Pinball FX Review
Summary: The ever evolving Pinball FX is back with the third iteration and lots of fun!
4.5
Flipper Fun
Pinball is one of those constants. You go to an arcade and there’s usually a bunch of pinball machines, go to a pool hall or bowling alley and chances are there are one or two there also. For me at least it’s one of those activities that I will never be particularly good at… but I enjoy engaging in all the same.
Pinball FX takes the successes of the previous generations and adds more options and visual quality to the mix. The main thing that stood out to me was the tournament mode. Users can create their own tournaments and challenge people from around the world. It was always interesting to see where you sat on the global score rankings… but now you can take part in more specific challenges. I’m not hyper competitive so I was never interested in aiming for top spot… but it’s still kind of fun to play a table… see where you land in the rankings and then play again to try and improve that position. Naturally for those really competitive players you can of course try and take out the top spot… but for those of us more interested in a bit of casual fun there’s a lot to enjoy here.
Pinball Pass is a nice new feature too… you can use your in game coins to purchase Pinball Pass which grants you access to most tables and unlocks game modes for a certain amount of time… this is a great way to get a feel for some of the tables that you might want to purchase (the franchise tables are a lot of fun).
As with previous versions, when you play an authentic table you get a little bit of history about that game… it’s a nice touch and I’m sure it’s appreciated by the big Pinball fans. The benefit/difference of digital pinball over real of course is that the digital versions of tables can enhance the playing experience with features that are just not possible in the real world (characters flying around the table etc).
Back on that topic of franchise tables… the voice acting quality is generally very good, to the point that on some tables I’d almost think they just grabbed audio from the movies. Others perhaps not so spot on… but overall the samples/voice work do a lot to make you feel like you are standing in an arcade/pool hall/bowling alley playing a fun game of pinball.
As I mentioned early on… I’m not particularly good at pinball… I’m probably the sort of player that professionals hate… ie I mostly just mash the flippers and hope for the best… but I enjoy watching the ball bounce around lighting up letters and triggering events regardless of whether there’s any skill involved. If you enjoy pinball in either a casual or serious manner… it’s hard to go past Pinball FX.
Definitely a recommend!
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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