The arrival of the three new Zen tables threw my schedule a little bit off and I haven't written about the new FarSight table, Fathom. It's an oldie and thus by definition it should have been something that I would appreciate.
Well, I don't, and I don't know why. I think that the excessively dark lower part of the table puts me off. I find that there is simply no good ball colour choice. Also, while I do like the old-style, "kick the ball as long as you can" type of play, I find that in the case of Fathom there is not much to do.
The one point this pinball excels is in the backglass artwork. I tracked down a picture of the original one and it's a beauty. I remember doing the same thing for Paragon and Eight-Ball. It's a fact, those old pinball machines had class.
It's been quite some time since the last Zen pinball. The wait is over. Three new pinball tables just made their appearance. They are movie themed ones inspired from such great classics like E.T.
Back to the Future
and Jaws
The tables are graphically superb. I have included the official table views instead of a screen capture because I find the presentation really great.
I am on record criticising the pinballs of Zen studios for their excessive animations and the non-realistic features. While I still stand by that opinion of mine I must say that I did enjoy playing the three Zen-Universal tables. I haven't seen the Back to the Future movie but that was the table I enjoyed most (E.T. coming next). It took me some time to get accustomed to the darkish table but the fact that in the Zen pinballs the ball does not drain all to easily did help. Physics is always OK and the sound effects not disruptive.
So, if you are a Zen pinball fan, you should not miss this new release. If you are not, well, this is perhaps the occasion to give Zen a second try.
I had just written about the Pinball Cadet game of FarSight when I got an email about their new Kickstarter project. It's called Pinball Invaders. The Pinball Cadet was not a one off case. In fact FarSight is working with an Argentina-based studio (Trick Gaming) in order to produce Pinball Invaders (the Cadet game being just a proof of concept).
They have launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to fund this new game of theirs. I have been in the past a contributor to the FarSight Kickstarter campaigns but this is where I draw the line. Pinball Invaders is not a pinball. It may be an interesting game. The graphics are excellent and from what I saw in Pinball Cadet the physics is OK. But I will not support a game which pretends to be a pinball (you must fork out 8 $ for an ad-free Invaders game).
I just hope that this is a passing fad for FarSight and that they are not going to abandon their genuine pinball recreation business.
I have been frequently writing about games that are abusing the term pinball. The only pinball-ish feature in these games is the fact that you hit on a ball with flippers. Most of them are totally uninteresting. So I was somehow taken aback when I stumbled upon the new game by FarSight, Pinball Cadet
It's not a pinball. Of course, there is a ball moving on a tilted plane and you can hit it with flippers. There the pinball analogy stops. The game is not bad. It's an invaders-like game situated in a spaceship. Graphically nice with quite acceptable ball physics. I gave it a try and I can tell that it is not as bad as the majority of games with pinball in their title. It is even better than quite a few awful pinball games out there. However it is definitely not a pinball. So, as far as I am concerned, I am going to simply forget it.
The arrival of the three new Zen tables threw my schedule a little bit off and I haven't written about the new FarSight table, Fathom. It's an oldie and thus by definition it should have been something that I would appreciate.
