Zaccaria Pinball - Space Shuttle Deluxe Pinball Table

enjoyable table

::EDIT::

I just want to reiterate how much i despise this table. It is the most unreliable table they have made. In sim mode, you never know how your ball is going to react. First mission is hard: 2x Ball Locks, 2x Tiny Lamps, and 1 or 2 orbits. And one of the tiny lamps is a 50-50 deathshot b/c it ricochets straight into the drain. Speaking of deathshots. The Story Ball Lock likes to give you the middle finger. 10-25% of the time that ball lock will shoot your ball in a perfect trajectory between the flipper and the rubber drain stopper. For a table that is supposed to be modern and "Deluxe" I've never seen anything as abysmal as this table. And the ramps... my gawd, what's that take 3-4seconds for your ball to whirl around in a circle and finally come back to you in the in-lane.... MagicPixel, what in the hell is going on with this table?

All the Best.

::ORIGINAL COMMENT:

Looking at the low scores in the leaderboards might signify that this table is harder than the rest of the Deluxe tables. And this is true because of the wonky space-like physics on SIMULATION MODE. Why is my ball so floaty? Oh, right. It is space-themed lol. No thanks. I love the colors, the theme, the loops, but these floaty to speed-demon to floaty again ball movements are damn annoying and unrealistic beyond belief. It seem that the "zero G" physics are highly concentrated in the lower-center and over the flipper lanes. I mean the ball just floats above the flipper lanes, and then a second later you hit the ball and it just touches something and goes godspeed. It just doesn't make sense. Hard pass on most of these "deluxe" tables. Honestly, that $1.99 Retro pack is just flipping awesome, and going full Platinum pack has made me question... EVERYTHING. Having crapped on this table, I'll still keep supporting future releases as Magic Pixel makes some good retro and SS tables.

Hmmm no. This one is a bit boring. It is not super difficult to hit the ramps and they twist and twirl but the pace is stopped constantly and I am not a fan of the slingshots being so much at the centre of the gameplay. Also, the extra fields, as it happens with most of the deluxe tables, are a mood and pace killer.

Of all of the new"Deluxe" tables, this one is my favorite so far. The sounds and ball movement is the most realistic in my humble opinion of all the tables so far.

it is worth noting however, that this is also the most difficult of the Deluxe tables released to date. The flippers are farther apart, and it is overall much more challenging. You can evidence this by looking at the high score leaderboard. Still, I really do like this table a lot and do recommend it. Just know it will take time to master!

I bought this DLC because: (a) it's stupidly cheap if you already own the Platinum Pack; and (b) i want to continue to support Magic Pixel as they did a great job recreating the original Solid State and Electro Mechanical tables and i appreciate their ongoing efforts to address bugs, introduce new features and generally make quality of life improvements to the main Zaccaria Pinball game. So would i recommend purchasing the tables for these reasons? Yes.

But can i personally recommend this specific table in isolation? Not really. From a gameplay point of view, the ball seems particularly springy and weightless (is this intentional because it's set in space?!). From an aesthetic point of view I think these "Deluxe" tables are getting pretty stale. The combination of crowded playfields, really generic artwork, bland and samey ("synthwave"?) scores and often sub-par voice acting means they all blend into one for me and just seem to lack personality. I guess they just don't feel very "deluxe", especially compared to Williams tables or even the newer real-life tables put out by the likes of Spooky Pinball etc. I realise this comparison is unfair insofar as Magic Pixel are probably a really small team of developers with a limited budget but even the tables in the dated and mediocre Pinball HD Collection (an android port i believe) seem aesthetically more varied and interesting.

I really hope this review doesn't come across as rude or harsh as, overall, I absolutely love Zaccaria Pinball. I guess I'm just worried the template has been set and we'll keep getting tables like this in the future. Also, I realise a lot of what I've mentioned is personal preference and I'm a casual pinball fan at best, so i'm not at all knowledgeable about stuff like ball physics, etc. I guess folk can make their own minds up anyhow as there's a free trial of the table.

This review is a counterpoint to a different review that basically said the game is bad because it's too busy. And I get where they're coming from, but there's plenty of room in the digital pinball universe for both approaches. Yes, there's something soothing about the simplistic tables that have lots of open space and give you room to move around, but that doesn't mean the busy tables packed with lots of ramps, flippers, and playfields are bad things. They just appeal to different players and different playstyles and there's nothing wrong with that. I personally enjoy both, and which ones I play depend on my mood, which is why I like Zaccaria because they have a wide variety of different types of tables, with varying degrees of busyness depending on my mood.

As for this table specifically, it's good. Not great, not horrible, but pretty much in line with the rest of Zaccaria's Deluxe tables. It has some decent art and sound effects, some questionable voice overs (That Stellar shot one seems a little goofy and out of place.), and a hodge podge of different shots to make. The extra playfield is okay, but doesn't seem to stretch much from the other extra playfields on the other deluxe tables. All in all a good table if you enjoy the Zaccaria Deluxe tables, but nothing special. My one complaint is that the deluxe tables are starting to feel a little repetitive, and I think they need to add a little more variety on the tables to differentiate them. But, all in all, a good table, just not a great one.

I really enjoyed the original Zaccaria tables, compared to Williams, Gottlieb and the other american companies they were a refreshing change from the norm, with some quirky ideas and designs as well as a challenging difficulty. After they were done with the recreations, the developers decided to try their hands on their own designs, altough based on the original Zaccaria Tables.

These Deluxe tables so far leave me unimpressed though and i just take this new table as an example.
What makes a good pinball table? In my oppinion it's the flow of the gameplay and that ties directly into the design of the table. If we look over some of the classic tables, they are usually very clean with distinctive shots and and open areas to get the ball going.
Now just look at the screenshots of this table.
It's like they hired a 10 year old kid who just discovered Pinball and was allowed it to design its "dream table" and like kids are: The more the better and let's just drop EVERYTHING on the table, because we simply can.

To call these "Deluxe" Tables a cluttered mess would be an understatement. Tons of Ramps. Multiple playfields. Tons of flippers (Weren't 2 enough? 3 is also fine but six? Half a dozen flippers? Just why?!) and pretty much everything you can imagine. There's not even logic behind it. It's just "We can add multiple playfields, so let's do and yes, we can add tons of drop targets, so put them everywhere"
The problem is simply that it's way, way, way too much. You don't even know where to shoot first or what to do. Sometimes, targets are even hidden and covered by other elements, usually the absurd amount of ramps that snake around the table - it's truly a jungle out there! In case of this table, you don't even know what's going on in the upper half of the table because you can't even see it. Is there an area behind the bumpers? Are there targets? Who knows? Probably not even the designers, because they forget about it after they unloaded all the other stuff on top of it.

And so, there's no flow to the table, it's basically "take a shot, try to stop the ball, take a shot, watch the ball go apeshit, try to catch it, try to aim at something you don't even properly see and in general: just hope for the best". Yeah, this isn't fun at all.

Especially since the ball still acts like a hyperactive balloon with some wonky physics. I thought Pinball was played with Steel Balls? Aren't they supposed to have some weight? Aren't they supposed to bounce realistically of something? Even after years, this game here behaves like throwing a rubber ball into a bouncy castle...