gzsfrk
11-08-2010, 08:04 AM
<table width="100%" style="padding:2px; background-color: black"><tr><td>Pinball FX2 Review [360]
Developed by: Zen Studios (http://www.zenstudios.com/)
Published by: Microsoft Game Studios (http://www.microsoft.com/games/)
You pay: The main download is free; tables can be purchased as packs (800 MSP / $10) or individually (200 MSP / $2.50)</td><td align="right"><img style="border:1px solid red;" src="http://evavhost.com/i/press/gzsfrk_head.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td>Release Date: October 26, 2010</td><td align=right>Matt 'gzsfrk' Williams</td></tr></table>
Tommy Walker Approved
Me and video pinball go way back. I had the original Video Pinball (http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/video-pinball) for the Atari 2600, wore out some Pinball Construction Set (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Construction_Set) on my Commodore 64, and racked up hundreds of millions in Tristan Pinball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX5Eg_uc_y0) for DOS. But I have to admit, it’s been over a decade since I was playing my last pinball regular, Balls of Steel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCOyldR8Cf8), with any frequency. Zen Studios almost pulled me back into the silver ball fold with its XBLA exclusive Pinball FX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_FX) back in 2007. However, the tables—while fairly well designed—were a bit generic and did little to innovate the core concepts of pinball other than providing online leaderboards. But with the release of Pinball FX2, I’m once again back snugly among the flipper faithful.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay01.jpg
Pinball FX2 isn’t just a new collection of tables; it’s a video pinball platform. Similar to Hasbro Family Game Night (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Family-Game-Night/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258410981), PFX2 serves as a hub for downloading and launching both your existing tables from the first Pinball FX as well as new ones designed specifically for the updated engine. One particularly useful new feature is that you can now download and try any table from within the PFX2 interface on a trial basis although you’ll only get a few minutes of play time before the game stops and you’re given the option to either purchase it or return to the main screen. The ball physics and graphics (including the variety of viewing angles and the lighting effects) have been upgraded, with your existing Pinball FX tables benefiting from the improvements. Multiplayer modes have also been added along with a variety of community features.
In addition to the support for content from the previous game, four all new tables have been added: Bio-Lab, Secrets of the Deep, Pasha, and Rome. Whereas the tables in the original game were--as I mentioned--a bit run of the mill, the four new playfields are anything but uninspired, with impressive mechanisms, great dot-matrix display effects, and entertaining board design. They also have a better narrative flow with table objectives being more effectively communicated during play via vocal and visual cues. Unlike the first game, you will less frequently find yourself having to choose between paying attention to the dot-matrix display for vital information about your next target and having the ball go between your flippers and into the pit because you weren’t constantly paying attention to its trajectory. Instead, the new tables display most essential information while the ball is briefly out of play.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay03.jpg
Another interesting upgrade that should be of interest to any engineering students or would-be service techs out there is the all new service mode—a set of options that let you make adjustments to the various simulated physical components just as you would when servicing an actual pinball table. You can adjust table angle, pin tension, kick-back strength, and myriad other settings depending on the table being tweaked. Unfortunately, this mode only applies to the new tables and not any of the legacy ones from the original Pinball FX. Still, it’s great fun to be able to play around with the various knobs and doodads to see how it affects (and possibly improves) the playability of the various boards. Of course, it should be noted that only high scores earned on tables at their default settings that will be posted to the online leaderboards.
