Review by: Michael Barnes

It’s strange that pinball isn’t still widely appreciated these days, what with casual descendents like Peggle practically precipitating addiction interventions and in gaming zeitgeist where there are physics-based games on just about everyone’s mobile devices. I suppose that part of it is that to play a real pinball machine, you’ve got to either have one of your own like that kid on Silver Spoons or you’ve got to find a broken down, poorly maintained one in some backwater juke joint. Or even worse, you might have to resort to hunting down an aging, ailing table at an all-you-can-eat family pizza buffet where tiny, grease-slicked hands have turned the flipper buttons into disease vectors. Arcades really aren’t an option anymore, and that’s where pinball thrived which largely accounts for its disappearance from the gaming landscape. Fortunately for silverball enthusiasts such as myself, pinball video games have kept the torch lit, even if the sensory, tactile experience is somewhat diminished. .

Pinball patriots Zen Studios have recently released Pinball FX2, a sequel to its earlier XBLA collection and after a couple of nights of pitched high score battles on the four core tables that your 800 MS points will buy—I’m in love. The physics engine is right on the money, which means that all your favorite flipper-to-flipper passes, dead stops, and catches feel pretty close to what you’d get from a real machine. Ball velocity, collision detection, and weight feels as good if not better than anything I’ve seen in other pinball games. The tactility is missing and you’ll never get that awesome feeling of physically man-handling the machine by bumping it to affect the ball’s trajectory, but I’ll be damned if using the 360 controller’s triggers for the flippers doesn’t make me feel right at home.

The four tables included in the core Pinball FX2 package are uniformly great, but I was a little disappointed that they all are representative of the 1990s Williams-style machines. Expect lots of steel ramp action, dot matrix displays with mini-games, and tons of novelties- some of which would simply not be possible on a physical machine. The tables all have multiple playfields, some beneath the main surface of the table. There’s nothing in the collection so far comparable to the incredible 1970s machines like Pinbot or Black Knight. That being said, these are great examples of the later era of pinball table design.

Secrets of the Deep is probably my favorite of the lot, it’s a deep-sea adventure theme with lots of neat missions and gimmicks such as a magnetic crane and a plumb bob style target. Biolab is a goofy, colorful trip through a mad scientist’s cloning lab with some fun monster-making missions. Rome is an extremely cool table with a very fresh Roman Empire theme with onagers, legionnaires, and drop targets that spell “scutum”. It’s a little busy and difficult to master, but its also rewarding with several complex targets. Pasha is the best looking table, with its Arabian Nights setting and its storybook completion modes are fun to work through.

Each table has full 2D table art complementing their 3D elements. They all look fantastic with all the literal bells and whistles. There are some video game-specific effects like a light trail that follows the ball and some animated figures on the tables, but it never goes overboard as some video game pinballs have in the past. I am playing the game on an HD 42” LCD screen, and I fear that those who may not have that luxury won’t be able to fully appreciate the level of detail that characterizes each table. Among the myriad adjustments and customizations (including full operator menus and audits) there are multiple viewing angles that should suit all preferences, but it feels like the game will simply play better when you can see more of it.

Of course, pinball is really a competitive, high score game and playing to beat your best is fun enough but beating somebody else’s top score is even better. Offline, pass-the-controller play is of course possible and there’s even a split-screen score race option. Where the game really takes on a life of its own is in the thoughtful integration of competitive options to challenge your friends and others. I’m particularly fond of the score races where you are pitted against three other players attempting to reach a target score before the other players.