Zen Studios has been primarily developing pinball games since the developer was founded in 2007. Their latest free-to-play Pinball FX has been released on all current and next-gen consoles. We’ve been hitting virtual balls for a while and came up with our Pinball FX PS5 review to see if there’s anything new and noteworthy this time around.
Shiny layers of paint
Pinball FX represents a reboot of the series that started life on Xbox 360 in 2007. This pinball simulator has been rebuilt using Unreal Engine 4, which means 4K support and more realistic physics than ever before. At this point, however, the physics involved in pinball games have almost been perfected, as consoles have had more than enough power to calculate the physics involved with enough precision for at least the last generation or so. However, using this engine means that ray tracing is available on the PS5, which is disabled by default. A simple visit to the settings menu allows the player to choose between a performance or graphics quality mode, although in practice it will be difficult to tell the difference between the two modes. Whichever mode you choose, the game runs smoothly, stutter-free, no matter how crowded a particular table gets.
Naturally, the PS5’s fast SSD means each table loads in just seconds. In fact, the longest loading time is when you first launch the game, because the game seems to register with Zen Studios’ servers, or seems to wait for a process before allowing you to continue playing their tables. . The DualSense controller is used for vibration, and that’s the console-specific area of use.
Pinball FX controls are very simple. The right stick controls the plunger on the table, and you can vary how hard the ball is thrown by tilting the stick slightly back instead of all the way down. The cross button can also be used on tables that have a single cast speed, or to make in-game mission decisions, as most tables include it. Any button or side trigger can be used to use the shutters, without using the adaptive triggers (it wouldn’t really make sense here, since you need the shutter to react as soon as you press it). The left analog stick can be used to nudge the table, of course, doing this too often will cause most tables to crash. Triangle switches between eight built-in views, plus a special manual camera option that allows the player to adjust the height of the camera to whatever level they find most useful.
A mode for every mood
For each table, you have the choice between several modes. There’s the classic, which awards you three balls to start, as you try to score as many runs as possible before you run out of tries. An arcade mode allows you to use power-ups, including time slowdowns or certain actions that earn more points. An active power-up can be used with the square button, while two passive abilities influence table behavior, such as extending the time before a combo opportunity expires. Hotseat allows up to four players to compete against each other, while a practice mode grants you a full hour of free play time to hone your skills as much as you can. Four other modes limit your game based on the number of throws, time, distance or number of balls.
There are also a few online options, such as tournaments, which are real-time competitive matches where everyone tries to score the most points in a limited amount of time, a certain number of tries, or a combination of both. You can easily create your own tournament using a table you own in just a few steps. There is also an Events tab, which offers seasonal challenges on free and premium tables. Each day you have a certain number of attempts to achieve a goal on a table. Complete it and you’ll be rewarded with one or more coins, which are used to track progress and earn limited-time unlocks, such as collectibles or items to customize your player banner.
Tables are selected from a basic main menu, in a customizable special room. Each table has various collectibles that can be earned by reaching various milestones on that table’s list of goals. These are usually small figures related to the game, such as a Sheriff Star Badge or Stagecoach model from the included free Wild West Rampage table, or a Mysterio figure from the Spider-Man table. They’re surprisingly well-detailed thumbnails, and every time the game runs in the main menu, it cycles through two different camera angles so you can see some of the stuff you’ve placed.
dubious monetization
One point of contention that longtime Zen Pinball fans may have is the game’s inability to import previously purchased tables. It’s just not an option in Pinball FX, with Zen Studios stating, “For the new Pinball FX, every table in our library has been remastered, updated, and optimized in Unreal Engine to deliver the best pinball experience to the game. ‘coming.” On the one hand, it is understandable that the transfer of these tables was expensive for the company. But it’s never a good idea to charge a customer twice for the same thing, and that decision is likely to irritate some players.
Another issue that may irritate some can be found in Pinball FX’s monetization scheme. There is a premium currency called Pinball Coins which costs around ten cents each, and naturally they are sold in packs starting with 100 for $9.99 and going all the way up to 1200 for $99.99. These two amounts conveniently match the price of 1-month and 12-month subscriptions to Pinball Pass, respectively. This is a season pass by another name and grants the player unlimited play at almost all tables – Indiana Jones and Marvel tables are not included and must be purchased separately. The good news here is that these coins can only be redeemed for the Pinball Pass, as each table or table pack can be purchased with normal fiat currency and you won’t have to worry about having leftover change. of an amount which is not. enough to buy nothing else.
Pinball FX is a premier pinball game with inherent growth issues as development platforms evolve. Having to buy back your favorite tables is a hassle, but considering they represent the best versions of dozens of tables, it’s good value for money overall. The Pinball Pass is Zen Studios’ first attempt at something akin to a season pass, but luckily it’s not mandatory and you can just purchase tables of your choice with regular money. The base game is still going strong, and hopefully Zen Studios will support Pinball FX on the next generation of consoles.
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8.0 |
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