Easily my favorite addition is the new versus multiplayer. Either 2 players offline (via split-screen) or up to 4 players online can compete on the same table to either be the first to reach a certain score or to have the highest score when time runs out. In much the same way that the addition of effective multiplayer to previously single-player experiences (such as Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies) has added greatly to those games’ depth and staying power, so too has it moved Pinball FX2 from being a decidedly niche title to one with more broad appeal. Those who may not see the fun to be had from endlessly trying to best previous high scores may well be drawn in by the admittedly addictive challenge of seeing your score marker race against that of your opponents in real-time as you frantically try to either stay ahead of them as time runs down or cross the target score “finish line” first.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay05.jpg
Zen Studious and Microsoft seem to be trying to build a community around the Pinball FX series. Your overall ranking is directly impacted not only by how good your high scores are, but also by how many other players you know and have on your friends list. Each player has what is called their “Super Score”—a number calculated as the number of millions you get when adding up your high scores from all the tables you own. This makes for an easy way to compare your own skill against that of your pinball peers. Additionally, you use that score as an input to your “Wizard Score”—a number which adds your Super Score to the combined Super Scores of all your friends and then multiplies it times the number of tables you own. This makes for a fun little social game-within-the-game that encourages you to not only buy more tables, but also to make friends with as many other flipper fiends as possible in an effort to boost your online ranking.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay07.jpg
Pinball FX2 is still, at its core, a pinball game. That being the case, those who find no appeal in swatting at little round balls bouncing around inside an ornately decorated glass-top box aren’t likely to find religion and suddenly become real-life collectors just by playing this title. However, if you were ever a fan of the genre and have maybe been looking for a good reason to lean back over the table, then you’re not going to find a more persuasive argument in the video pinball world than PFX2, because it sure plays a mean pinball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZCwiNJ4wgo).
http://evavhost.com/public/4n.gif
<table width="100%" style="padding:2px"><tr><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_good.jpg Has the most realistic pinball action you’re liable to find outside of a smoky pool hall The four new tables are wonderfully designed and fun The multiplayer modes are a brilliant addition and give the game some legs The ability to tweak the mechanical settings of tables finally lets me live out my arcade owner fantasy It’s essentially a free upgrade for those who bought the previous game</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_bad.jpg It’s still just pinball, so if that’s not your thing then there’s probably nothing for you here The layout of the main menu could be improved to look less cluttered </td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_ugly.jpg A couple of the tables have release paths that seem to aim so perfectly for the pit that I suspect they were scientifically engineered to produce the optimum flow of profanity</td></tr></table>
Developed by: Zen Studios (http://www.zenstudios.com/)
Published by: Microsoft Game Studios (http://www.microsoft.com/games/)
You pay: The main download is free; tables can be purchased as packs (800 MSP / $10) or individually (200 MSP / $2.50)</td><td align="right"><img style="border:1px solid red;" src="http://evavhost.com/i/press/gzsfrk_head.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td>Release Date: October 26, 2010</td><td align=right>Matt 'gzsfrk' Williams</td></tr></table>
Tommy Walker Approved
Me and video pinball go way back. I had the original Video Pinball (http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/video-pinball) for the Atari 2600, wore out some Pinball Construction Set (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Construction_Set) on my Commodore 64, and racked up hundreds of millions in Tristan Pinball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX5Eg_uc_y0) for DOS. But I have to admit, it’s been over a decade since I was playing my last pinball regular, Balls of Steel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCOyldR8Cf8), with any frequency. Zen Studios almost pulled me back into the silver ball fold with its XBLA exclusive Pinball FX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_FX) back in 2007. However, the tables—while fairly well designed—were a bit generic and did little to innovate the core concepts of pinball other than providing online leaderboards. But with the release of Pinball FX2, I’m once again back snugly among the flipper faithful.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay01.jpg
Pinball FX2 isn’t just a new collection of tables; it’s a video pinball platform. Similar to Hasbro Family Game Night (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Family-Game-Night/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258410981), PFX2 serves as a hub for downloading and launching both your existing tables from the first Pinball FX as well as new ones designed specifically for the updated engine. One particularly useful new feature is that you can now download and try any table from within the PFX2 interface on a trial basis although you’ll only get a few minutes of play time before the game stops and you’re given the option to either purchase it or return to the main screen. The ball physics and graphics (including the variety of viewing angles and the lighting effects) have been upgraded, with your existing Pinball FX tables benefiting from the improvements. Multiplayer modes have also been added along with a variety of community features.
