UPDATED 10/10/18 - With over 600+ hours now invested in this game, I can now safely say that Pinball Arcade comes as close as you can to actual pinball play as any simulation or game on the PC today, Pinball FX, and Pro Pinball included. If I were to break this review down in scores of 1 to 10, I would give each of the following these scores:

Presentation: 6/10 - A wide range of tables, producers, styles, and time frames of pinball, from the basic bell & whistle games to the more recent electronic gems like Addams Family. My down marks for this is that the PC version does not include the history of pinball videos that the Android version does, which to me greatly enhances the package, or lack thereof, also as of mid 2018, Farsight has lost the license to Bally and Williams tables, so the classic tables like PinBot, Addams Family, Twilight Zone, and others, are no longer available for purchase, so unless you were fortunate to buy these tables prior to their removal, you are missing out on about 45 - 60% of what Pinball Arcade had to offer..

Graphics: 8/10 - Since Farsight got the licenses for these tables, their dedication to accuracy shows. Some pieces, and tables, are missing, due to contractual agreements, but wherever possible, FS has stuck as close to the original design of the table as they can. There was recently an update to DirectX 11, and if you have the system to run it, the graphical improvement is definitely noticeable.

Gameplay: 7.5/10 - Gameplay only suffers IMO due to an over adbundance of the need to "nudge" or shake a table, and if you are someone like myself who doesn't use this 'ability', the tables seem to penalize you by the ball consistently draining on side lanes, taking odd tracks, and a general REPEAT of the same ball play even in multiple player games. Also, as Steam Achievements are included in PA, once you have obtained a few decent scores on a game, it seems as the difficulty is somehow magically increased, thus making further achievements difficult if not almost impossible (Addams Family Super Bear Bonus for example). Aside from this each table has its on nuances and tricks, from Terminator 2, to Haunted House.

Variety: 6.5/10 - It is here where PA shines as they have tables from the major players in the profession, Bally, Williams, Gotlieb, wide-body tables, multi-level tables. (Again, as of this year, the Bally and Williams tables are no longer available for purchase.)

Price: 6/10 - As has been mentioned in other reviews, the pricing model for PA is IMO its biggest weakness. There is a monthly or so free table, but the other tables all have to be purchased, either seperately, or through Season packs. I have all of the tables except for a couple from Season 3, all but 3 from Season 4, and none from Season 5 yet, and had these season packs gone on sale at an earlier date, I could have saved about 20 - 30% of my total cost in the game. Also, even though PA is cross-platform (Steam, IOS, Android, console, PC), purchases on one platform do not carry over to the others. The before mentioned missing history videos are a part of this as well. Since Farsight has lost the Bally/Williams licenses, they have repackaged the remaining tables into new packs, and in some cases, you would be paying for a table more than once, just to get a table you don't own.


In conclustion, Pinball Arcade is a great recreation and a good way to travel back to the time when smokey rooms, stale coke, and the sounds of pinball machines filled the air. It is not perfect, but then what is?