This is the first in a series of posts I will be making about playing Steam games on a Surface Pro tablet (Surface Pro 3 i7 to be exact) using just touch controls and/or the pen. If theres enough interest in these writeups, I may make a dedicated thread, but for now Ill just be posting them here. Though this is written with Surface Pro in mind, I suppose it could apply to any comparable tablet that runs Windows. The first game in this series is Pinball FX2. Next up will either be Don't Starve or FTL.
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Pinball FX2
+ Runs pretty well out of the box. Only requires minimal changes to the settings to run smoothly.
+ Can be played in portrait mode.
+ Great for casual play.
- The game crashes if you rotate the tablet to a different mode (i.e. portrait to landscape).
- Touchscreen controls do not have a way to nudge the table. This isnt that big a deal when playing casually, but for an advanced player, this is a dealbreaker, as it makes it impossible to bump the table to save a ball or to do things like bounce/nudge passes.
- The launch button (which is normally a keyboard key or controller button) is relegated to a checkbox button at the top right of the screen when applicable. It seems to disappear sometimes on its own, messing up chance to hit it. This is important because sometimes during play you have to press the launch button to initiate actions, some of which are timing-based, which makes it less than ideal. Its also not there to actually launch the ball. You have to swipe to do that. Thats not a big deal though, since youll probably be going for skillshots anyway.
- In-Home Streaming didnt work very well. It didnt register taps, mouse sensitivity way too high, and the stream started to lag and stutter despite my gigabit network. It could be a streaming settings issue, Im not sure. This was my first foray into In-Home Streaming.
* The back of the tablet gets pretty hot when playing (as with most games). It could be table-specific, but I kind of doubt it. Disabling AA seemed to help a little, but that may have just been placebo effect.
* 1920x1200 or 1280x800 is the optimal resolution. Makes best use of screen, with minimal letterboxing. Could always go lower if preferred. None of the resolution options were entirely full screen, due to the tablets aspect ratio. I suppose this could be a minus, but I didnt really find it to be an issue personally.
* Disabling reflections and anti-aliasing is best. AA can be left on if you prefer, but I recommend turning it off for performance-sake.
Overall, I found the game quite playable, though the heat issue made me worry about playing for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, without a way to nudge the table, this probably isnt ideal for serious players, but if youre just playing for the fun of it, I think youll find it quite sufficient.