In addition to the support for content from the previous game, four all new tables have been added: Bio-Lab, Secrets of the Deep, Pasha, and Rome. Whereas the tables in the original game were--as I mentioned--a bit run of the mill, the four new playfields are anything but uninspired, with impressive mechanisms, great dot-matrix display effects, and entertaining board design. They also have a better narrative flow with table objectives being more effectively communicated during play via vocal and visual cues. Unlike the first game, you will less frequently find yourself having to choose between paying attention to the dot-matrix display for vital information about your next target and having the ball go between your flippers and into the pit because you weren’t constantly paying attention to its trajectory. Instead, the new tables display most essential information while the ball is briefly out of play.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay03.jpg
Another interesting upgrade that should be of interest to any engineering students or would-be service techs out there is the all new service mode—a set of options that let you make adjustments to the various simulated physical components just as you would when servicing an actual pinball table. You can adjust table angle, pin tension, kick-back strength, and myriad other settings depending on the table being tweaked. Unfortunately, this mode only applies to the new tables and not any of the legacy ones from the original Pinball FX. Still, it’s great fun to be able to play around with the various knobs and doodads to see how it affects (and possibly improves) the playability of the various boards. Of course, it should be noted that only high scores earned on tables at their default settings that will be posted to the online leaderboards.
Easily my favorite addition is the new versus multiplayer. Either 2 players offline (via split-screen) or up to 4 players online can compete on the same table to either be the first to reach a certain score or to have the highest score when time runs out. In much the same way that the addition of effective multiplayer to previously single-player experiences (such as Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies) has added greatly to those games’ depth and staying power, so too has it moved Pinball FX2 from being a decidedly niche title to one with more broad appeal. Those who may not see the fun to be had from endlessly trying to best previous high scores may well be drawn in by the admittedly addictive challenge of seeing your score marker race against that of your opponents in real-time as you frantically try to either stay ahead of them as time runs down or cross the target score “finish line” first.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay05.jpg
Zen Studious and Microsoft seem to be trying to build a community around the Pinball FX series. Your overall ranking is directly impacted not only by how good your high scores are, but also by how many other players you know and have on your friends list. Each player has what is called their “Super Score”—a number calculated as the number of millions you get when adding up your high scores from all the tables you own. This makes for an easy way to compare your own skill against that of your pinball peers. Additionally, you use that score as an input to your “Wizard Score”—a number which adds your Super Score to the combined Super Scores of all your friends and then multiplies it times the number of tables you own. This makes for a fun little social game-within-the-game that encourages you to not only buy more tables, but also to make friends with as many other flipper fiends as possible in an effort to boost your online ranking.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/pinballfx2_gameplay07.jpg
Pinball FX2 is still, at its core, a pinball game. That being the case, those who find no appeal in swatting at little round balls bouncing around inside an ornately decorated glass-top box aren’t likely to find religion and suddenly become real-life collectors just by playing this title. However, if you were ever a fan of the genre and have maybe been looking for a good reason to lean back over the table, then you’re not going to find a more persuasive argument in the video pinball world than PFX2, because it sure plays a mean pinball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZCwiNJ4wgo).
http://evavhost.com/public/4n.gif
<table width="100%" style="padding:2px"><tr><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_good.jpg Has the most realistic pinball action you’re liable to find outside of a smoky pool hall The four new tables are wonderfully designed and fun The multiplayer modes are a brilliant addition and give the game some legs The ability to tweak the mechanical settings of tables finally lets me live out my arcade owner fantasy It’s essentially a free upgrade for those who bought the previous game</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_bad.jpg It’s still just pinball, so if that’s not your thing then there’s probably nothing for you here The layout of the main menu could be improved to look less cluttered </td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_ugly.jpg A couple of the tables have release paths that seem to aim so perfectly for the pit that I suspect they were scientifically engineered to produce the optimum flow of profanity</td></tr></table>