A Flippin’ Good Time: The Pinball Arcade PC Review

Developing realistic virtual pinball is tough, and it’s even tougher when realistic pinball tables are not used. That’s where The Pinball Arcade, from FarSight Studios, differs. The goal here isn’t to design tables that shoot flames after a successful hit, but rather take real pinball machines and digitalize them. Did FarSight hit the jackpot ramp with this one?

Prepare the smoke-filled room, overplayed rock music, a bottle of mediocre pale lager, and a pocket full of quarters, because with The Pinball Arcade, a video game brings us closer to the bar and arcade pinball experience than ever before.

On the video game front, pinball fans have had it good. Ever since the release of the Pro Pinball series in the late 90s, there has been a string of great games for PC and console alike. In recent years, Zen Pinball and Pinball FX2 have become de facto choices, and it only takes a few minutes of playing either to realize that both have been created for pinball fans, by pinball fans.

Despite that, I must admit something: I haven’t been able to get into either, and for that matter, I haven’t dabbled much with virtual pinball over the past decade. I’ve surmised that the biggest reason for this is that I prefer to use a “real” table, one that might be a digital creation but could be produced in the real world with the same design. I’m not too sure we’ll see a real pinball table with a running waterfall, fire-lit lamps, or magic auras, any time soon. At the core, I guess I appreciate the mechanics and design of real tables – it still amazes me what designers have managed to pull off.

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