26 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 269.9 hrs on record (58.5 hrs at review time)
Posted: 24 Nov, 2018 @ 9:12pm
Updated: 24 Nov, 2018 @ 9:14pm

Early Access Review
As of writing this review, to me there are 3 main major pinball games out there. Pinball Arcade, Pinball FX, and Zaccaria Pinball. Each have their weaknesses and strengths and to review one, I believe it helps to compare to the others and that's what I'll do here for Zaccaria Pinball.

Zaccaria Pinball is (for the most part) a blend of a recreation of real pinball tables (based on the tables created by a Italian manufacturer in the late 70s to late 80s) and hypothetical "new" tables based on the theming of the original tables. The tables are divided into several categories. Solid State & Electromechanical categories are the recreations of the original tables. Remakes are the retheming of the original tables into a more modern pinball table complete with DMDs. The Retro category is quite interesting as it reimagines the original Solid State tables as older Electromechanical tables. Then there are extra tables included unrelated to Zaccaria (these tables are from the developers previous pinball games as far as I understand).

The most important thing about video pinball games is the physics and I can say that the ball physics in Zaccaria Pinball are very well done. However were Zaccaria Pinball really excels and really blows away those other pinball games is the amount of customization that you're allowed. It's really quite astonishing the option packed into this game. Play during the morning, afternoon, or midnight. Even during a thunderstorm. Many addition table lighting options included, even changing the bulb colors if you prefer. Many different types of table glass can be selected as well as how worn the table is. if you want to play on really abused looking table with fingerprints on the glass, well, the game can be set up that way. Even options outside of the table can be changed including the type of floor, the type of wall, and also a limited selection of what you even see outside the window. Those are all superficial details, but it shows the amount of attention to detail that went into the game.

More importantly there are several option that do affect gameplay, such as playing in Arcade mode or Simulation mode or you can even go into the option and tweak certain table settings yourself. Even select smaller or bigger pinballs and see what happens. I could go on and on, but really there it's just amazing how much the game can be customized, especially compared to other pinball games.

If the game as any weakness at all, it's that it's not very good at explaining certain things. For instance, what's the difference between Arcade Mode and Simulation Mode? Well, you won't find that information in the game. The developer actually put up a YouTube video to explain that, but should it be necessary to search sources outside the game for what options in the game mean. Also, sometimes the table rules are difficult to understand as well. Compare to Pinball Arcade and Pinball FX3, Zaccaria pinball really lacks in this area providing only a static rule sheet that can be hard to understand sometimes with no visual references at all.

In summary, the is a very fun pinball game. I would definitelty recommend it if you're interesting in pinball. It's a free download, but you only get two tables for free. The rest have to be purchased, either seperately, or in bundles which I believe are cheaper than other pinball games that have similiar options. If you're in doubt, you can always download the game and demo tables for free before purchasing them. I would just recommend buying the platinum bundle however as it includes everything and interestingly enough, if more stuff is added to the game, rebuying the platinum bundle automatically discounts everything you already purchased.

Finally, the game is still in Early Access, but at this point it's been in Early Access for a long time. The game may need some visual touching up here or there, but I'd say it's completely good to go at this point since some of the glitches I noticed a long time ago have been fixed. Additionally, new content, options, and alteration get added every few months, so the developers are still indeed working to make this game the best they can make it and it definitely shows.
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