The title is somewhat misleading. I am not going to compare neither the two companies nor their whole product lines. I am going to focus on just one table I have been playing for the past week: Attack from Mars.
But first a statement. There is no comparison between the physics of Zen pinballs and that of the FarSight ones. Compared to the former the latter give an impression of clunkiness which, for the table in question is aggravated by the angle of the flippers that makes the control of the ball particularly unnerving.
As I said I have been playing the two versions of the same table and I have the impression that the point system is not the same for the two implementations. How would that be possible? Aren't the two versions supposed to simulate the behaviour of the real table? Still, I am obtaining systematically higher scores on the FarSight table. My personal bests are at around 8 billion for the Zen version and 12 billion for the FarSight one.
One thing that I do appreciate in the FarSight layout is the possibility to adjust the table view. I like vertical tables (I was a big fan of the LIttleWing tables) and FarSight offers an angle of view which, while not being a view from above, is much better than the Zen fixed, "perspective", view.
Which table do I prefer? I haven't decided yet. For the time being, I am playing both, trying to improve my scores in both simulations.
But first a statement. There is no comparison between the physics of Zen pinballs and that of the FarSight ones. Compared to the former the latter give an impression of clunkiness which, for the table in question is aggravated by the angle of the flippers that makes the control of the ball particularly unnerving.
The Zen table
The FarSight table
One thing that I do appreciate in the FarSight layout is the possibility to adjust the table view. I like vertical tables (I was a big fan of the LIttleWing tables) and FarSight offers an angle of view which, while not being a view from above, is much better than the Zen fixed, "perspective", view.
Which table do I prefer? I haven't decided yet. For the time being, I am playing both, trying to improve my scores in both simulations.
I was just lamenting that osx pinball seems to be quite dead, deceased, as it were, when I read *this* amazing quote on pastemagazine:
ReplyDelete"There are now more companies making more new pinball machines than at any point this century"....
So I really had to check it out , and, yeah, it seems that there are many new mechanical tables being built, so many new opportunities for licensing.
And guess who's building them..STERN! So if Farsight ever wanted to get off of their lazy asses and actually write a new game they'd have some really cool tales to choose from, and it would put them ahead again (maybe) because they've got the Stern licence,and Zen do not..
Here is the article:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/07/best-pinball-machines-2019.html
I just played the farsight "junkyard" and was shocked at how inferior it was to the Virtual Pinball table of the same name on windows.. I'm not sure if it was also on "Future pinball".. neither of which I have had for years since my windows partition kicked the bucket 8 years ago.. Farsight hasn't really been making almost ANY new tables for several years now..
ReplyDeleteThink is, as I've been recovering from my stroke, and as , also, my arm has been improving immensely, `i've finally been wanting to enjoy pinball again.. So, first, I decided to see if the Timeshock Ultra was going to play better than last time, several years ago. Not sure what changed, but , wow.. it was just perfect! It played smoothly in every way, and really, took me right back to my time on Mac OS9.. when pinball was truly a total JOY! Only difference was that every thing about this table was better than the original TS by an awful lot.. I just sat there and look at the table for ages between games ..
I hope some of the other tables by various programs can put me back in the groove too.. looking forward to 8 ball Deluxe next...!
CU Later.....