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Review: Pinball FX2 “Age of Ultron” DLC table

Unless you are living under a rock, or don’t have electricity (in which case, how are you reading this?) you know that the latest Marvel Avengers movie,  Age of Ultron, releases next week. As such, the folks at Zen Studios put their unique pinball spin on it. Being that I haven’t seen the movie yet, it’s hard for me to know exactly how true to the source material it is, but in all honesty it doesn’t matter all that much. Like the “Avengers” table from a couple of years ago, it tells a story while making sure all the big names we expect have appearances.

In this latest table, Iron Man creates Ultron to help keeps things in order when the Avengers can’t be there. Things go bad in a hurry; Ultron seeks to destroy pretty much everything and the Avengers have to stop him.

Here’s the thing: I’m not a comic guy. I have only ever had a passing interest in super heroes. I barely know who Black Widow is, I have no idea who Vision is, I vaguely know who Hawkeye is, and I know a little about the likes of Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. Even with that said, I was able to understand — rather quickly — what was going on and what I needed to do to fix it. That’s something pretty special when you consider we are talking about a pinball table, something that doesn’t offer the best avenue for a compelling narrative or a deep engaging story. But, that’s exactly what this table does.

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I’ve said before, and I’ll keep saying it, the most important thing about any pinball table is how much fun is it to just hit the ball around. Not yet being concerned with high scores, missions, skill shots, spinners, and sink holes. The answer to that is, it’s ridiculous amounts of fun.  There are a few elements that are close to past tables for instance; the left side loop back is reminiscent of the “Spider-man” table, the center Thor sink hole reminds me of the “Star Wars Episode IV” table, and right side reminds me of a combination of the “Ninja Gaiden” and “X-Men” tables. Yet, at no time did I ever get the “been there done that” feeling. It’s packaged in a way that made it all seem new and interesting.

If you want to go after the story and missions, there is a lot to do. It wouldn’t be an Avengers theme if you didn’t have to assemble the team. Each hero requires you to hit a specific shot in a set amount of time. Once nice addition, and a way to appeal to more players, is Zen Studios added a difficulty slider to the table: Easy, Medium, and Hard. You can select it at the start of the match. Easy gives you more time for those precision shots, while hard gives you less time, but also changes the pitch of the table making it faster. Faster also means higher scoring though, but holy crap the ball comes back to the flippers fast. You need to be on top of your game for that difficulty. There are several character specific missions as well, Hulk vs Iron Man, Thor repelling an attack with his hammer, and Black Widow trying to get information while you distract Ultron. There is no shortage of things to do. Even after spending a couple hours on the table I am still finding things and opening new story missions. It’s crazy how much they have packed into one table.

The sound effects and music are top notch. In particular, the Hulk versus Iron Man battle is well done. The music fits well and changes during missions to give a different more urgent feel. Sadly, the table’s voice acting doesn’t keep to the same level of quality. I realize Zen can’t get the blockbuster movie actors to do voice-over stuff, and that’s fine, but there are a few instances where the actors hired really fall flat. Most of the issues centre on Iron Man’s dialogue and the dodgy filter used to make it sound as if he’s talking from inside his helmet. It just didn’t work well for me.

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Aside from that, this table has already cemented itself in my top three favourite tables for Pinball FX2. It’s really that good. From the overall table layout to the variety of missions, there is something here for every level of pinball fan. From new players to grizzled veterans, everyone should be able to enjoy it. To me that’s the mark of a great table, one that any skill level can play and enjoy. This will defintiely be one of the tables that will be my go-to recommendations when discussing Pinball FX2 with friends. For the measly price of $3 USD, there’s no reason not to give it a shot.

Pinball FX2‘s “Age of Ultron” DLC table was reviewed using a promotional code on Xbox One, as provided by the publisher.

 

Review: Pinball FX2 ‘Age of Ultron’ DLC table
9 out of 10

The good

  • Overall table layout is top notch.
  • Great mission variety.
  • Approachable for all skill levels.

The bad

  • Off-putting voice acting.

Want to know more about our scoring scale?


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About the author

Andy Gray

From the frozen land of Minnesota, I was the weird kid that begged my parents for an Intellivision instead of an Atari. My love for gaming has only grown since. When I’m not gaming I enjoy ice hockey and training dogs. I’m still trying to get my Elkhound to add to my Gamerscore though, one day this will happen.