I never thought I'd see the day when Pinball Platform Wars would be a thing, but then the Williams Collection tables were suddenly ripped away from The Pinball Arcade and switched over to the Pinball FX platform and now I don't know what to think. I happened to like the fact that one was real pinball tables and the other was fantasy video game pinball tables. Now both types are on Pinball FX3, which I don't like as much as The Pinball Arcade, so I'm feeling a little bitter about the whole thing. Not bitter enough to not play it, of course, so here's today's Eric Vs. 365 video featuring the Jurassic Park tables for Pinball FX3.
I want to start by saying I prefer The Pinball Arcade. It just feels better to play to me, though with every new pinball game release everyone says "They finally got the physics right this time!" like anyone actually knows what the hell they're talking about. Like I say in the video, though, I can generally aim where I want and do what I want in The Pinball Arcade but always struggle with Pinball FX3, so I can only go by what I feel and not what is supposed to be allegedly more realistic physics.
I always liked the real tables better than the Pinball FX fantasy tables, too. Part of what is amazing about real pinball is that they only have so much physical space and processing power and other limitations (along with miles of wiring to figure out) so the designers had to really innovate and get creative to make new and interesting tables. When you're making purely digital fantasy tables a lot of the craft of pinball is lost. You just do whatever with no limitations and instead of making a bigger and better pinball experience, it just makes it bloated and less interesting to me. Now that Pinball FX3 has the Williams tables and they have to replicate them exactly none of that matters anymore, I guess.
But, whatever. What's done is done.
The only real reason I ever played Pinball FX3 at all was because it had Jurassic Park and Star Wars tables available for it, which I played and enjoyed. That worked out since I have been in a Jurassic Park mood lately, so it only made sense to record a video focusing on these tables. I actually practiced the day before I recorded so I could do a better job on camera but still struggled, especially with the Jurassic Park movie table. I didn't practice Jurassic World at all but obliterated my previous high score, but that was mostly because I only played it a few times when it first came out a couple years ago.
I think the video turned out OK. I talk pinball and Jurassic Park and have a good ol' time.
