I have recently written about FarSight's new user interface which I find a definitive improvement compared to the previous one (where you had to scroll through a list of 60+ games in order to find the one you wished to play). Being an incorrigible optimist I was under the impression that the FarSight developers would have profited from this overhaul in order to correct bugs in their games. No, I wasn't hoping for an improvement of the ball visibility. I have given up on this point since quite some time now. I was just hoping to see some blatant bugs disappear. Apparently that was too optimistic. Here is a screen capture of the score screen for my preferred game, Big Shot
As you can see the 10k bug is still present. Manifestly, one can always count on FarSight to do things not in the right way.
Just after the update in the user interface, FarSight released the first table of season six. I do appreciate a lot the fact that they do not slow down and keep producing classic tables with exemplar regularity. This month's table is Indianapolis 500
It is (you guessed it) a car-racing themed game. Somehow car-racing tables are a favourite of pinball designers. Alas, not really a favourite of mine. Had I to choose a theme I would always opt for an amusement park one (and it is no secret that one of my preferred pinballs is Funhouse). Back to Indy. The table is uncluttered but the colours in the lower part make the choice of a proper ball really difficult. Add to that the shadow that some FarSight genius has added to the ball and you have a ruined gameplay. All the more so since the game is fast and one must have good reflexes in order not to let the ball drain.
I usually prefer unsophisticated games and Indy strikes me as such. Still I could not really relate to it. Of well. Win a few, lose a few, they say.
The last update of the FarSight Pinball Arcade, just before the Season Six launch, brought a new user interface. I had been unhappy about the previous one since a few seasons. Having to roll the table thumbnails in order to get to the one you were looking for was, to put it mildly, particularly awkward. In the newly minted user interface the tables are grouped in a contact-sheet thumbnail collection
which you can organise in various ways. It is certainly an improvement over the previous one. Is it good? Well, only time and use will tell. For the time being the one thing I would have liked is a pop-up with the name of the pinball when you touch one. In most cases the icon does allow to read (or guess) the name of the table but the pop-up would have been a nice feature.
Talking about features, rest assured: the standard ball is still of the invisible persuasion.
