6th July 2015, 9:03 PM
As I said I very rarely play real pinball and only infrequently have played pinball videogames, so I'm not really the best person to ask about what a "good" pinball table design is, but how much there is to do on the table is the most basic thing. Is the table just a basic set of bumpers and drop targets? Are there ramps? How many? How much space is there for the ball to move around? Old pinball machines are often really simple, newer ones flashy and full of stuff to do. Player skill level matters a lot too; an easy table won't be as fun for someone good at pinball.
And at a level above that, how hard are the shots? Are there more challenging ones? And for people who like pinball, one thing I often have heard discussed is about how the objectives on the table work. Any pinball table from the last 30+ years has missions that get you points, and how they work is key. Are they interesting and varied, what do you have to do, etc. I don't like pinball enough to really try to learn everything about how to play a pinball table well, but the pinball videogames I've liked the most I try to at least somewhat figure out.
For an example of 'good' versus 'not', I got the GBC pinball game 3D Ultra Pinball Thrillride several years ago, and absolutely loved it. I'd rank it as one of my favorite handheld pinball games, actually, even though it got mostly mediocre reviews. There is only one table, but it has a lot to do, some challenging objectives, lots of fun bonus minigames to access in that Alien Crush style, and more. So, a while later I got the other GBC pinball game by the same team, Little Mermaid II Pinball... and was disappointed. This game is super simple and easy, it just doesn't have much to it. I quickly got bored and lost interest. It's kind of hard to explain, but the table just doesn't have as much to it (it lacks depth), keeping the ball alive is a lot easier and less rewarding, etc.
I'm sure I'm missing a lot of things that real pinball fans would talk about, though. I don't play real pinball much, and my favorite pinball videogames aren't the realistic simulations, they are the more heavily modified (ie changed to fit the nature of the console they're on, as opposed to being just like a real pinball machine) ones for the most part -- Kirby's Pinball Land, Alien and Devil's Crush, and 3D Ultra Thrillride (GBC version), along with the more realistic (but not a full-on sim) Android table from Epic Pinball.
And at a level above that, how hard are the shots? Are there more challenging ones? And for people who like pinball, one thing I often have heard discussed is about how the objectives on the table work. Any pinball table from the last 30+ years has missions that get you points, and how they work is key. Are they interesting and varied, what do you have to do, etc. I don't like pinball enough to really try to learn everything about how to play a pinball table well, but the pinball videogames I've liked the most I try to at least somewhat figure out.
For an example of 'good' versus 'not', I got the GBC pinball game 3D Ultra Pinball Thrillride several years ago, and absolutely loved it. I'd rank it as one of my favorite handheld pinball games, actually, even though it got mostly mediocre reviews. There is only one table, but it has a lot to do, some challenging objectives, lots of fun bonus minigames to access in that Alien Crush style, and more. So, a while later I got the other GBC pinball game by the same team, Little Mermaid II Pinball... and was disappointed. This game is super simple and easy, it just doesn't have much to it. I quickly got bored and lost interest. It's kind of hard to explain, but the table just doesn't have as much to it (it lacks depth), keeping the ball alive is a lot easier and less rewarding, etc.
I'm sure I'm missing a lot of things that real pinball fans would talk about, though. I don't play real pinball much, and my favorite pinball videogames aren't the realistic simulations, they are the more heavily modified (ie changed to fit the nature of the console they're on, as opposed to being just like a real pinball machine) ones for the most part -- Kirby's Pinball Land, Alien and Devil's Crush, and 3D Ultra Thrillride (GBC version), along with the more realistic (but not a full-on sim) Android table from Epic Pinball.