As a pinball lover, it's hard to review a game like this. (The binary yes/no of Steam Recommendations doesn't help, when you really want to say "meh".)

On the one hand, I want this product to succeed, because I want pinball to flourish. On the other hand, I don't want to encourage Farsight's approach to product development.

On the plus side, there are the technical aspects: authentic emulation of arcade ROMs, fairly accurate replication of physical table layouts, decent physics and real-time lighting.

On the negative side, there's everything else:

- the icon, logo, overall design, UI and UX. It all sucks.

- buying, choosing and playing a game with a game controller (gasp!) is an utter chore.

- good luck buying a single table directly from Steam. Instead, you have to navigate an in-game UI-from-hell.

- load times are inexplicably long and unnecessary. Farsight, we're not playing on iPhones here...

- table texture art ranges from good to abysmal on the very same table.

- environment art is even poorer. (It's been this way for many years -- way back before Pinball Arcade was even on Steam -- so I'm not holding my breath.)

The developers need to employ some talented designers. Designers who will design interfaces specific to the platform, with attention and care. See: Zen Pinball.

Farsight often claim that they love pinball. But it's clear at this point that they don't love details. Or game controllers.

I want to recommend the pinball, but I can't recommend the package.

Video pinball has always been problematic. Some good games have come out of a fantastical, video game take on pinball (see Rollers of the Realm), but attempts to simulate the actual experience of playing a pinball table have always been doomed to come up short. At least that's what I thought until Farsight Studios combined their finely tuned physics engine with incredibly meticulous recreations of the great pinball tables to do the impossible and deliver a game that finally does justice to real pinball.

It is tempting to put Pinball Arcade in the same camp as the wealth classic video game compilations, but that wouldn't be right. Those collections are generally a single emulator and straight rom dumps sold for a couple bucks a piece. In Pinball Arcade, every single table is a painstaking recreation of the real thing. Farsight has to acquire the real thing and take it apart, not just ensuring it looks and sounds right, but making sure it plays right by accurately simulating and fine tuning every mechanical bumper, flipper and switch.

It is tempting to consider Pinball Arcade and Pinball FX2 to be two competing products offering essentially the same thing (think Rock Band vs Guitar Hero), but that wouldn't be right either. They are fundamentally different and in no way interchangable. FX2 tables are new tables not bound by the limitations of mechanical pinball or the expectations of recreating a real table. Zen Studios, the team behind FX2, only needs to design a table and make sure it plays okay and they are ready to ship it. Based on the level of craftsmanship that goes into table creation, FX2 tables are sold at a very reasonable price, and Pinball Arcade tables are sold at an unbelievable bargain.

The Pinball Arcade is a labor of love and that intense enthusiasm shines through in every aspect of this game. If you love pinball and aren't able to collect the real tables, this is your best choice by a country mile.

I have over half of the table packs and as a gamer who is old enough to actually remember most of the tables from the arcade, I can say it is pretty faithful.

But the pricing is out of whack, keep running specials on the $9.99 table packs and I will finish out the collection for ten bucks at a time all day long.

$29.99 for a few tables is way too much. I would never think of paying that. Not for a perfect rendition of any obsolete amusment. Nostalgia notwithstanding.

The Interface for the menus was disappointing but only because for a brief time I would crash my computer every time I left the game. This doesn't happen anymore.

It would be great if you coukld fix some oif the bugs in the old games, but by far this is the best version of pinball ever made that features the actual tables from the arcade so I have to give you props for that.

The cursor jumping in the menu system is very annoying. It's not natural, and no one does that. I keep having to relocate the cursor.

It is great that all these classic pinball machines can be played at home on my computer! The graphics are great with great modeling of the original tables. The physics are decent and acceptable for a pinball simulator; it is impossible to fully recreate the real physics and wear and tear that are in some of these real games. What's nice is I have learned some of the more complicated rules of some of my favorite tables without having to break the bank and I hope that when I run into these machines at my favorite arcade bars, I can use my new knowledge to get easier replays or even some high scores! I look forward to more recreations!

They changed the interface of the whole game making it harder to find the tables you own and can play. A minor nuisance. Overall the new interface didn't make the selection clearer.

Escape key used to work under every circumstance in the game but now esc will call up the menu from the Pinball screen but doesn't respond when back in the main menu. You now have to click the off button to get the exit menu.

The update has some bugs and the odd time I get a blue debug screen with an out of memory error. My machine has 6Gb in it but the game itself is still 32 bit. Perhaps there is the problem.

A few tables have lost the ball and no amount of checking or calling the attendant will free the ball. Only way out, restart the game.

That was the bad. Now the good. If you loved playing pinball, these classic tables are as authentic a game play as you'd get on a real pinball machine and are certainly enjoyable.

Wow.. As a long time pinball arcade fan, I must say that the new UI is .. err.. terrible..

Great set of games, one of the worst UI updates I've seen in ages.

I love this game. The tables are very detailed and fun to play. The new interface is indeed a bit confusing, but I think it helps you to find your favourite tables faster, if you got a lot of it. You can e.g. sort by your own rating, A-Z or goals you already reached.
My main con ist that the seasons are very expensive. You may say approx 30 Euros for 10 tables - that's 3 Euro each and the devs want to earn money to live. O.K.. But why not make single tables for 3 or 2.5 each? I'd rather spent some money now and then on a few tables I pick myself, than 30 Euros on 10 which of 5 are not that enjoyable...

I am really addicted to the game, i just downloaded it two days ago. Today, ive been playing it most of the day, and i took a break. i came back and started playing the free one of the month, and all of a sudden my shifts dont work. i thought it was a lag. i tested it out on my notepad, and the keys wernt working, so i thought, ok, my batteries need to be changed. so i changed them. I start playing again, and it worked fine, until my second ball then all of a sudden my keys werent working again.i have to add that it works fine with my mouse clicks, but i would prefer to use my keyboard, but for some reason it doesnt want to work. i may have to see if i can find my usb keyboard and see if it works better. if not, then i know it isnt on my end of the stick. NOW, last night i was experiencing that my computer would crash when i picked random. i chopped it up to the fact i dont have any purchased sets, but it still crashed everytime. so i dont know what the issue is. . .
Gameplay: i wish there was an option in the game to look back on all your scores.
the tables are pretty good. i really enjoy them.

NOTE:
I plugged in my usb keyboard and it worked much better. so i am assuming it just doesnt respond well to wireless keyboards?