Zen Pinball on PSN -- Orgasmic Pinball Delight

Bamelin

http://www.zenpinball.com/ <--- Movie and table features here


From the makers of Pinball FX (XBLA) I believe, and considered to be the sequel. Cost is 9.99 and available on the Playstation Network.


Features:

All you pinball fans can breathe easy, PlayStation Network is finally getting some pinball arcade action! ZEN Studios is extremely excited to announce that after all the long hours and hard work we finally wrapped up development for ZEN Pinball and have confirmed the release date for May 14, 2009.

In case you haven’t heard, Zen Pinball not only brings some intense pinball action, but it comes packed with options including several in-game missions, head-to-head online bouts and multi-day worldwide tournaments. In addition, we included a solid offering of four tables in the initial download with more to come as DLC after launch. As far as we are concerned, this is pretty much the Ferrari of pinball games. We suggest you check out the trailer to get a better visual of the game.

Day 1 for me, I put a zillion hours into PinballFX.

Viscountalpha

I don't have a ps3. I won't be able to afford one for a few more years. This looks much better then pinball FX. The real question is, how does it feel though?

Cantido

Yeeeessss. Now that's a motherfucking table.

Djiem

How many tables?

korodullin

Bamelin wrote: »

In addition, we included a solid offering of four tables in the initial download with more to come as DLC after launch.

Djiem

korodullin wrote: »

Bamelin wrote: »

In addition, we included a solid offering of four tables in the initial download with more to come as DLC after launch.

Holy shit, I feel stupid now. I actually read the full OP and somehow missed that.

korodullin

If it makes you feel any better, I missed it my first time reading the OP too.

Ah_Pook

man that looks really good. and i love pinball games anyway.

yea i guess i should buy this huh.

Bamelin

Made the four tables thing more visible

I really want this. Also toying with the idea of Star Trek DAC despite the hate from alot of folks. I've heard it's actually not that bad ...

Bamelin

Another table pic (stolen from thread at GAF):

The Reverend Dr Galactus

Oh, man. I don't really even know why, but I have a special place in my heart for virtual pinball games. Oddly enough it probably has less to do with any nostalgia for actual pinball tables than it does nostalgia for Epic Pinball. Though nostalgia aside, there's something wonderful about an intricately crafted device (real or virtual) with so much built-in, physics-based gameplay.

Either way, I pretty much have to get this.

Ah_Pook

The Reverend Dr Galactus wrote: »

Oh, man. I don't really even know why, but I have a special place in my heart for virtual pinball games. Oddly enough it probably has less to do with any nostalgia for actual pinball tables than it does nostalgia for Epic Pinball.

man, i sunk so much time into epic pinball in my younger days. so much time. that game was awesome.

also i bought this after playing a quick round of the demo. cant wait to get some hot pinball action going.

Bamelin

I also just purchased and I am installing as we speak.

Can't really play tonight as I have work in the morning, but this weekend Zen Pinball and Sacred 2 will own my soul.

DoctorArch

How was PinballFX for XBLA? I never picked it up because of the middling reviews it got.

Also, fellow pinball freaks, GOG now has Timeshock, Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey available for 5.99 a piece.

Ah_Pook

theres a pretty awesome nikola tesla themed table in this. just sayin.

bsjezz

if this is good i will buy it immediately

any impressions?

Bamelin

I played a little bit last night. Presentation is very slick, tables are awesome.

If you like pinball this game is a no brainer and will provide hours of fun. I haven't explored the online tournament options yet but I'm looking forward to seeing how this works tonight.

I can't decide if I like PinballFX or this better. The tables are designed better in Zen Pinball I think, graphically it feels slightly more animated.

Regardless at 10 bucks for four tables you can't go wrong.

El Fantastico

I like El Dorado the most (easiest to get the save ball lit up) then Shaman, then Tesla, and V12 is the lamest design theme for a table in my opinion. The in-game music on all the tables is pretty good, but even better is that you can load up your own media to play.

