Title: The Pinball (digital and physical) ERA |OT| Full Tilt
Red Text: Nintendo SwitchDON'T BUYDON'T BUYDON'T BUYDONT BUY
We keep getting this question since lots of fresh blood is coming in so I've got a handy little guide for you guys based on my SUBJECTIVE opinion as someone who has been playing Zen tables for years. Feel free to elevate the status of a pack based on your interest in the themes or license. I will be grading these tables based solely on how fun they are to play IMO. The best pack on Switch. A great place to start for anyone. 3 varied tables based on 3 different licenses: Doom, Skyrim & Fallout. In Skyrim your progress on the table carries over from game to game. You create a character, acquire loot, fight monsters, level up and travel to cities and dungeons, trying to get through the main quest of defeating all the dragons. Fallout is similar but progress resets after each game. Doom is my favorite. A fantastic 3 pack of well-designed tables that feature big dinosaurs stomping around. Original voices from the films but no original music. Play the soundtrack from YouTube! This is my 2nd favorite pack on Switch Another great pack of 3 tables. In Aliens you'll play through the events of the film in one of Zen's best tables. Original voices, no original music. In AvP you'll play as a Predator fighting xenomorphs and humans alike. In Alien Isolation you'll act out moments from the game. This is a solid, fun pack. Four tables, of which two are pretty good and two are just okay. I enjoy the Family Guy and Bob's Burgers tables but foubd the American Dad and Archer tables lacking. None of them reach the heights ofnthe best tables described above but this is a decent pack for the asking price. A perfect storm of blandness. Back to the Future leads the pack and has some fun stuff going on, but it's severely hurt by a bland presentation, a lack of licensed music, no licensed actor likenesses and lame sound-alike voice actors. E.T. and Jaws also have the same cons but in addition are just very dull to play. Zen has come a long way since these tables made many years ago. The four tables featured in this pack are very mediocre, especially when compared to the above. Probably the worst pack on Switch. Like Zen Classics, these are pretty old tables. Unlike Zen Classics, two are actually prettt solid. Pasha is actually quite excellent, and Biolab is solid and fun. Unfortunately, secrets of the Deep and Rome are total snoozefests. Still, if you don't care for the Balls of Glory Fox Animation shows this is probably a better buy as a $10 4 -pack. Did I say Zen Classics was the worst pack? Well Sci Fi gives it a run for its money. 3 old Zen tables for $10 rather than 4 makes it one of the worst values. Earth Defense Force is better than any of the tables in Zen Classics, but it's still not a great table. Mars is up there with Rome as one of the most boring tables they've ever made. Paranormal is actually pretty good, better than any of the Classics tables, which is a shame because it's not worth $10 alone. While the priciest of the 2-packs, Carnivals & Legends is also the newest and best. Son of Zeus and Adventure Land are both awesome, with the former having you assist Hercules in his battle against Hera and her minions, and the latter having you run through an amusement park. I love this set and if you downloaded PBFX3 when it first launched on Switch you already got it for free! Another high-quality 2-pack that comes strongly recommended. In Wild West Rampage you'll do battle against outlaws and a corrupt sheriff to protect a town, eventually stopping a train heist. Castlestorm is based on Zen's tower defense game and sports a fun medieval fantasy theme with dragons and castle seiges. This two-pack of older Zen tables is actually not bad. Epic Quest is a great table with persistent character progression like the Skyrim table. Excalibur is a little less exciting but solid none the less and features an Arthurian Legend theme. Based on TellTale's Season 1 of TWD. Another solid game, kind of middle-road. Not bad by any means but not near the top, either. Features original voices and missions based on each episode in which you'll have to make some of the decisions from the game which will impact the way modes play. Based on Portal 2, specifically. This is a combo-heavy table with some tricky shotd as portals will send the ball out to unexpected places. I like this one but it does have a sort of bland look to it. The voices from the game are present which helps. I put it on the same level as The Walking Dead. Wait, this is thetable! It also just so happens to be one of Zen's best! This an older one bit it holds up winderfully. It was also given a new coat of paint for PBFX3, the playfield art being vastly improved. Contains Medieval, Classic, Sci fi packs. As the $5 Medieval pack is the only quality one this is a definite no. Contains: Core, Carnivals & Legends, Iron & Steel packs. If the Core set interests you then this is a pretty good deal! Otherwise you're better off getting the other two packs seperately. You can play in table top or with a single Joy-Con attached. Works on your TV or Monitor, too! for PBFX3 newbies: Go into Settings and disable the guide pop-ups. Annoying! Change Pop-up Score value from 10,000 to 1,000,000 and Major Pop-up Score value from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000. That's much better! You can turn off ball trails, mute annoying voice overs and mute music. Classic Mode means no perks, no gimmicks, but you can still level up perks while playing Classic Mode. Handy for tournaments that DO allow perks, these give a huge advantage! Note: You must level up perks on each table for Pinball Beginners: Don't Double Flip - aka don't press both flippers simultaneously Try to control the ball, try to bring it to a stop on the flippers so you can look at the board and plan your next shot. There are many ways to do this. Pinball is mostly skill, not luck. The board is designed to punish a bad shot with the powers geometry and physics Don't be afraid to use the analog stick to nudge! It can dampen ball momentum and change its trajectory. If you do it too much you'll TILT and lose your ball and bonus points, so be careful! Once you have a feel for the shots on a table its time to examine the playfied to see what you should do. Look at the DMD (Dot-Matrix Display) for hints on what to do during modes. Consider reading the rules of the game! When in doubt, shoot at the flashing lights! Relax, have fun, failure is the stepping stone to success and pinball has a STEEP learning curve! Consider playing real pinball somewhere in your town or city! It's even better!
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