Review by: Michael Barnes

I rated Pinball FX2 quite highly in my previous review here at Gameshark.com and it was easily my most played Xbox Live title of 2010. Great table design, excellent physics modeling, and persistent online leaderboards and challenge features make it infinitely replayable and chasing those high scores- or those of your friends- is always great fun. Pinball FX2 is something of a platform that collects Zen Studio’s diverse tables under one roof, so to speak, and it didn’t take the company long to release not only a new four table set, but also its best work yet.

Zen’s tables usually have pretty cool and sometimes unexpected themes (Rocky and Bullwinkle, anyone?) but it has pulled out all the licensing stops on this one and nabbed a couple of Marvel Comics’ biggest names. The four tables are Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Blade. Guest stars ranging from Sabertooth, Mandarin, and Mysterio put in fun appearances as well. Each table is literally packed to bursting with fan service, original artwork, full voice samples, and special modes that make these great themes come to love. Whether it’s the special UV vampire hunting mode in Blade, a Robert Downey, Jr. sound-alike voicing Iron Man, or getting your flipper buttons reversed thanks to one of the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs, these tables will thrill not only pinball fans with their outstanding gameplay but also comic book fans with their attention to detail

There’s not a bad apple in the bunch. Spidey fares the best with a ramps-heavy table that captures the spirit of the web-slinger better than you might think was possible knocking a digital metal ball around an ersatz plank of wood. Wolverine’s table is more of a 1980s style table and it’s short, brutish and quick like its namesake. Iron Man is wide open and very mode-heavy, featuring plenty of cavalier comments, references to alcoholism, and a rather creepy Whiplash figure modeled after Mickey Rourke. Blade is definitely the connoisseur’s table, a challenging and complex game with some very surprising special effects.

One thing that I particularly liked about the suite of tables in Pinball FX2 was that the tables maintained a sense of fidelity to real-world pinball design. There’s not much that couldn’t be physically built. With Marvel Pinball, they’ve let their hair down a little and the special “gimmicks” and events that flavor each table leverage the digital medium far more. This could have been a disastrous reminder of games that have taken the special effects too far with all kinds of animated characters parading around the table or whatever, but being the pinball experts that they are Zen has incorporated the purely digital touches with style, class, and dignity.