Zen Pinball Review (PS3)

Paranormal Table

Zen Pinball is a pinball video game for the Playstation 3 developed by Zen Studios.  Other games from the developer are Pinball FX 2 for the Xbox 360, Ghostbusters for the Nintendo DS and Marvel Pinball for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.  Zen Pinball is a Playstation Network game that sells for $10 and comes with 4 tables.  Zen Studios have already released six extra tables for Zen Pinball that sell for $2.49 each.

The Game

Zen Pinball has excellent ball physics.  The balls seem to have the correct amount of bounce and weight that would be expected on a real Pinball Table.  The flippers are controlled by either the R1/L1 or R2/L2 buttons and reacts as expected.  Shaking the table can be controlled by either a stick or by shaking the controller in a direction.   Shaking a table too much will tilt it, so it’s recommended that it’s used sparingly.

The viewing angle can be changed at a press of a button.  Each table has 5 to 6 different camera angles varying  from close up on the ball to viewing the full table on the screen.  These can be changed on the fly and  preferred angles are stored on a table by table basis.  While multi-ball events are active, the camera will lock to the furthest position so the whole table will be seen, and consequently, all the balls being played seen also.

The sound and music of Zen Pinball is excellent.  Each table has a distinct theme and soundtrack that complements them well.  The game supports custom soundtracks also, so playing a game to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” is all too possible.

The game also gives the ability to access any table’s operation control.  The amount of balls, time length  of the ball save and angle of the table can be adjusted.  The game also gives you exact control over the events of a table including how long a special mode or event lasts, and will even allow you to test each individual light.

If you’re connected to the PSN, then the game will upload your high scores to an online leaderboard so you can compare then to your friends as well as the rest of the world to see how your rank.   Since the essence of pinball is a score chase, this becomes fun to look at as you watch your high scores be ranked with hundreds of thousands of others players.

The game also supports online multiplayer with up to four players.  The available game has each player playing simultaneously  competing to reach a goal.  Unlimited balls are available and penalties can be added for challenge.  During a Multiplayer game, each time a ball is lost, a percentage of the score will be lost as the penalty.  This can be set at 0%, 5%, 10%, 25%, 50% and 100% and will absolutely encourage the use of ball saves and kickbacks to keep the ball live.

Stock Tables

Zen Pinball comes with 4 tables, with, currently, 6 additional tables being available for purchase. Each table has a different feel and character that sets them all apart from each other.

El Dorado table

The El Dorado table is one of the easier table on Zen Pinball.  It has a Indiana Jones/ Uncharted feel with a jungle theme and treasure hunting.  This is a very high scoring and feature rich table and ball saves are easy to produce.  It is a table with several ramps, a skeleton that you can fight and a large totem pole near the top of the table.  Multi-balls can be performed in a variety ways and several mini-games found on the table uses two or more balls.  This is the table for beginners as it is very forgiving, yet when all the secrets are found, then scores in the billions can be reached.  This is also the playable table on the Demo that is available.

V12 table

This table is the lowest scoring table of the collection.  It is designed around the engine of a car and features several mini-game including a small table within the table.  This table, on the other hand, isn’t very fun to play and high scores are very difficult.  This table is pretty much the one that is avoided the most.

Shaman table

The Shaman table has a witch-doctor theme and features three of them in the middle of table.  There is a clear ramp that leads to an upper section that allows you to change the natural disaster that will be performed.  It features several big ramps that can be hit in rapid succession for point, as well as casing spells.  It’s a fun table with some very difficult shots, but are very rewarding if you can pull them off.

Tesla table

The Tesla table is the most technical of the stock tables.  It’s based on Nikola Tesla, the inventor and engineer from the turn of the century whose work on electromagnetism helped build the AC technology we use today.  The Tesla table features five ramps and a magna-save function, a kickback and ball save.   Even with all this, this table is extremely challenging yet still fun.

Extra Tables

Mars Table

This table is the only table that has different ball physics.  The table has a outer space theme complete with a space shuttle and a robot spider.  The primary physics make the ball a little bit more floaty on this table when compared to the others.  This table, though, features events that are not possible on a real table, like a space ship flying down over your shoulder as well as an anti gravity mode where the balls fly off the table for a period of time.  This table is fantastic.

Excalibur

This table has a King Arthur theme.  It features a joust mini-game, a dueling mini-game, a huge sword and a wizard that constantly badgers you on how good or bad you play.   Getting big scores on this table is possible, but very difficult.  Excalibur has tons of ways to score big points but counters that with multiple outlanes that are hard to protect.   This table will frustrate most, but the mini-games, music and sound effects keep the table interesting and rewarding.

Earth Defense table

This table is themed after a alien invasion of robots.  It has a very large robot with a cannon for an arm at the top of the table that will proceed to disrupt the path of the ball adding a major element of randomness to this table.  It is a ramp heavy low scoring table that has a ball save that’s nearly impossible to activate. It is a fun table to watch, but very punishing.

Paranormal table

The Paranormal table is a Sci-Fi 1940′s detective theme that features a grand total of 10 flippers.  It also has a haunted house mini-game, the loch-ness monster and a rotating cube.  This table is very feature full and interesting.  The cube is a mini-game it’s self.  Each side of the cube features a different pattern that represent a bonus and type of multi-ball that can be triggered.  Some of the sides have odd placed holes that take good timing triggering a magnet to swing the ball into a desired direction.  The haunted house features little rooms with flippers and targets.  It’s nearly vertical so the ball falls fast, yet completion of it leads to big points.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma II table

Based on the PS3 title, the table features Ryu Hayabusa as a large character standing on the right.  Ryu and his opponent Genshin fight on at the top of the table with pretty cool animations.  The ramps on this table curve a lot, adding to the ninja feel of it.  It can be very hard to see the ball over the black and red background, but regardless of that, this table is one of the best that is offered.

Street Fighter II Tribute table

This table is not a re-creation of the original arcade Street Fighter II table but, funny enough, has a similar color theme.  It features a car to destroy, Akuma to fight and a lot of ramps.  This table seems to have less targets than many of the others but amazing ramp work here can quickly and easily lead to a multi-ball and super jackpots.

Conclusion

Zen Pinball is an excellent game, offering a great assortment of pinball tables.  Non of the tables are easy by any stretch of the imagination, but basic pinball techniques go a long way to posting a good score.  The gameplay is solid, the soundtracks are fitting, and the tables are fun and addictive.  It is a great game that I recommend for all PS3 users who have even just a little fun while playing arcade pinball.

Rating: