus the 1st]

+1

Indeed, physics are better but the modes and gameplay of the top class real machines are way better in general.

[ND3G]

Cabinet View

I really hope Farsight includes cabinet view.

It drives me up the wall that Zen Pinball does not have this feature, to the point that I have stopped playing it. If Farsight fails to incorporate this absolutely essential feature than I will just stick with Video Pinball.

[Nautilus the 1st]

Ok, just played some TOM games on pinball arcade. I am a bit dissapointed. The graphics are not really sharp, the ball is floating and does not have enough weight, the flippers are not powerfull enough, the maximum angle the flippers make is too small, the ball is grey! and hard to follow. The good, well, it is the TOM, gameplay is better than the zen tables, so are the sound effects.

But, in general, ZEN rocks, wish they used their engine and knowledge to recreate the classic tables.

[LukkyNL]

The Pinball Arcade just revealed photos on their Facebook page of their pinball.

The ball has its reflections now; they are taken from the Xbox 360 version of the game. They initially planned a video showing off the physics, but they claimed they had issues with the recording, so it will be on YouTube tomorrow.

I will post a link to the video when they release it.

Also, to avoid constant posting, here are the 12 Days of The Pinball Arcade Christmas:

Day 1: The Making of The Pinball Arcade
Day 2: Pricing structure (Table of the Month for $1 and hopes for tables to be priced at $2-3, $4 at most)
Day 3: Cirqus Voltaire for $1 when released
Day 4: Tournament structure (cross-platform tounaments and the ability to play tables for free)
Day 5: In-game photos of the new pinball model (the pinball now has reflections)
Day 6: Video showing off the new pinball model; Cloda approved (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngCU79_-JnY)
Day 7: Ripley's Believe It or Not video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qLhqSRIG50)
Day 8: Black Hole video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgV8VauGtZg)
Day 9: Tales of the Arabian Nights video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMhf9i0afps)
Day 10: Theater of Magic video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROW203Qa1FU)
Day 11: Table Instructions video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ze12sUEIo0)
Day 12: Release Date Info: iOS & Android (January), Vita & Mac (February), and Xbox, PS3, & PC (late-March)

Thanks for this. Watched them over and over again.

This is simply unreal... Watching it gave butterflies in my stumach. I cant believe I'll be playing this next month. The lighting, ambiance, everything is near photorealisyic. And the physics... Wow, what an
improvement. The ios version on iphone is just a taste of whats comming!

[LukkyNL]

Ok, just played some TOM games on pinball arcade. I am a bit dissapointed. The graphics are not really sharp, the ball is floating and does not have enough weight, the flippers are not powerfull enough, the maximum angle the flippers make is too small, the ball is grey! and hard to follow. The good, well, it is the TOM, gameplay is better than the zen tables, so are the sound effects.

But, in general, ZEN rocks, wish they used their engine and knowledge to recreate the classic tables.

Just watch the videos above... Nothing tops that engine yet!

[Nautilus the 1st]

I agree that the physics look better although the ball still lacks weight imho. Question than is why the current ios version is nothing like the videos above.

[shogun00]

Question than is why the current ios version is nothing like the videos above.

The videos might be coming from one of other versions of the game, such as the PS3, 360 or PC version.

[MrDaaark]

Just tried the newly released Android version out of curiosity.

The menu screens are glitchy and flicker all over the place.

The artwork is horrible and very uninspired. The tables look accurate enough, but there is no shading. It's just a fully bright machine in a basic full bright room.

The ball feels like it is floating in the air instead of rolling on the table. Ball movement is very inconsistent like it's frame based movement, and not delta time. This causes the ball to sometimes go right through the flippers since it warps around from frame to frame.

[curiousdan]

Pinball Arcade bashers should go play some real pinball once in a while. If you're happy with Zen/Marvel/FX then we're all happy, but bear in mind that the fantasy pinball style of Zen is exactly that - fantasy, both in design, physics and graphics.

PS The moment Zen team is starting selling tables SS/EM-style, I'm ready to buy. A DIY pin creator program would be cool, too.

[HardcorePinballGamer4Life]

Having played both The Pinball Arcade and Zen Pinball on my newly bought iPad 2 (which is an awesome device), Zen's series has the upper hand due to the presentation and physics.

The physics in Pinball Arcade are pretty good. Roughly par with the 360/PS3 Williams Collection; lightweight, but solid enough to please the majority of pinballers. The Pinball Arcade's presentation is hit-and-miss. It's not terrible and functions well, but leaves little to be desired. Facebook-only leaderboards and lack of Game Center support really sucks as well, but the developers said they will add Game Center by late-March. Graphically par with the 360/PS3 Williams Collection, as well; they apparently said they are working on enhancing the graphical quality for the iPad 2 and 3. Despite the negatives, still one of the best pinball titles on the iPad 2. All tables run quite well on my iPod Touch (4th Generation 5.0), with the exception of Ripley's Believe It or Not which has a bug and the framerate is a little choppy on that one.

Zen Pinball, on the other hand, is top-notch from head-to-toe; fantastic physics, graphics, and presentation. However, I would only recommend getting the iPad 2 or tablets similar to it since it runs like a dream on that device. The iPod Touch version of this series really sucks. Unresponsive action (Check) buttons, and entering initials is a huge pain as well. Also, the tables, with partial exception to Sorcerer's Lair, are a little choppy on the Touch; no problem at all on my iPad 2. THE pinball app, just as long as you have an iPad 2.

All in all, Zen Pinball is a class above The Pinball Arcade; however, with some adjustments, The Pinball Arcade will be incredibly competitive with Zen Pinball.

BTW, the console version of this game looks really good.

[LukkyNL]

A class above? I must have a different Pinball arcade then... The physics are much better then Pinball hall if fame too.

The PS3/360/PC version is still in development and they are not only tweaking it to perfection, they still add things like better ambiance and lighting(!).

[brophog]

It's a promising start, but it needs some fine tuning.

It needs some work, though, before it is released on the consoles where standards remain far higher than on the portable offerings. The version released on IOS was more of a beta than a real release build.