The Pinball Arcade first impressions

[MAXIBODYALIVE]

I apologize with Zen Studios to post something about a competing company but i think that this is the best forum about a virtual pinball game.
Today Farsight Studios released the xbox version of Pinball Arcade on xbla. (800mps)
I dont want to talk about the tables themselves but only about pros and cons of pinball arcade (pa) vs Pbfx2

Game lobby PA 6/10 Pbfx2 8.5/10
PA has a very poor customization of gamepad controls, no options about music and effects audio levels, no operators menu, no quick restart button, no game saves and overall poor design of game menus. PA instead have -VERY GOOD- detailed instructions for each table!


Graphics PA 7/10 Pbfx2 9/10 (marvell pack 8/10)

Audio PA 5/10 (downsampled original music and voices) Pbfx2 9.5/10

Physics PA 9/10 Pbfx2 8/10

(I thought pbfx2 was the best until i tried PA. PA has ery good feeling when the ball is hit by flippers! Very rare physics ball glitches, I hope they will be fixed.)

Game controls PA 8/10 Pbfx2 8/10

PA has unpredictable table nudge, this is more realistic than pbfx2 where you know exactly what the ball will do when you nudge the table.


Multiplayer PA none. Pbfx2 9/10

This is a very bad point in pinball arcade, there is no change for multiplayer (neither online or local) challenges. Pbfx2 instead has an advanced multiplayer system.


Real Pinball simulation PA 8/10 Pbfx2 6/10

This is the real difference between them. PA wants to be a real pinball simulation and Pbfx2 a video pinball. In PA you will find nothing more than a simulation of real pinball mechanics .

[shogun00]

Come join the rest of us in the General Discussions board. We already have a few threads on The Pinball Arcade there.

[E113]

Come join the rest of us in the General Discussions board. We already have a few threads on The Pinball Arcade there.

^ What he said. ^ There already is an existing thread for The Pinball Arcade. It was in the Pinball FX2 forum. But as its not even a Zen game (let alone FX2), Solitude moved it to General Discussions.

[MAXIBODYALIVE]

Sorry guys. I m curious of your impressions by the way.

[lasvegaspinballhalloffame]

TPA is a cheaply put together piece of crap. Epic fail on every level. So disappointed.

[X DrLobo]

Sorry guys. I m curious of your impressions by the way.

I'm on your side except maybe for the audio, the bad samples give the tables an authentic feeling.

I'm happy with my purchase and hope they make many new tables soon !

[Womble]

TPA is a cheaply put together piece of crap. Epic fail on every level. So disappointed.

I'm disappointed too, but it doesn't fail on every level. It does have a lot of redeeming features. It just needs a lot of work. (Work that I'm not convinced will ever happen, given PHOF's history and the nature of XBLA updates.)

BTW, are you the Jimmy on Facebook that was asking for review codes?

[Ozzpot]

In my opinion, whether you prefer TPA to PFX2 or not will depend on whether you have fond memories (or any memories for that matter) of the featured tables. I suspect were we to hold a poll on this, the results would show a positive correlation with the age of the voter. I imagine those over 40 or so would rate TPA far higher than I do. Those under 30 would almost exclusively vote PFX2 as the better game.

Having played TPA (admittedly only the trial), I am confident in saying that objectively, it is inferior to PFX2 in a number of areas:

Presentation
Firstly, the menus, (and this is an important first impression for any game) are reminiscent of early XBLA games, such as Mad Tracks or Switchball, or cheap PC games (Popcap or Gameloft titles for example) from the mid noughties. It's like something designed very much for small and/or Standard Definition TVs. To say it's ugly would be unfair, but on a large, 1080P LED TV, in the year 2012, it looks clunky and oddly anachronistic as if it were an afterthought or a totally neglected element. As a professional interface designer and consultant, this jumped out at me immediately.

Graphics
The visuals aren't as bright, vivid, smooth or polished as PFX2, not even close. I know Zen's own creations are always going to have a complexity that most real tables don't have, with flashy effects that are not possible in the real world, but that's not what I'm talking about. The TPA tables may be accurately reproduced, but lovingly polished to a shine, or smoothly and beautifully rendered they ain't.

Sound
The sound effects suffer a similar fate. I know authenticity is the aim here, so the crappy quality (and limited number of) samples are probably intended, but without the rich quality of PFX's samples and music, it all feels a rather soulless. Again, if it's authenticity you want, I guess it's not a problem - play your favourite 80's music over it (I have an awesome playlist I made for Gameroom that would be perfect!) and all would seem right with the world. So I'll forgive that one.

