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Zen Pinball 3D (Nintendo 3DS eShop) discussion [game]
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01/13/12, 10:11 Edited: 02/21/12, 17:15
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And, of course, I'm totally weak-willed and have already bought it. Peer pressure. 'Tis a cruel master.
So far... it's decent. It's not as fantasy-driven as I expected. With a few obvious exceptions/substitutions most of the features I've seen on these tables could be recreated in real life on an actual machine. That's cool with me, as that's my preference, anyway, but it did surprise me a bit. I expected there to be more cartoony stuff happening in the game. But I found myself thinking "hey, it's the flipper setup from Baby Pac-man" and "Ha, they incorporated the ramp from No Good Gofers" more than I expected.
I've played for an hour and a half or so and I feel comfortable giving some first impressions about Zen Pinball vs. the Williams Collection.
- Value for money goes to Zen Pinball, easily. 7 bucks for 4 good tables beats 30 bucks for 4 good tables and 3 okay tables. That said, I think the fact that the Williams Collection emulates actual classic pinball machines makes it worth the extra money (though maybe not with their inevitable rerelease as part of the gonna-be-awesome Pinball Arcade series). For now, though, any Pin-Curious person would be wiser to go with Zen. For now.
- Physics vs. Physics there's no contest: Williams Collection just flat out has the better ball physics. So far, I don't feel the weight of the ball in Zen the way I do in the Williams Collection. The ball moves too fast most of the time and doesn't behave correctly when it actually does slow down. It reminds me a bit of the goofy physics in The Gottlieb Collection, Farsight's first foray into pinball. That's acceptable for a 6 dollar release, of course, but if they want to compete with Pinball Arcade, they're going to have to step it up next time.
- The tables all seem pretty good. Excalibur is like a bootleg Medieval Madness, but with a few original bits like the Joust mode. I like the multiball, but it'd be better if everything didn't shrink down to where the balls are the size of a BB pellet. Mostly that's unavoidable, though, so I'm not knocking them for it. This is possibly the best table in the package (though it doesn't quite compare to Medieval Madness, I gotta say). I like Eldorado, too, despite the pretty boring theme and not-very-inspiring artwork. There are some nice touches, like in the archeological site where I managed to dig up a fish for a 1-point reward. Shaman I only played a couple of times. Already I can tell it's pretty decent, though. Interesting theme. Seems fun, if a bit politically incorrect. I also just barely touched Earth Defense. Ramp overkill! But the ruleset looks pretty interesting, so I expect I'll like it.
- So far, there doesn't seem to be a dog biscuit in the bunch. I'll see if I still agree with that after I've played some more, but first impressions are positive. Nothing seemed unappealing.
- Oh, except the music, which is generally pretty stock electronica.
- As Hinph pointed out, the Nudge is pretty weak. Not sure it's saved me a ball, yet. That said, Farsight has always seemed a bit overgenerous with nudging compared to how it works in real life. I'm just a novice pinballer, of course, but my experience suggests that you'd have to slam the table pretty hard to get the sort of leeway you get with a flick of the finger in the Williams Collection. So, believe it or not, this may be one area where Zen is more realistic. Whether or not they needed to be realistic is arguable, but I can see a case for the weaker nudge. After playing the Williams Collection, though, using Zen's nudge is... well... emasculating.
- A few presentation things: I like that the points you get for hitting targets, etc. flash over the actual table. It's the sort of thing only video pinball can do, and I think it's a good idea. One of the barriers to entry with pinball is it takes a long time to figure out what you're supposed to be doing and develop a strategy for scoring. This simple thing makes it a lot easier to ride that learning curve. I haven't played deep enough to figure out the rulesets to the tables, yet, but I could easily tell what wasn't particularly effective and change my strategy accordingly. That's a good thing. I'd go so far as to say I'd love it if Farsight offered this as an option on Pinball Arcade, too. It's a great idea. Zen does need to work on their tutorials, though. Apart from some sketchy English, it just doesn't flow logically the way the Farsight tutorials do. I'm glad they thought to include tutorials, though, even if they aren't ideal. Also I'm digging the leaderboards. It'll be fun to compete with you guys for high scores. I wish we could form an official Team Negative World, for that team stat, though. |
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