Harold

Generally a terrific table set. I would test out each table individually before deciding to go for the whole package. Quality is pretty solid across all of the tables. Blade is interestingly laid out, but it doesn't flow as well as most of the other tables. Still, it's fun, there's plenty to do on it, and the day/night transition thing is a blast. Very good artwork as one would come to expect from Pinball FX tables. Spider Man has a ton of crazy ramps befitting the name, and few things to interrupt play flow. It's pretty easy, but that's part of the fun. The voice clips are annoying, but I guess that's also fitting. Wolverine is great. It's more difficult, but it's still solid. There's a spinning wheel that your ball is held onto and then dropped from; this is a nice little gimmick, but occasionally it dumps the ball straight between your flippers. Aside from that, it's a very nice table. The special effects, artwork, sound effects, and music are possibly the best of the four. Iron Man I don't like as much. Lots of ramps, but they don't really do anything outside of the missions (a couple thousand points here or there, which is pennies compared to the millions you get from the missions). There's a ball lock right-of-center that requires you smack a couple targets blocking it before you can get your ball in. Those targets happen to be oriented directly towards the spot between the two flippers. Whoops! The music isn't as great, the missions aren't as wacky, the sounds and voice clips are weird, and there's no neat gimmicks to it.

I bought Pinball FX 1 and could never get into it. The physics seemed a little off, the sound effects and graphics were pretty bland, and the whole affair was just a bit off-putting for whatever reason. Pinball FX 2 completely changes that; it's weirdly compelling, and it's got updated versions of the tables I've already paid for from the first game. The ability to trial extra tables is a great idea, and the social aspects are well put-together (and help me realize how horrible my scores actually are). The physics, sounds, and graphics feel more reflective of actual pinball tables, and the whole thing just ends up being more fun. // It's disappointing that single-console multiplayer only works on the new tables, the table sounds still aren't terrific, and the tables don't have as much personality as decent (real) pinball tables, but it's still a great package.

What follows is a ranting kinda-review: //// Fable III's last mission lasted less than 10 minutes, and the final boss fight was easier and less epic than any of the (2 or 3) minibosses in the game. Fable III was a step backwards from Fable II; even from Fable I. //// There were almost no unexpected twists or setting switch-ups. Fable II had the Spire and the time progression at the start after being a child, and other parts as you journey around. Fable III has one interesting bit, and it's only there to royally disappoint you at the end. //// There was less humour, and the characters are less interesting. Jasper (John Cleese) might have been cool, but he stops talking (still unresolved bug), and tries repeatedly to sell you **** DLC. So screw that. //// The landscapes are crappier. The draw distance is small, all of the landscapes were fairly samey. There's only a few more enemies, and they're not very interesting (and they only show up later in the game). There's no goofy areas like the Shadow Temple in Fable 2. //// Skill progression is simplified from Fable II, which was already pretty bloody simple to begin with. The game is also even easier than Fable II, which was pretty damn easy to begin with. //// The "choices" you make are straight up good or evil. All "good" choices while monarch will simply make the game take longer as you need to earn more money to make up for them. That is, if you even care about the treasury. There's no consequences to anything. The character is also set up as a really good guy in every cinematic, even if you're playing as a complete ****. //// The interaction system is a nice example of the unthinking that went into this game. Instead of interacting with a large group of villagers at once, you have to interact with them one at a time, and with even more coarsely-grained choices than before (A, X, Y: Nice, Scary, Rude). Why did they change it? //// And of course it's messy as all hell. The glowing "bread crumb" trail disappears, or points in an altogether wrong direction. The framerate drops precipitously all the time and the game goes into slow-motion mode. Baddies show up nonsensically in rich areas where nobles live. //// I really enjoyed Fable 1 and 2, but this? It was an *okay* time-waster, but basically completely unmemorable.

It's hideous. It tears, it runs at somewhere around 10 FPS, it looks like an N64 game, the projectiles seem to appear from outside the screen rather than from Duke, Duke controls like the Atari 2600's E.T., and the gameplay itself is completely unbearable. Even in 2002 this would have been a dud.

It's not bad. It's pretty fun, actually. Though it's not linked in very tightly with Origins, it stands pretty well on its own. It's not as large, or fresh feeling as Origins, but I expected that from an expansion. The price is a little sticky; I wouldn't pay the full $40 for this, but would suggest waiting until you can pick it up on the cheap. /// There are two chief issues that I had with the game. First of all, it's easy. *Extremely* easy. I did a play-through on Nightmare and not once had a Game Over. This was extremely disappointing. Even the final battle was easy as sin. Battlemage powers are pretty much able to wreck an entire crowd of minor darkspawn; so is the Overwhelm ability given to a warrior. Elite enemies aren't that much more difficult to take down. Elite Genlock Emissaries could be a tremendous pain in Origins as they messed with you from a distance; here, you can neglect them. It's as though the enemy's levels, relative to your own, have dropped by half. It's terrible. /// Secondly, I had a few quests that were difficult to trigger, or difficult to resolve, without consulting the Dragon Age Wiki on Wikia. This annoyed me. I don't like having to constantly halt the game to pop over and see why I couldn't find a certain quest item, or trigger a companion quest. /// And, as a more minor problem, a lot of the decisions made in the game have no actual gameplay relevance, but only come into play during the epilogue. Some of them sort of seem like the should have some effect on gameplay, or at least a *greater* effect on the epilogue than they do. /// This is still Dragon Age, it still feels Biowarey, and I'd still recommend it. I just can't do so at the full retail price.