Pinball M by developer and publisher Zen Studios—MicrosoftXbox Series X review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Pinball M is an interesting new property by the masters of
digital pinball, Zen Studios. At first I thought maybe this was just another
reskin of their better known Pinball FX series, but there’s actually plenty of
new things going on with Pinball M that warrant a look for fans of pinball games.
Now, I’ll be honest: I have no idea what the naming
convention here is. Is the “M” for Mature? That seems to be the initial take
given the largely horror-themed stable of tables at play here, though the
Pinball FX stuff had a few more mature themed tables in the past like their
Jaws one as well. Anyway, Pinball M is similar in structure to how a lot of
these pinball games are set up to play. There is a free table you can gain
access to with the framework, and then if you want you can purchase additional
tables as well.
Wrath of the Elder Gods: Director’s Cut is a pretty lengthy
name for the default table that gets packed in here, but it’s a really solid
entry point to the series. It has a solid layout with some fun visuals and
sound effects (even if the latter can get a bit repetitive, but I suppose that’s
true to life of most pinball machines in general). I will say that there’s a
brooding element to the presentation, with clever use of shadows and lighting to
make the tables themselves nice and creepy. That goes for the included game and
the additional tables you can pick up.
In terms of the actual gameplay, it’s pretty much what I’ve
come to expect from digital pinball at this point, especially the Zen Studios
product. Your trigger buttons activate flippers on either side of the table,
you use a button to launch the ball at the beginning of play (including aiming
for those tricky but entertaining potential skill shots that require precise timing
to garner oodles of extra points) and you can ‘tilt’ the machine a bit using
the thumb sticks. However, be careful not to overdo it or the game will end
and you’ll get nothing to show for that round as you default. That being said,
the perfect tap of tilt at the right time can be the difference between a saved
ball or a big shot and a more mundane result. Additionally, you have the ball
physics here, and I’d love to see a more expert player give their thoughts
between the more traditional FX product and this one. To me the ball seems just
a smidge faster here in Pinball M, but maybe that’s just my reflexes letting me
down at times as it nears the flippers as I definitely took a bit longer to
find my groove on these tables than most of the FX ones I’ve played in the
past.
That’s not to say I wasn’t enjoying myself as I learned the
mechanics of the various tables. I did get a chance to play them all. Beyond
the Elder Gods table, you can also purchase Chucky’s Killer Pinball (yup, based
on the angriest redheaded doll in horror history), Duke Nukem’s Big Shot
Pinball (which was focused on fighting aliens and felt the most thematically ‘off’
of the tables), Dead by Deadlight Pinball and The Thing Pinball. That last one
is probably my favorite, both in design and theme. The Thing was one of the
earlier horror movies I ever watched and it’s always been a favorite of mine,
but it was also probably the most open of the tables. One thing I always have
to give Zen Studios credit for is how varied their table designs are, and The
Thing has that open, vertical-heavy style that I really enjoy most.
Dead by Daylight has a bit going on in the middle with lanes
off to the right and left for accessing the more vertical aspects of the table.
The Chucky table felt a bit more squat and horizontal by nature, with a lot of
precise shots needed to access its various ramps and other interactive
features. The Duke Nukem table is the one that came across as the ‘busiest’ of
them to me, with a lot of things you can hit in its somewhat centralized middle
location, including access to a platform in the upper right corner of the
table. All of these tables are a lot of fun, but everyone’s favorite theme and
style of play means that your mileage my vary. I found myself going back to The
Thing the most overall, but I spent hours with each table trying out a variety
of game modes.
That’s another aspect to Pinball M that kept me coming back
for more. There’s daily challenges where you can see how you stack up to the
rest of the community, and you only get so many cracks per day at it. These
challenges assign you a table with a specific type of game mode, such as
acquiring all of the points you can within a certain time, or getting as many
points on a single ball as you can, or seeing how many points you can rack up before
the ball has travelled a specified distance. These are all engaging alternate
ways to play the game, besides the more traditional play until you run out of
balls in pinball mode. There is also a campaign mode for each table, which is just
a more guided version of the various modes above, encouraging you to experience
the tables in a variety of ways while giving you goals to achieve.
As you play the game, you unlock some digital currency you
can use to help customize your experience. Each table has a sort of carved away
space in your digital play room, choosing alternate table skins or changing
lighting options, things of that nature. It’s
a nice touch that gives you some minor tangible rewards for the time you’ve
spent on the tables, each of which I had fun with.
Pinball M feels like a natural evolution or refinement of
the prior Zen Studios Pinball FX games. On the one hand, it’s not a wholesale
change from what’s come before, but it is the most enjoyable version of their
digital pinball to date. The presentation is excellent, the tables are
well-designed and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next for this new
collection of tables.
Score: 8 / 10
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