The Pinball Arcade (PlayStation 4) Review

A brief summation of pinball for the benefit of the few people who may fit the above description and have somehow managed to avoid a pin-table up until this point: it covers the oft-charted conflict between man and gravity, where a steel ball is propelled at high speed onto a downwardly sloping play field via a spring-loaded plunger. Here, the ball will meet with all manner of obstacle placed there to confound and interfere with the perceptions of the player by deflecting and rebounding it in unpredictable directions. For their part, they must attempt to keep the ball in play via the aid of two or more flippers that, when used correctly, will enable them to aim for certain targets / ramps on the table in a bid to advance their score / activate bonuses / lock balls in specified zones for a multi-ball.

By activating the multi-ball, there is a chance to shoot for the jackpot that has been steadily increasing during play, though this is tricky as obviously it has to be done whilst juggling three or more balls simultaneously. The aforementioned gravity plays its part by ensuring the ball is ALWAYS fighting to get past the player's defences, either by sneaking out via one of the side gutters or, more humiliatingly, straight between the gap of the two lower flippers. Pinball tables may be themed, but there is no story... just a reliance on instinct, a certain level of skill, and, more often than not, the reflexes of a young Bruce Lee hopped up on Pro-Plus. Losses WILL happen, and it's more a matter of how long defeat can be staved off!

The first season of The Pinball Arcade spans over three decades and accurately recreates no less than 22 machines from the main table manufacturers of Bally, Williams, Stern, and Gottlieb. Some of the older pinball machines, by their mechanical nature, abundance of moving parts, and need for constant maintenance, were often prone to failure and so, in keeping with its mission statement, Farsight Studios has stepped up to digitally preserve the memory of them, and by doing so has ensured that an important slice of gaming history is easily accessible to all. Comparing these virtual tables to their real life counterparts, it would be hard to spot the difference as they have been lovingly and painstakingly recreated, right down to the tiniest of details.

In terms of selection, there's a mixed bag of classic, milestone, and licensed tables, which range from the immensely popular to the more obscure and harder to find. The oldest table on offer - 'Big Shot' - dates all the way back to 1974, and whilst it might not be as feature-packed or fun to play as some of the later offerings, it serves an important reference point within the collection by charting the gradual evolution of the pinball machine over the years. Including a number of milestone tables such as 'Gorgar' (the first talking pinball table), 'Black Hole' (the first table to feature a lower reversed playing surface), 'Funhouse' (featuring an animatronic head that taunts the player) and 'Black Knight' (the first table with a split-level playing field) it offers up a time frame as to when new innovations were introduced to the pinbal platform. The inclusion of a number of licensed tables ('Star Trek,' 'Twilight Zone,' 'Creature from the Black Lagoon,' 'Harley Davidson,' and 'Ripley's Believe It or Not!') gives us vague hope that one day Farsight might pull off the impossible and bring us 'The Addams Family.'

Presentation-wise Farsight has taken the mantle of steel ball historians seriously as each table is treated like an exhibit in a museum and given a potted history alongside pictures of the original flyers used in advertisements, as well as a comprehensive guide detailing exactly where to aim for if wanting to improve. For a little extra outlay, there is the option of going 'pro' with some of the tables, which allows access to the operators menu with all the tweaks and adjustments that brings with it (incidentally this also gives the best opportunity to have a leisurely, in-depth look at the tables). It takes a special kind of pinball fan to want to emulate a coin audit on a gaming console but, if anything, the fact this is available only serves to emphasise just how much detail has gone into the emulation of these tables.

In terms of multiplayer, the standard pinball staple of turn-based hot seat is available, where up to four players can compete locally against each other for the highest score, one ball at a time. A very minor gripe is that this can be slightly cumbersome to set up as there is a need to move to a separate menu to specify the number of players every time a new competition is to be started. In the remote chance of Farsight being open to suggestion, it could maybe streamline this process a little by utilising the Touch Pad as one big start button, so, for example, a three-player game could be started just by hitting the Touch Pad three times. Sadly, there's no online multiplayer included, yet there are leader boards for each table, as well as a placeholder in the menu for upcoming tournaments, although at the time of writing these aren't yet active.