Review: Marvel Pinball (Pinball FX 2 Version)

Publisher/Developer: Zen Studios
Platforms: Xbox 360(reviewed), PS3
Price: $10 

It's been less than 2 months since Zen Studios released their fantastic Pinball FX 2 to the world and they've already made good on their promise of releasing new tables for the platform. Marvel Pinball is a pack of 4 tables featuring popular heroes and villains from Marvel's long line of comics and movies. Each of the four tables is focused around a single hero and also features appearances from some that hero's popular villains.

The four tables on display are Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Blade and each table features great art that often looks like it could've been taken right out of a comic book. In fact, on Blade's machine, the 2D table art looks just like real comic pages and covers! All 4 tables also include quite a few 3D models of signature characters, buildings, and other objects. Each table also features all new dot matrix display animations that are often very elaborate. The tables also have great lighting and effects. The Blade table even features a day and night cycle.

One of the most interesting things about Marvel Pinball is the way it takes quite a step back from reality. Each table has multiple 3D characters and they are often not represented by the typical nailed to the board, stiff animatronics of real pinball tables. These characters are completely independent of any realistic movement restriction and will often move around all over the table when triggered in various ways. For example, Doctor Octopus will climb and the Green Goblin will fly, both on Spider-Man's table. There are also other little effects such as your flippers being reversed and balls glowing or lighting on fire that make this pack feel a lot less realistic than an average table. The pack seems to just have a lot more whimsy to it than real tables and that feeling fits in well considering the fantastical nature of comic books in general.

The developers have also done a great job theming the action of each table to the corresponding hero. The various missions on each table represent the hero well and are typically the types of things they would be doing if they were out doing their super hero thing. Spider-Man takes pictures for his boss, web swings on curvy ramps, deals with the Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs, fights off Mysterio's poison gas and makes out with Mary J. Wolverine fights sentinels, has a yearly battle with Sabertooth, bonds to his adamantium, and puts his healing factor into effect. Iron Man suits up to fight Whiplash and The Mandarin but also worries about his stock prices as Tony Stark. Blade builds up his strength by day and fights vampires at night. Blade also has a cash system, allowing you to earn money to upgrade his abilities.

The one area that Marvel Pinball may feel weird to a lot of people is the audio. There is a ton of voice acting in each table but none of it is from the Hollywood actors that portrayed the characters in the movies. The generic gruff voices for Blade and Wolverine seem fine but not having Robert Downey Jr. or Toby Maguire could be really awkward for people who only really know the characters from their big screen appearances. This will probably not really a big deal for fans that have read the comics or have watched the various animated productions through out the years though since they have more investment in the characters than the actors.

Marvel Pinball on Xbox 360 is a downloadable pack for the already released Pinball FX 2 which means it has all the same great features. online and offline multi-player, operator modes, integrated leaderboards and high score tracking are available on every table. When it comes down to it, Marvel Pinball is just more great pinball for fans of Pinball FX 2 or any other Zen Studios pinball game. Fans of the Marvel properties will have an even deeper appreciation for these tables but any fan of good virtual pinball will still feel right at home.