Physics
This is a tricky one for me. I don't happen to live anywhere that close to a real pinball table. Most arcades here in the UK are near the sea, at least 50 miles from me. Sure I could get a train into central London and visit the Trocadero, but it's an awkward and prohibitively expensive trip that I would rather avoid. My memories of real tables are from the late eighties and early nineties, when I would visit arcades with my friends. Most of those places are gone, and the memories faded. The physics in PFX2 to me now, seem perfectly real. The physics in TPA not so. The ball feels too light, the collision detection too sensitive, the table too "rattly". Can't really explain better than that. I'm sure I'm wrong, and I bow to the greater experience of those with access to real tables, but personally, I prefer PFX2's more solid feel in this regard.

Controls
I was disappointed to with the controls in TPA. There is for example, no way that I could find of having a detailed look around the table (PFX2's hold-X ability), and I found the way it zooms right out to launch another ball into play, a little jarring. As nice as it is to have an authentic plunger action, I'd rather it remained in the normal view while it did this.


To return to my original point; with these shortcomings, I believe it is only the powerful effect of nostalgia that would lead someone to prefer TPA over PFX2. "Black Hole" happens to be in my Top 5 real world tables, so to play that again gave me a mildly warm feeling as I experienced vague flashbacks of my youth. The reverse mini table made me smile and gasp in wonder all at once just as it did all those years ago. The others, I'm not so familiar with, so, as good as they are, they don't capture my imagination so much, and the lack of real quality or richness in the audiovisuals does not help.

Were this game to get, say, Twilight Zone, The Addams Family, or Terminator 2 (my Top 3), I could very much be tempted to invest. Throw a pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum into the mix and the experience would be complete. But purely an experience of nostalgia it would be. As nostalgia is surely the most subjective of criteria upon which to judge such things, the objective verdict can only be that PFX2 wins hands down as a demonstration of both pinball table design and video game design. Throw some fond memories into the mix and perhaps the opposite is true.

[HardcorePinballGamer4Life]

I disagree that real pinball emulation is nostalgia exclusive; I'm 25 years old and love Black Hole (which I never played and was released before I existed). For me, I love real pinball tables over original designs since the vast majority of real tables have more personality and balance to them; Pro Pinball and Little Wing Pinball come close, while Zen Studios is getting better. This game does seem kinda beta-like on the Xbox 360; the graphics seem vastly inferior to the upcoming PS3 version and the scoring rollover leadeboard glitch for Ripley's Believe It or Not and Theater of Magic (which are fine on the mobile platforms). Not to mention the interface (okay for now but will be a chore later on). I like the controls for this game just fine as I haven't noticed any problems with it. The mobile versions are better focused for their respective formats.

Like I said before, I think emulations of real tables can fit into a video game just fine due to better scoring balance and personality (not to mention shorter games). I don't think you have to be over 40 to appreciate pinball either; the best-selling pinball table of all-time was The Addams Family, which was released when I was 6 years old (1992). The target audience the movie, which the table is based on, was kids and teenagers who never heard of the original series. I believe the Zen Studios tables don't stray much away from real pinball (with exception to a couple tables); just with flashier effects (like realtime animation) and longer ball time (their tables have more forgiving outlanes and center gaps). Zen's nudge feature, however, is much harsher than most games I've played. So from my personal experience, I actually lose more in Zen's tables because of the harsh nudge; I have done better on FarSight's recreations since their nudge feature is more lenient than most games.

If I were to give The Pinball Arcade a rating I would give the Xbox version an 8/10; despite leaderboard issues (score rollovers not counted) and disappointing graphics, it's still a blast but not ready to compete just yet. The iOS version around an 8.75/10; even without Game Center support and a few bugs present, quite well done and very nicely fits the platform (better focused than the Xbox version as well).

Comparatively, I would give Pinball FX 2 a 9/10; awesome presentation and original, creative designs (even though it's still not as polished as real tables), the whole package. Zen Pinball on the iOS gets a 8.75/10; feels less of a priority (in terms of table selection) compared to the console versions, but it's still as good as its console brother in terms of presentation and playabilty.

[KGSoloman8000]

I have to say that while I am having a lot of fun with TPA, I am quite a bit disappointed in the final product. I bought it at launch and have put about 5 hours into it so far. The product just feels unfinished.

Here is my little rant:

The lighting tech for the 360 version didn't get upgraded before launch, which is quite a letdown. Basically this game looks exactly like PHoF with a better looking ball. I was expecting it to look incredible thanks to the new lighting tech that they have posted screens of... Apparently the PS3 release will have the new lighting and the 360 release will be patched in. We will see. This is what TotAN should have looked like...



The menu is terrible with 4 tables... imagine when they start releasing loads of DLC. It feels like the menu is a direct port from the iOS version. It should be the other way around. If they have as much DLC as they are planning, this menu is going to be useless.

Whats up the the "Full Game Activated" button? Why is it even there? You couldn't just get rid of the button when the full game is bought?

The leaderboards are obviously better than PHoF but pale in comparison to FX2.

The rule sheets in this game are much better than FX2. Although I feel like quite a bit of the extra stuff was left out... The flyer is a nice touch, but even on my 57" HDTV fully zoomed in some of the smaller text was impossible to read. Why cant we zoom in farther? Is the scan not high enough quality?

And the flyer is the ONLY thing in the table extras. Why couldn't we have some of the other cool stuff? Most of these machines launched with little 2 min promotional videos. I would have liked to see those included along with a digital version of the original manual that comes with the machine. Also would have liked a 3D model of the machine that we could rotate around and zoom in and out to our hearts desire.

The physics, while pretty damn good, are still a little wonky. TPA definitely recreates the feel of real life machines more accurately the FX2 ever could. FX2's ball feels much heavier and more predictable. That's not saying FX2 is bad, just different... I enjoy them both quite a bit.

Operators menus are completely absent... There isn't a single way to tinker around with the tables settings. This is completely inexcusable. We bought the tables, let us mess around with them just like we would be able to IRL.

TotAN is an amazing table. I love it, but am disappointed to see it in the launch bundle. I already bought it years ago. Why should I have to buy it again just to get a shinier ball? I never owned the other collection so Black Hole is new to me, but it is by far my least favorite in the pack. I much prefer the DMD machines as that is what I grew up with. They are much more fun, IMHO.

I don't care for their business model... 50% of all announced content for TPA is rehashed. Why not release brand new content first and then follow it up with a Classic Collection DLC Pack? PHoF still plays a great game of pinball. If I wanted to play TotAN I could have just popped my disc in.

I have a sick feeling that all future DLC will be 1 new table and 1 rehashed table bundled together for $5, forcing you to buy both even though you already own one of them in a previous game. I paid $15 for PHoF and felt it was an awesome deal. TPA seems like it will be getting quite pricey with all the DLC.

FX2 has been out for over a year. Farsight knew exactly what their competition was. Did they even attempt to make a game that could compete with FX2? Not really IMO. Sure their physics are more realistic, but the total package left quite a bit to be desired. Farsight has plans to patch in new content and modes. I guess we will see if they live up to their word and make this game much better. I hope so, but I am not going to hold my breath.

TPA is supposted to be a homage to the machines that we remeber playing in our youth. Instead the package is about as BAREBONES as it gets. They got the rights to all the tables... why not take full advantage of them and make a game worthy to hold all those classic licenses.

Like I said before, the game is great fun. It is as close as you can get to playing the actual machine without having to track one down. But I just hoped it would have been so much better. Hopefully Farsight has a few tricks up their sleeve.

Being a pinhead, I will still buy up all the DLC on day one. I am definitely looking forward to Attack from Mars, Circus Voltaire, Monster Bash, and Dr. Dude. Hopefully they can lock down some of the movie tables in the future. T2, Dracula, and Shadow are on the top of my list.

One last thing... Where the hell is Whitewater? It should have been in PHoF, and it definitely needs to bee in TPA!

Score: 7 out of 10

[shogun00]

Quick question since you guys have the game.

How large is the download for the 360 version?

I'll be buying the game for the PS3 next week, but would like to get an idea at how large it is.

[blue]

184.42 MB

PS3 seems like the best platform due to the improved lighting at release, shared Vita licenses, and greater patch frequency.

[shogun00]

184.42 MB

PS3 seems like the best platform due to the improved lighting at release, shared Vita licenses, and greater patch frequency.

Thanks!

Adding the improvements into account, I'm looking at ~200MB for the PSN version. That's about 150MB less than Marvel Pinball's core program.

[Womble]

I have to say that while I am having a lot of fun with TPA, I am quite a bit disappointed in the final product. I bought it at launch and have put about 5 hours into it so far. The product just feels unfinished

...

Score: 7 out of 10

I agree with pretty much everything you've said.

The best thing TPA has going for it is the licenses.

But it's about a bare-bones a recreation as you can get.

Even the promotional flyers are low resolution, for christ's sake. What's the point of zooming an image in, if the image is highly compressed and pixellated?

The UI is very ordinary. Clearly, they just want a single (tablet-driven) UI, but that doesn't work well for non-tablet devices. They need to hire some actual designers.

These tables deserve better.

I can only hope that FS improves the tables over time, but I don't think that's a given. They've clearly rushed TPA on to as many platforms as they could, without adequate QA and attention to detail.

6/10

[KGSoloman8000]

These tables deserve better.

I couldn't have said it better myself.