As some of the huge, blockbuster titles have fled launch day for the next generation, it is in some ways up to the smaller developers to keep these platforms looking attractive and populated with games.
These might be exclusives, with titles like Resogun a game which many are looking forward to, but we are also seeing a lot of titles bridging the gap from current to next-gen platforms. Putty Squad and Pinball Arcade are two of these titles, both making their way to the PS4 courtesy of System 3, but also appearing elsewhere.
Putty Squad, which I’ve talked about before, is a fairly straight forward sounding proposition. It’s a classic title from the mid-90s which released on SNES and reviewed excellently on the Amiga, but never got its chance on the shelves.
This labour of love has seen System 3 return to the game, take the core ideas and mechanics and bring to ever greater heights. It’s incredibly complex, compared to some modern games, and the control options for your putty alone are easy to muddle up, when unfamiliar with the game.
Moving around is easy enough for the basics, but then you have the ability to stretch out to latch onto and pull yourself up to platforms above, below, left right, or you can inflate yourself and float up. There are pick ups which will augment your regular punches, let you drop bombs, let you summon a cat to jump up and down on, and so on.
The levels too are rather complex, with tons of pick ups to find, putties to collect, green cheeses to warp through. All in all, and forgiving more unfamiliarity this game was really hard to master with so many ideas and elements to try and keep track of.
Augmenting the game is a rather generous sticker book, which allows you to get a hold of more levels for free. Completing certain tasks within levels will earn you stickers, and then by completing a double page, that will allow you to download one of the additional map releases for free, as they arrive on a fortnightly basis.
Putty Squad is set for release on 29th November on all of its platforms. That’s PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, 3DS and PC.
Pinball Arcade sees a more recent classic making the hop across generations. FarSight Studios already released this last year for PlayStation 3 and Vita, it’s an absolute simulation of what feels like countless classic pinball machines.
I’ve personally never quite got into playing pinball machines too much, but it was lovely to see the long row of unlocked and free to play classic machines at Eurogamer Expo last month, and find that some machines even seemed to hold a queue of people wanting to play. The fascination with and love for pinball is still just as strong as ever.
So with Pinball Arcade, it’s easy to see the appeal of having all these classic machines recreated digitally, and playable whenever they take your fancy. There’s a lot of tables on offer too, with a selection from Gottlieb, Stern, Williams and Bally all available, which span the ages.
As part of the complex process of licensing these tables, FarSight have, on several occasions, taken to Kickstarter to fund and publicise major deals. Notably the Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Terminator 2 all went down this path, as they push to continue expanding the line up for people to choose from.
The process through which they recreate each table is also quite fascinating, as they strive to absolutely perfect everything they do. It’s not just about a physics engine, but a digital facsimile of the table in every regard, from the individual parts and textures to lights and emulators to run the exact same ROM which powered the original machines. Every detail has been copied.
The only problem I have with this is the complexity and cost of the entire game. This is still going to be quite a niche title, and I can accept that prices may be fairly high as a result, but the game features paywalls and reminders at almost every turn.
Downloading the game lets your play a handful of tables for free, until you hit a high score. These are presented in a long list of “Season 1” tables, many of which are not free to play, and upon selecting any of these you’re pushed towards paying a few quid to buy the game. This allows you to play those initial few tables in full or free play on the other Season 1 tables, but this now pushes you to buy table packs or season packs at steep-feeling prices.
I wouldn’t begrudge them charging what they want, but the manner in which this is presented is overwhelming and intrusive. It’s a shame really, because this feels like it spoils an otherwise fantastically faithful, accurate and fun pinball machine simulator.
Pinball Arcade is set for release on 29th November on PS4, but is already available on PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, 3DS, Wii U, PC, iOS and Android.
yd
The prices for the Pinball Arcade tables aren’t that steep, are they? £3.99 for each pack of 2 tables. (Ok, sometimes it’s 1 table for £3.99, but mostly 2)
And you get the PS3 and Vita versions for that price. Doesn’t look like they’ll be including the PS4 versions in that deal though, which is a bit of a shame. Didn’t they say something about the PS4 table packs at least being cheaper if you’d already paid for the PS3/Vita versions?
Unless you’re incredibly good at pinball, and you want to get the 3 trophies they traditionally (until they couldn’t add more) have, you’re looking at hours of fun for your less than £2 per table. Learn how each table works and all the features, and then hope you can manage the skill needed to achieve all the master and wizard goals? Not something you’ll be knocking out in a single game. (It takes at least 2 games anyway, since the second set of goals doesn’t unlock until you’ve done the first set and the game ends)
It’s also one of those games you might just find yourself coming back to. Especially with the Vita version. Pinball works quite well as something you can quickly load up for a quick game. Or possibly 47 quick games.
The only thing missing is the ability to have some of the plastic parts snap off and block a lane. Which actually happened to me many years ago on a real pinball machine. I think it was the Terminator table.
lambchop
Hoping they dont take the pee with the Putty Squad price