Zen Studios deserves a lot of credit for bringing pinball back to the fold of interactive entertainment. When the era of arcades gave way to video game consoles, it was easy for players to forget about pinball. High scores became secondary to “beating” games and players have gradually come to recognize K/D ratios as today’s “scores.” With Zen Studios’ pinball efforts, such as the Pinball FX2 and Marvel Pinball projects, the development has merged challenging pinball table designs with consistently improving ball physics to make for some of the best original video pinball experiences ever created. High scores are back.
The Ms. ‘Splosion Man table is Zen Studios’ latest offering for the Pinball FX2 project, and it’s another winner. Based on the Xbox LIVE Arcade game from Twisted Pixel (who developed The Maw, Comic Jumper, and the original ‘Splosion Man), this table offers various missions to complete, a generous combo system for quick scoring, and a multiball feature of up to four balls simultaneously that will challenge even the best pinball players around. The table is accessible for players of all skill levels, and just one good ball can lead to tens of millions of points. This table also boasts some of the best ball physics so far for Zen Studios, and narrows the gap of realism between Pinball FX2 and Farsight Studios’ Pinball Hall of Fame series significantly.
The main objective of the Ms. ‘Splosion Man table is to defeat the Mighty Eternal and save ‘Splosion Man from a fate most foul. Various missions must be completed before a final showdown with the Mighty Eternal comes to pass. These missions are triggered by summoning the Mighty Eternal from his perch along the top of the table, which is done via a specific ramp shot. Once the Eternal’s head pops up in the upper left corner of the table, striking it twice will sink the head and initiate a mission. Most of the missions involve making accurate ramp and orbit shots before the timer runs out, but the most challenging one involves four-ball multiball and striking a certain number of barrels before the balls all drain. Success in this mission will come from focusing on the flippers at the bottom of the screen and working to just keep the balls in play for as long as possible. Finish all of the missions and a bonus multiball mode kicks in with millions of points and the fate of ‘Splosion Man hanging in the balance.
The Mighty Eternal mission set isn’t the only challenge that the Ms. ‘Splosion Man table presents to players. The spiral ramp can trigger big bonuses with repeated shots. Completing all of the letters on the CANNON ramp unlocks a skillshot challenge for more random bonuses. A unique ball capture device, when lit, triggers a rather interesting multiball scenario where up to four balls can be in play with some accurate repeated shots at the ball capture feature. As with many of Zen’s other tables, multiball jackpots are claimed by hitting all of the ramp and orbit shots, which then lights a Super Jackpot shot. Completing that re-lights the jackpot shots and continued accuracy and ball management can lead to huge scores. There are extra balls to be earned and a multiplier of up to 10x which can really inflate end-of -ball bonuses to tens of millions. A combo system rewards continuous shots that hit different orbits or ramps in succession. This is also similar to other tables, but the scoring for completing these shots is much more generous as awards of up to 10 million points can be earned.
The visuals, aesthetics, and design for the Ms. ‘Splosion Man table are all based on the Twisted Pixel game of the same name. There’s a fair amount of pink on this table, but the level of detail is on par with many of Zen Studios’ more recent offerings. The dot-matrix score display shows some basic animations and Ms. ‘Splosion Man herself can be seen jumping from place to place on the table at times. The music and voice samples, as with any table, do get repetitive after a fair amount of play…especially during lengthy scoring sessions. My first effort–which racked up over 400 million points–had me reaching for the mute button after the first half-hour. That’s not necessarily the fault of the sound design, though. Play any pinball machine for over an hour, and it’s almost a certainty that you’ll be wishing you had headphones and music of your own.
Ms. ‘Splosion Man is one of the more forgiving tables for Pinball FX2. Experiences can be streaky, but it feels more possible on this table to have a few good runs than it does on others. This is welcome for newer or less-skilled players, though. Much like Namco’s Galaga Legions DX and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX titles, the focus for players on this table lies more in making accurate shots and scoring well than constantly worrying about “dying” or how many ways the ball can drain. Experience on this table can help to build skills for novice or intermediate players to take to more challenging tables and increase their Superscores and leaderboard standings. An accessible table like this one is a good way for Zen Studios to get more players involved in the Pinball FX2 experience. The downside of an easier table is that the high scores are likely to be ridiculous once more skilled pinball players get their hands on this one. Expect scores in the tens to hundreds of billions within a few weeks at the top of the leaderboard.
Whether you played the actual Ms. ‘Splosion Man game or not, this table is certainly one worth adding to your Pinball FX2 collection. With an asking price of $3, players will get hours of enjoyment, and three relatively easy Achievements from this purchase–not to mention a spike in Superscore and perhaps getting that much closer to the pretty elusive Pinball Wizard robe Avatar Award. Newer players will appreciate the accessibility of the table, which more skilled players will enjoy lighting up the scoreboard and the various missions and challenges.
The Ms. ‘Splosion Man table is, if you’ll pardon the pun, a blast. Buy this one.
GrE Grade: A
Popularity: unranked [?]
