We don’t often get a chance to review DLC. But when the DLC is pretty much the core of the game, well, we owe it to you, dear gamers. In any event, you wouldn’t think that soccer and pinball would mix well, so I’m here to tell you whether this game is scoring hat tricks, or getting red carded for bad behaviour.
Anyone who’s been playing video game pinball lately will be aware of Zen Studio’s Zen Pinball 2/Pinball FX2, since it’s available on just about every gaming device there is. (For anyone not aware of the difference, Zen Pinball 2 is published by Zen Studios themselves, while Pinball FX2 is published by Microsoft Game Studios. FX2 is available on Xbox360 and Steam, while Zen Pinball 2 is for PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, iOS, and Android.) The diverse licensed tables (from Star Wars to Marvel Avengers) have also made it arguably one of the most popular pinball games out there. Which brings us to the new Super League Football table, said to be heavily inspired by the 1994 Midway/Bally World Cup Soccer pinball table. Are we all sitting in the same part of the stadium? Good! On with the review!
When you first download the Super League Football table, you’re given a choice of popular football teams to choose from, including Arsenal, Liverpool FC, AS Roma, AC Milan, FC Barcelona, and Real Madrid CF, among others. You can only choose one team per purchase (and before you purchase, so watch that!), because the people at Zen Studios report sales and earnings to the actual teams themselves. The roster of teams will allegedly be growing as more official football clubs sign on to have themselves represented in this game, so that’s something to look forward to. If you’re not a particularly strong supporter of any of the official clubs, there’s also a default Zen Studios FC to play for, but part of the fun is found in supporting your chosen team. And your team is there in all its glory, complete with crowd team songs, livery, mascots, and so forth. It’s quite heartening, for example, to see Liverpool FC playing at Anfield and having the crowd be singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. If you’re a football fanatic (like my wife is), you’ll find yourself singing along to the anthems. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find out just how much work had gone into the Zen Studios FC, because they even had their own anthem being sung in the background.
The table’s progression is divided into a season’s series of matches against other teams. If you can manage to keep the ball going through to full time, you’ll head through to the next match of the season. This progress is saved between games, thankfully. To go into a little more detail here, there are two counters on the lower end of the table, one for the match time and one for the pass-meter (the table’s combo system). Keep running the ball up ramps and scoring combos, and you’ll remain in (virtual) possession of the ball. Let the pass meter lapse, and the other team gains (once again, virtual) possession of the ball, meaning that you’ll need to hit a series of ramps to get possession back before the timer expires and the opposition scores a goal. Make it through to half-time, and an awesome multiball game stars, allowing you score big as long as you keep two or more balls on the table. This all makes more sense if you’ve actually played some pinball tables, and I honestly suggest you do, even if you only try the demo tables.
The question is, of course, whether the spirit of “futbol” has been captured in a pinball game, and you’re going to love the straight and simple answer: “yes”. The table is wonderfully crafted, complete with tackling, losing possession, half-time, and of course, the glory of the goal. You actually can’t help but be quite excited when you get that ball past the goalie. In fact, there’s a whole special sub-table built just for the act of scoring and defending, and your skills on the main table will determine how easy or difficult it becomes to score a goal. As such, because of the meta-game, you’re going to find it a lot less loose than other tables and far more *ahem* goal directed.
It’s a hard table to fault, especially since I’ve played more than my fair share of Zen Studio’s pinball tables and been exposed to some of the less than perfect ones. As with most of the pinball tables, it takes a while to remember all the rules for playing well and scoring high. It’s about one of the only faults with the game, really: the high learning curve. However, if you’ve played a good number of pinball tables, you shouldn’t be too bothered with getting the rules figured out. The three bumpers around the right side of the table take some skill to navigate around, but it’s clear that the table’s been well crafted and well tested. I can honestly only see two kinds of people not enjoying this game: those who don’t enjoy pinball, and those who don’t think much of soccer and pinball both. And you’re not one of those, are you?
Final Score: 9 Messi prawns out of 10
Detailed Information:
Developer: Zen Studios
Publisher: Zen Studios (Playstation, Android, iOS, Nintendo), Microsoft Studios (Xbox, Steam)
Platforms: Steam (reviewed), Xbox360, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Android, iOS, Nintendo Wii U
RRP: $2.99 (Steam), R30 (PSN). I’m trying to get the prices on other platforms, but expect it to be within that range.
Age Rating: Seriously? This is pinball.
Website: http://www.zenpinball.com/ or http://www.pinballfx.com/