Curious now to see what kind of future tables will be included as DLC. With the exception of V12 (personal choice), the tables are solid offerings on neat themes without using licenses for tv shows/movies the bulk of pinball games in the past 15 years have been doing. I can't remember the last time I played a pinball game that wasn't a tv show, movie, celebrity endorsed or based on a boardgame :P

greeble

Yeah V12 is my least favorite. (It seems that V12 doesn't even have an "LCD display", unless I turned mine off by accident). Going to try the multiplayer tonight, even got a camera hooked up so people can see my fat ass.

Kastanj

I want to do it with this game, from the looks of it.

I remember Big Race USA and timeshock! as being on the money on ball physics - how does this game fare?

El Fantastico

The ball feels "heavy" I guess. Like if you tap the flipper, the physics for the ball feel right with just the right amount of weight. It's been a while since I've played a live pinball game and I can't remember if the "heavy ball" feels like it really should, but it definitely works for this game. All of the boards also have magnetized sections that alter the ball's path. El Dorado has one right in the center above the ball pit which often works out for you to get it hit by one of your flippers.

kdrudy

This is a very fun game so far. Still trying to figure out which view I prefer for the game, probably 2 or 3 at this point, 1 just doesn't give a good idea of what is going on up top. I've played a bunch with Tesla so far and am digging it.

fragglefart

As someone who finally got around to buying the very good Pinball FX just two days ago, I hope this comes to XBLA very soon, but not too soon.

slurpeepoop

I have always strongly disliked pinball, only because i was that guy who could put a quarter into a pinball machine, shoot the first ball, and have it go straight down the middle. Undaunted, I would shoot the second ball, only to have it hit one of those bumpers up top, and then go straight down the middle.

Guess where the third ball would end up 5 seconds after I shot it?

However, in video game pinball, my luck has always been better. I played the ever-loving crap out of the SNES game with the pirate and joker tables (and there were a couple others as well), and I loved the Empire Pro Pinball games on the PSX.

This looks like a big jump from those games.

I think I'll try the 360 original version first.

brynstar

Wow, I had no idea that this was the sequel to Pinball FX. My interest went from "hmm maybe I'll check it out" to "I'll download the demo tonight!"

ChewyWaffles

Bought. Played. Loved. I just wish I had the time to learn each of the tables better. Sometimes I'll get a 5 million point addition to my score and have no clue why. Currently ranked 88 on V12

jclast

This is getting bought when I get home. I love pinball, and ZEN did a great job on Pinball FX for XBLA.

Ah_Pook

man im loving the hell out of this game. i suck pretty hard at it though. i have only ever successfully completed one experiment on the tesla table, and none of the events on any of the other tables. going to be a long trip to getting those trophies.

but yea this game is fun as crap. add me for high score comparison purposes if you wanna.

Cantido

Just bought it, and I love it! A few thoughts.

I'm all about views 2 and 3. I need to see everything that's going on in the board. The scoring system seems very conservative. It took me a few minutes just to get a million points on any board. Most real tables give you a million points for blinking your eyes. This still works just fine.

Tesla is my favorite. It really looks amazing and has a lot going on in the table, and...it's a fucking Tesla themed pinball table. I'm not too crazy about the two jungle tables, Shaman and El Dorado. But El Dorado could easily have been an Uncharted table!

Which brings me to this. The DLC needs to make some Sony themed tables. Uncharted? Ratchet & Clank? Jak and Daxter? Yes please

Bamelin

I like the Telsa table alot. Really all the tables are fantastic. I have to say this is the best 10 bucks I've spent on PSN in awhile.

If any of you are thinking about it, download the demo and I think you will be convinced. I didn't even bother getting the demo myself ... PinballFX was such an awesome game that this was a no brainer.

I am however tempted to turn off the animated "tail" on the ball ...

