Farsight continues cranking out, one after the other, classic pinball tables. This time, Halloween oblige, we are treated to Class of 1812
It's a supernatural themed pinball featuring, among others, a severed hand and a beating heart. I did like the gameplay and despite the blinking lights the ball remains visible, well, most of the time.
Victory on the other hand is a somewhat older, automobile racing pinball
I can't say that I liked it. It is too fast, given the almost invisible ball. At times you do not understand how you did manage to let the ball drain.
At this point I must add a note on Farsight flippers. I have been regularly playing Big Shot, a pinball quite simple with an uncluttered table, where, provided you play on a big screen like the one of my 27" iMac, you can follow the ball around. I noticed that time and again I am losing the ball when I try to do something clever with the flippers. When I do the same things with Tristan of Littlewing I almost never lose the ball. Something must be amiss with the Farsight flippers.
Just in time for, well, Halloween, Gameprom has updated Pinball HD with a new table with this theme. The table is superb graphically.
There are several moving elements but not like the madness of Zen pinballs and in no way do they influence the game. The ball is perfectly visible all the time, but, to be fair, the dark theme does help.
I did like the game a lot. Also, you can play for a very long time if you are a little bit careful: the ball does not drain too easily, like in other games. However there is a thing I hate: cheats. They should not exist in any respectable pinball. I can understand choosing the number of balls and fixing the slope of the table at the beginning (and in fact I think of those things as being fixed once and for all by each player) but resort to cheats in the middle of a game is something I find shocking.
Did I mention that you do not have to buy the game right away: you can try it for free, with a limited play time, before making up your mind.
A good friend of mine, Nick/Doc, (you probably know him, he is a most frequent commenter of this blog) has decided to sell his pinball cd collection. It contains quite a few impossible to find today gems.
If you are interested you can contact him at: Sgdeluxedoc at gmail dot com
Here is what he is saying about the contents of his collection
Firstly, 2 Japanese Playstation pinballs (need japanese video format)
Many Dos pinballs -rather than listing them all, better to say every one ever made is here. For real!..
Includes the Epic pinballs CD, and all the classic ones such as Hyper 3D, 3D VCR, Pinball Mania, Tilt!, Pinball Illusions, Startrek Pinball, Living Ball, Absolute Pinball, Pinball Construction Kit and Pinball Builder, the Amtex 3pack CD with Tristan, Royal Flush, and 8Ball Dlx 2.0, and so many more dos ones.. all in CD format.
Mac Pinballs.. Some are Classic MacOS pinballs, such as 8 Ball Deluxe CD, Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth CD,Loony Labyrinth floppies, and some hybrids such as the Sierra ones 3D Ultra pinball collectors pack with #D up 1 Creep night, Lost Continent, and Thrill ride. Sci Fi Pinball hybrid, for the Disney ones and Hot Shots - OSX compatible is Monsters Inc and Jinni Zeala CD.. ,
Dos floppies -have8 Ball Dlx version 1, and the extremely rare Thomas The Tank Engine dos pinball (i really wanted to try it out but don't have a floppy drive)
Many many very rare pinballs, that's why I was collecting in the first place.. such as 'Perfect Pinball' an early dos attempt at DLC… and another extrtemely rare one , 'Cyberball'.
Many Windows ones too, such as two of the Ultimate Pinballs (UP and UP Extreme), Microsoft Pinball Arcade, Addiction Pinball, the Pro Pinball series, and Platinum pinball (Adventure pinball, The Tomb, Visitors Pinball, and the Windows port of the 3D VCR tables, etc), Slam Tilt, and Slam Tilt Resurrection, The "Full Tilt" 1 and 2 CDroms (Mac/PC hybrids).. also the eGames pinballs with Pharaoh, etc, and the Sierra "take a break" ones with the classic Sierra themes like "Leisure Suit Larry' pinball, etc. Aladdin pinball, Austin Powers pinball, Avengers Pinball, Megapinball.
And many more also.. Including some hard to obtain German ones .. such as: Las Vegas Pinball, Ottifanten Ottifriersen Pinbball, Pinball Fussball, Data Becker 'Flipper XXL', Uli Stein Elfmeter, and a really cool one called "Russian Pinball", Fastlane Pinball, Ultimate Pinball challenge, and a few compilation CDs.
Also I'll make up a cd of some free promotional pinballs like TDK tape pinball, Volkswagen pinball, Dommelsch Breweries pinball, Rapidmotion pinball, and more.
Adrian Barritt reports that the table modelling, texturing and animation is all but done and that they plan to start the final renders next week. Alpha tests should not be very far away after that.
In the meantime one can enjoy a quick render of one view that shows a somewhat more detailed Mount Rushmore than the one featured in the Kickstarter campaign.
Three more tables have been added to the Star Wars pinball saga by Zen Studios. They are the Balance of the Force tables, available as in-app purchases: Return of the Jedi,
Starfighter Assault,
and Darth Vader
The graphics and the animation are superb. However to my opinion Zen Studios have crossed the threshold from pinball to flipper-activated game. Let us hope that their upcoming Dr. Strange is a tamer pinball simulation and not a special effects shambles.
This entry has nothing to do with pinballs. It is a shameless self-advertisement. A few days back I started a new blog on another passion of mine: Athletics. I have always been a Track and Field fan and I have done even some theoretical work on the matter. Since from time to time I have an idea that does not justify a full article I decided, given the success ;-) of the present one to start a blog. It is called Rethinking Athletics
So, if you have a moment to spare, just click on the link and have al look at my other blog. Who knows? You may like it.
While we wait for Timeshock, Farsight did publish two new tables. I tried them only on my iPad mini and thus my opinion may be somewhat biased. The first table, Haunted House
is a monster table with no less than 8 flippers and three levels of play. Unfortunately the ball is (again!) invisible on the background and it drains too easily to my taste. Perhaps the game will be more playable on a big iMac screen but I have decided that it's an investment that I am not ready to make.
The second table, Teed Off
is really funnier. The fact that the central part of the table is rather dark improves the ball visibility (although on most occasion the ball is coming down from the left). I did enjoy the game. The theme is reminiscent of the Pat Lawlor masterpiece, No Good Gofers, although somewhat tamer in its setup.
If you do not know what pinball to play while you wait for Timeshock, these two Farsight pinballs may be a suggestion.
