Quick Look: Zen Pinball 2 (PS4)

So the tables need more folie noise? Huh... that might be a fun job.

Is this going to be on xbox one? Pinball games get so much attention from me whilst waitning for my wife to get ready to go out.

With the first table I did, with the green background and brown casing it seemed to blend together with a mesh of color in the middle.

There's not enough shaking. That's what it looks like. I feel like whenever I play some kind of pinball, there's some sort of shaking.

Just putting it out there, Enigma from Epic Pinball was a great unrealistic table.

Yeah I agree 100% with Jeff on his basic criticism of these games.. I could never get into them, while I obsessed with Pinball Arcade, and it's definitely down to ball physics and feedback. All I could think of while watching this was how badly I wanted to go play Theatre of Magic or Arabian Nights.

Can't wait for another dota ql. oh... wait.

I'm calling it now. The Millenium Falcon explodes before the title scroll. Also, Eric Bana is an Imperial Grand Admiral.

@crazycraven: I had to remember my password just to get back on the site and agree with your wisdom! Yes!

Iron Man?

Epic Quest is an awesome table. It's the only one I keep going back to.

What's so dangerous about owning a pinball machine?

@jeff Have you every tried Flipnic for the PS2? It tries to do some weird things with pinball tables. Still probably not crazy enough, but certainmy more than PinballFX.

5:45 "This voice acting of questionable quality" - Jeff

"Yeah, the voice acting's not great." Brad

Er, but they're samples from the movies? Can't really get more authentic than that...

@onan:

Errr…. no they're not.

@digitalrailgun said:

Well they're totally 100% direct quotes from the movie. Maybe they had to redub them for some reason but that seems incredibly unlikely.

You can pick any line you want and search through the script if you don't believe me.

http://www.ssonlineuniverse.net/starwars/ROTJScript.shtml

Edit: After rewatching that section and listening for it, the voices do sound extremely off. So either it is a redubing or they edited the audio in a way to make it sound really crappy.

I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and French Captain Solo

Revenge of the Gator had different screens to represent the top, middle, and bottom of a large pinball table...and then went complete video game with two additional tables "above" the main one. It was a pretty awesome Gameboy game.

IRON MAAAAN, a lot like CASTLEVANIA, JUDGEMENT.

Regarding physics, I recently installed Pro Pinball (Fantastic Journey) which is/was THE standard for PC pinball, and I personally cannot tell the difference. But, Williams Pinball Hall of Fame is easily the best Pinball game out there.

Gotta admit, this whole video is just screaming "Complaining: The Quick Look" to me. I know the guys are super opinionated about a lot of topics, but the level at which the negativity levels rose here... Makes me wonder why they even looked at this game at all.

So, when does "NEXT-GEN" begin?

Odama screwed around in the Pinball space, didn't hit with an audience, but at least was willing to throw out the notion of the table and do something wierd.

Fear Itself is also high on the sound effects, and it is definitely among my favorite tables from them. I think the whole Avengers Chronicles set was Zen's high water mark. Infinity Gauntlet is also brilliant, although I honestly hate some of the more extreme stuff they did with it (like the inverted machine Infinity Gem) -- I don't think that's a failing on Zen's part, though. I'm just awful at the game. Fear Itself had the Mjolnir/Serpent minigame, which is basically a Breakout clone with the physics style.

Pokemon Pinball was and still is the greatest virtual pinball game.

looks cool, I just can't get into these virtual pin ball games unfortunately

Don't forget the Sierra 3D Ultra Pinball games, either! Those were pretty damned awesome, and honestly more over the top than anything Zen's done by a long shot.

Judgement.

Judgement. Castlevania, Judgement.

Castlevania.............JUDGEMENT.

Kirby's pinball on Gameboy was amazing. Damn I had forgotten about that game.

Fully agree with Jeff on the sound design thing, it's baffling why Zen doesn't just add more table noises (especially on the star fighters table). It's not like the triggers aren't already there, the lights on the table flash and react to everything the ball is doing like it should. They just need to hook sound clips to them. I don't know if it's a cost thing or file size thing or whatever, but it needs to be addressed. I think alot of the tables are quite good otherwise.

I am still waiting for something like Sonic Spinball to come out again. By far my absolute favorite unrealistic pinball game.

Brad, you realize all action sequences are CG these days? Who gives a crap if they are old, we have computers to fix that.

Not to mention they are actors, they have nothing to do all day but exercise before a role.

It's unfortunate that they didn't bring over some of the more expressive tables from the PS3/VITA version. Most of the licensed tables are plagued by lines and sfx from the movies that are often misplaced.

A lot of their original tables are solid and vibrant. Paranormal has a lot happening, and does some neat stuff within the realm of realistic pinball tables. Infinity Gauntlet is also good, as well as Moon Knight and Civil War.

I think there are a few easy tables, like Ms. Splosion Man, but I think a fair number of tables are also difficult. V12 and Tesla are some fantastic tables on their own with lots of sfx, and there also tough as nails.

If you want a heavier ball, adjust the table like was done in the Quick Look. The ball will definitely be heavier. And those adjustments aren't part of a "Pro Pack". They come with every table.

I played the free table of Pinball Arcade, and it had what seemed like the same amount of sound effects as most of the tables in Zen. It was also an intensely easy table, and the physics didn't necessarily seem to make things any harder. I knocked out 40 million on my first time on the table, after letting my ball drop on purpose because I didn't want to play anymore.

I'm sure that table is a little easier to draw people in, but all the same, I think some of the criticisms laid against Zen Pinball only apply to a few of the recent licensed tables, and can also be applied to a potion of tables in Pinball Arcade. Not every table in either game is amazing, but there are some that are.

@goldanas: I think pinball arcade rotates which table(s) are free, so it won't always be the same. They are all real tables afaik.

Great to see some next gen pinball attention for the new consoles. After getting through the process of moving I'm looking forward to the choice of which of the new consoles to get first if I have extra $.

about the tables not making enough noise....well, it is called ZEN pinball....so i guess they at least stay true to the name :')