I have always loved pinball. I've found it captivating since I was really little. It's how this tiny, metal ball becomes infused with kineticI have always loved pinball. I've found it captivating since I was really little. It's how this tiny, metal ball becomes infused with kinetic energy and rips through its own physics playground packed to the brim with the unexpected. It's the invisible underbelly; how the electronics can tie one plunger into countless flow charts. It's the way a consciousness can inhabit the ball itself just like any other vehicle, giving the player a whole new perspective of the physical world. It's the experience of using that perspective to explore every nook and cranny of a contained ecosystem wrought by unimaginable time and human effort. Pinball, man. Love.
I've always had a love-hate relationship with digital pinball. Part of me has always been excited at the idea of being able to play pinball any time. And, unless you have considerable money to burn, either to buy a table or play at a bar, digital pinball is really the only way to do that. When I was a pre-teen, I loved Full Tilt! for Windows 3.1. When I was a teenager, I had Pinball Fantasies, Epic Pinball, and Sonic Spinball. These were all great games, and I really enjoyed them. For a time. Eventually, the allure of digital pinball wore off. I got bored of all of them, and newer digital pinball games weren't doing it for me either. Every time I picked up a pinball videogame, I would stop playing within 15 minutes. And, every time that happened, I would remember that I'm just tired of pinball.
Days or months later, I would find myself putting money into a pinball table at some bar or arcade, and part of me would wake up. Oh yeah, THIS is pinball. I will never be tired of pinball. It's just the videogames. They don't do it. They can't do it right.
Recently, Stern showed up on the Nintendo store for free. It's the lesser-known, more-generic looking game compared to PBFX3, but I gave it a shot (free? okay.). What I didn't realize before I started playing was that this videogame is a licensed product, specifically designed to reproduce real, physical tables. After navigating a minimal menu system and surprisingly long loading screen to get a game started, I was shocked and amazed at how realistic it looks and feels. It runs at 60fps solid. It has an interesting writeup on the history of the table. It has its original sales brochure that you can peruse. It has intensity sliders for ambient and table light. It has a 350+ slide walkthrough on all of the table's nuances and features. It is exactly what I had no idea I wanted. It is simply wonderful. I played it for an hour, totally engrossed.
A couple days later, after playing a few more hours of Stern, I was ready to drop some coin on more tables. They offer a six-table pack and a four-table pack; both of which are $20. I figured I'd go with the obvious choice: the six-table pack. It comes with Ghostbusters, Mustang, Harley-Davidson 3rd Ed., Last Action Hero, High Roller Casino, and Phantom of the Opera. I'd played all of those at some point in my life, and returning to them has been an absolute joy. I am still amazed at just how much attention has been poured into every detail of these tables.
After that experience, I became curious what critics thought of it. No scores; not enough ratings. There are two Critic ratings: A 60/100 from Nintendo Life, complaining the game is too 'simplistic;' and a 40/100 from Digitall Downloaded, complaining about a lack of features and online play, also saying it can't compete with PBFX3 for these reasons. There's one User review giving it a 9/10, which poetically describes exactly why physical pinball is so superior to digital. It's an inspired review.
I'm trying to understand how someone can criticize a faithful recreation of an entire physical pinball machine as "simplistic." I'm struggling to empathize with the opinion that the presence of online leaderboards makes [a reasonably compelling pinball game that practically gives the finger to everything physically compelling about pinball] better than [aforementioned faithful recreations of tables that were painstakingly designed and masterfully manufactured]. I'm not a purist about many things, but I cannot disagree more with the critics on this one.
Stern Pinball Arcade is an amazing piece of software. I offer my strongest recommendation to anyone who loves physical pinball machines. And, if you're even remotely curious, the Phantom of the Opera table is free. Go, get it now (and, while you're at it, I recommend a Table Lights setting of 75, with an Ambient Lights setting of 35). More discerning fans of modern gaming may feel the lack of features is off-putting, but for me I'd rather the dev team put their time into getting all of the fine details right, like the nuanced punchiness of the flippers and bumpers, and the springy feeling of the ball launcher. And they nailed it. After I've made sure to give the deserved attention to the tables I have, I'm definitely picking up the other table pack.… Expand