Cantido

Bamelin wrote: »

I like the Telsa table alot. Really all the tables are fantastic. I have to say this is the best 10 bucks I've spent on PSN in awhile.

If any of you are thinking about it, download the demo and I think you will be convinced. I didn't even bother getting the demo myself ... PinballFX was such an awesome game that this was a no brainer.

I am however tempted to turn off the animated "tail" on the ball ...

The trails help me watch the ball, yet they are tacky at the same time.

I suck at this game. Fuck.

The Reverend Dr Galactus

Why can't I stop playing this despite being so bad at it?

And I'm still only on the demo. Seriously, this is a nice demo, like back in the shareware days.

Cantido

Can anyone explain a Death Save? In the introduction video in Help and Options, the player's ball fell into a gutter, so he held the flipper and the ball rolled back up from underneath it to the opposite flipper. (This is not a kickback.)

El Fantastico

All the table launch skill shots are much more difficult than a regular pinball game's. I haven't quite yet figured out if El Dorado's is holding the left flipper at launch (100,000 pts) and then timing the ball's pit release with the upper flipper for the 500,000 (the video display shows a white water raft segment). Once in a while, that same shot is worth 2,000,000. And then it steadily decreases (2mil, 500K, 100K, 10K, 1K, 100, 10, 1)

Pastee

I've been playing computer pinball games since I bought Epic Pinball for my 386. I've owned Silverball, Extreme Pinball, Balls of Steel, the Pro Pinball series (Timeshock/Big Race USA/Fantastic Journey/(I forget the fourth one)) and Addiction Pinball for the "Worms" table.

I was happy they brought a pinball game to the PS3. I was REALLY happy after I downloaded it. If you like computer pinball, you need to grab this. If you don't like computer pinball (but like regular pinball), you need to try this.

Up until now, I had yet to find a pinball game/table that topped the Pro Pinball collection (Big Race USA to be specific). I had the Williams Classics disk but I felt that paled in comparison.

I am happy as a clam with Zen Pinball. The online mode can be frustrating, but that's more because I'm not used to be schooled than anything else. The whole "points per second" scoring is a slight turn off to me, but I can see why they did it. You really have to try on some tables to lose the ball.

Anyhoo.... Great game, great mechanics, great tables (Tesla is my favorite, reminds me of "Fantastic Journey") promise of more great tables, 10$, and a reality check on how much I really suck at pinball. Who could ask for more?

Bolthorn

Enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would. Downloaded it Friday and played it with a friend and my wife for a few hours. Had a little bit of competition going on, all in good fun.

I had an urge to go out and play some pinball awhile back, and this game has somewhat helped with the urge.

scrivenerjones

I will probably buy this but am fully prepared for it to awaken long-dormant range about never being able to finish building that stupid blue android >:[

Cantido

El Fantastico wrote: »

All the table launch skill shots are much more difficult than a regular pinball game's. I haven't quite yet figured out if El Dorado's is holding the left flipper at launch (100,000 pts) and then timing the ball's pit release with the upper flipper for the 500,000 (the video display shows a white water raft segment). Once in a while, that same shot is worth 2,000,000. And then it steadily decreases (2mil, 500K, 100K, 10K, 1K, 100, 10, 1)

Tesla's skill shot is abysmally easy!

If you look at the plunger, you can see a diagonal decorative line. Put the plunger almost completely covered by that line but not all the way. You'll get a skill shot every time.

Bamelin

I'm also finding the telsa table pretty easy ... but I like it alot.

Cantido

For some reason, I thought this game had custom soundtracks. I was going to put some Uncharted songs in El Dorado.

That's actually my worst table. Whether I hit the idol or not, it sends the ball right into a Ball Out. I can't get that part right.

Ah_Pook

Cantido wrote: »

For some reason, I thought this game had custom soundtracks. I was going to put some Uncharted songs in El Dorado.

it does have custom soundtracks