Zen Studios are producing new pinball tables at a sustained rhythm and from time to time there is one that I find nice. This time it's the Tesla pinball that I did enjoy for a while.
For once the cluttered table does not bother me much: it is a tribute to Tesla's laboratory.
As is customary my critique with pinballs has to do with the ball. While the ball of Zen Pinballs is quite visible for an unfathomable reason it has an unrealistic "contrail" which I abhor. Moreover why did the developers festoon the table with spheres of the same size and brilliance as the playing ball? Well, at least they are situated towards the upper part and they do not make following the ball more difficult.
Once more my friend Marco has suggested a table. It's Scared Stiff from the Pinball Arcade series.
I must say that I agree 100 % with his choice. The game is really fun to play. There are plenty of things to do and moreover I remarked that the ball does not drain too easily. A great pinball.
Since one must buy a game pack, while purchasing Scared Stiff I also got Big Shot.
This one is an oldie but a top quality goodie. An apparently simple game but in fact quite challenging: it takes really quite some skill (and luck) in order to collect all 15 targets.
My only critique, but it is an important one and which moreover applies to all Pinball Arcade games, is the ball. Just look at the screenshots. The reflection of the playfield onto the ball is so exaggerated (and to my eyes not realistic) as to make the ball difficult to follow. I think that the first pinballs with reflections on the ball were the ones of the ProPinball series. I would suggest to digital pinball developers to go back and play the ProPinball classics: the ball is clearly visible at all moments. Among all the existing simulations only those of Littlewing obey the elementary rule to keep the ball clearly visible.
