Zen does it again ... more great Marvel-themed tables at a bargain price!
Just like its predecessor, the original "Marvel Pinball", "Vengeance and Virtue" includes four tables that seamlessly add into the menus of Zen's free "Pinball FX 2" front-end. As before, the package features some of Marvel's best known comics characters. This time, however, there is a bit of a theme to the selections.
Representing the "Vengeance" half of the package are Ghost Rider and Moon Knight. Ghost Rider features jumps and loops inspired by the character's alter ego, stuntman Johnny Blaze, sound effects reminiscent of late 70s and early 80s Williams tables and a spiral skill shot right out of "Pin Bot". Moon Knight has something of a cramped lower playfield, but plenty of ramps and orbits to move the ball around as Marc Spector, the Moon Knight, seeks out the city's evildoers on behalf of his patron god, Khonshu (whose voice sounds more than a little like Mark Hamill's rendition of the Joker).
The two "Virtue" tables, Thor and X-Men, are very mission-focused, where players must activate missions and hit various targets to complete them and advance through the game. The mighty Thor does battle with Frost Giants and Surtur, not to mention his fellow gods Hela and Loki, but has guidance from his father Odin and a relatively simple to earn ball-save feature (along with some hidden and fun trap-doors and magnet-boosted shots). X-Men is as fans would expect, Charles Xavier's X-Men versus Magneto, with us ordinary humans in the middle. Players can use Cerebro to locate members of the X-Men and bring out their latent abilities, which translates as greater scoring options and lots of multi-ball action, to say nothing of Magneto freezing the ball and sending it in a random direction (it is metal, after all).
Again, there's not too much new here other than the tables themselves. Each table has 50 gamerscore to unlock (easy 5-pointer, mid-range 15-pointer, difficult 30-pointer) and its own separate leaderboard. Tables can be played solo, hot-seat or race split-screen or Xbox Live race. Controls are unchanged, and the graphics and audio effects are still superb. Underlying it all is Zen's excellent pinball physics engine, which makes the ball's movements realistic and improve the simulation. Only minor gripe is the flipper noise is a bit louder than in the past, reminiscent of some of the early "Pinball FX" tables ... by far not a deal-breaker and much more a curiosity than anything. And it would behoove Zen to develop a hot-seat Xbox Live patch, giving players a chance to watch, aid or taunt their opponents as they play instead of just racing to a set score.
If you've been keeping track, this brings "Pinball FX 2" up to a total of 10 Marvel tables, counting the original "Marvel Pinball", "Vengeance and Virtue" and the two stand-alone tables for Fantastic Four and Captain America. If these tables are not in your "Pinball FX 2" front-end, you're missing some of the best video pinball ever.