Yeah, it's definitely faster and better. It could still use some tweaking, but it's definitely the best simulator played on iOS or 360/PS3. I think Pro Pinball on PC is perhaps slightly better, but Farsight is definitely close, and it will be easier to tell once the PC/Mac versions come out in March, and the nice part is Farsight is still actively improving their physics and engine. Another good piece of news is that Farsight said they plan to add the option to select different flipper rubbers in a future update so that we can have a weak or strong bounce depending on personal preference.
No scores Great game, has potential but even with a Facebook account it doesnt record your personal highscores. Tried it several times and i should have been in the top 20 but doesnt work. Id forget this one, hopeless without working leaderboards
The facebook leaderboards work, but they don't update instantly. The local leaderboards do update instantly however. Also, they're bringing GC integration in a future update.
I would think that after an hour they should have been updated dont you! Also doesnt use Facebook name instead im Player1, no way to change it.
On the beta, sometimes it would take longer than an hour. but it also sounds like you may not actually be logged in.
Yes i am logged in as ive logged out and back in again. It has bugs, its a shame but no good without leaderboards
I think my beef with Black Hole is not that it doesn't have enough gimmicks, just that the gimmicks it has don't pan out very well. Extra flippers usually enable special shots, but the second one on the right doesn't seem to do anything of the sort. It's just tacked on. And the second playfield is smack-dab in the centre of the main playfield, resulting in a big boring dead zone whenever you aren't "in the black hole," which of course is most of the time. Thanks for passing on the future Game Center update. I'm sure Farsight's more pre-occupied with getting the gameplay polished up tight than how to track high scores (as well they should be).
The second flipper isn't really necessary, but it's not like it hurts the gameplay at all. It does make it a little easier to get to the lower playfield actually which is probably why it was added. Yes, the lower playfield is right in the middle, but a lot of machines are empty in the middle anyway. Look at Theatre of Magic for instance. Besides the art, the middle doesn't have any targets or anything, which is a good thing IMO, because I like tables that aren't so cluttered in the middle because it makes upper playfield shots less random.
Design; Targets here or there, the number of flippers, the number of ramps, the number of toys are all personal preference. Black Hole isn't my bag, but the key to appreciating the machine is the multiball. The game might suck trying to get it, but once you do your hard work is paid off and you can earn some serious points. There are a few games like that.
Exactly. The thing I like about Black Hole is it really makes you work for high scores and multiball. It's not easy to get a million points compared to the newer machines, and I like the challenge of that.
Wow, I couldn't care any less about leaderboards. Certainly wouldn't pass on this game because of that - which is an easy problem to fix anyways. This looks awesome..I love iPad pinball and have been looking forward to this. Consider this purchased (waiting for midnight).
Mh, midnight UK was almost 30 Minutes ago and it hasn't surfaced in Europe yet (at least not in the German store) ... I'm impatiently waiting to get my hands on this
Likewise, leaderboards don't really phase me, but I am a sucker for artificial achievements. They helped motivate me both to get better at the Pinball Hall of Fame games as well as learn HOW to complete some table objectives that didn't really have the risk/reward to be worth it in standard "points" play. Hey, I just realized I might FINALLY be able to activate "Harem Multiball" now! The standard way to get that was glitched six ways from Sunday on the 360 version of PHoF ...
Here you have a detail view of Arabian Nights: Played it for some minutes and it's pretty fun. Physics are okay for me, can get really fast. I am not sure if I like the view from outside the cabinet at start of a ball (plunger). Framerate is fine here on iPad 2. Arabian Nights seems to be easy. I made a score of 10 millions in the second try and had multiball. Five local scores are saved. Sound is mono and I would love to hear the ball rolling. Tried the other ones and they are okay as well and you feel clearly that they are of another brand. Will buy another one if that little problem with the prices is cleared.
Game Impressions The good news is the tables play well. The Black Hole one is the only one I care about as I'm simply not into all the bells and whistles of post-1980s tables and never have been. I like my pinball nice and simple and the Black Hole table is just a joy to play. The bad news is, the graphics are low res and blurry (iPad 2.) To the point where it is actually difficult at times to follow the ball; particularly on the busier tables where the ball tends to really get lost among the backdrop and the flashing lights. When multiball is active the issue becomes quite severe. Additionally, in only less than a half hour's or so play I have already come across a number of bugs to do with setting the angle of the table. In one case the view became stuck in "play" mode making it impossible to launch a ball. Another annoyance is the game asking you every single time (and loading/contacting iTunes) if you want to purchase a table whenever you select it. I am considering just unlocking the Black Hole table for now and seeing if any more older tables get released in the future, but am just as likely to delete the free version and wash my hands of the whole thing, what with the issues mentioned above.
Don't wash your hands of it already. If you love pinball, you should be able to overlook the minor annoyances for now. I trust that Farsight will get all the issues ironed out soon enough, and the small bugs that may still be lingering are not "gamebreaking" bugs. To me, the good far outweighs the bad, and I've already seen Farsight improve this app in several ways in the beta version, so it shouldn't be much longer till they have all the bugs squashed. Black Hole is an amazing table indeed, and it's definitely worth keeping the app even for that one table....but the good news is there are more older tables yet to come. For the free app, they have to have some way to nag people into buying the tables, so the "contacting itunes" thing does the job pretty well, I'd say. I think we're pretty lucky to actually be able to play all the tables before we buy them. Zen doesn't even show you a screenshot, lol.
