Pinball wizards out there may want to have a look at ZEN Pinball: Rollercoaster [App Store] by ZEN Studios. This iPhone title comes to us from the developers behind the popular XBOX Live Arcade title Pinball FX that’s so realistic its downright scary. While it doesn’t quite live up to its XBOX 360 bretheren, ZEN Pinball is a fun way to while away the time with your iPhone or iPod touch.
ZEN Pinball presents the player with a fairly complex 3D model of a pinball table. The default play mode has the table fixed at a mild angle that affords a nice view its intricacies, but more interesting is an “unlocked" mode that allows the user to adjust the table view angle with the iPhone’s accelerometer. I find this a vastly more appealing way to interact with the game.
Flipper control is handled by the iPhone’s multitouch interface; left and right “buttons" are arrayed at the bottom and top of the screen and offer very satisfactory control. The virtual table can be nudged by shaking the iPhone (it seems impossible to trigger a “TILT," however).
ZEN Pinball‘s sound effects are convincing, thought not to the same degree as big brother Pinball FX. There is a lively music track that’s muted by default. I find it best to leave it that way.
The game’s framerate is solid, if occasionally less than glass smooth. I’ve seen a number of user comments complaining of framerate issues, but I’ve not encountered any slowdowns notable enough to complain about.
Features as listed by ZEN Studios:
- Fascinating graphics – fully 3D environment, all intricately detailed and all rendered with the Rollercoaster theme
- Addictive, fast gameplay with five main game modes, plus multiple multiball modes
- Sophisticated physics model in 3D — perfect physical modeling of the ball and its interaction with the environment
- Explore the playfield in 3D, thanks to the gyroscopic capabilities of the iPhone
- Nudge the table by shaking the iPhone
- Hit the High Striker to test your toughness, then go further, and enjoy being hit with 4Gs on the Rocket Ride
$4.99 seems a fair price for this title. The gameplay is convincing and satisfying. Anyone with a particular penchant for pinball will likely find this title a valuable addition to their iPhone game library.
Game Details
Name: ZEN Pinball: Rollercoaster (v1.0)
Developer: Publisher X
App Store Link: Buy
Price: $4.99
Size: 10.0MB
Wow, this looks awesome!
I hate this kind of scrolling shooters because they usually doesn't care about the level design. All you have to do is find an enemy, shoot him, find the next one, shoot him and so on.
Too bad this one doesn't seem to be an exception.
I would love to see a real shoot'em up for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Looks cool--I used to like a similar game and I can see myself passing some time for $10 if it lives up to the promise.
Something is amiss with that shadow though! The 3D hover effect would be much better if the shadow stayed consistent with the light source instead of being glued to the chopper as you rotate.
Looks nice. Raid on Bungeling Bay fans, rejoice.
Looks a lot like the Stike series on the PS1 (Soviet Strike, Nuclear Strike). Unfortunately it doesn't look like it has the depth of the those games. I seriously can't wait for a non-casual game for the iPhone. In order for it to truly start taking on the DS and PSP it needs real RPGs and action titles, not just puzzles and minigames.
looks great but unfortunately I am not a big fan of the accelerometer steering. I hope that developers start putting in an option to steer via onscreen buttons.
i get sick while constantly tilting the screen to steer...
I'm not sure I'm sold on the controls. We'll have to wait and see though...
"I seriously can’t wait for a non-casual game for the iPhone. In order for it to truly start taking on the DS and PSP it needs real RPGs and action titles, not just puzzles and minigames."
Preach on brother!! Couldn't agree more.
Looks like a 1942 old-school shooter, which in my book is serious fun! Not sure if it'll be worth $9.99. Maybe more like a $4.99, but I say that without trying it. If the controls are well done, it would justify the $$.
That Apache reminds me of the old Sega Megadrive(Genesis) game called Desert Strike(and it's subsequent sequels, Jungle and Soviet Strike), which was a cool 3D isometric game, which would be awesome on the iPhone!
Desert Strike was made by EA, so, who knows? It could make an appearance. :P
"it needs real RPGs"
What do you consider to be a "real RPG"? Vay is a real RPG. I'm not going to say that it is a great RPG, but it is a real one. It was for the Sega CD system originally. I think it's worth picking up, but do yourself a favor and immediately set it to "Hard" difficulty. On the "Normal" setting the game is ludicrously easy, to the point of boredom.
" and action titles"
Blue Skies would appear to a pretty "real" action title to me. I guess we'll find out for sure later on.
In any case, I question the notion that in order to compete with the DS and PSP, the iPhone *has* to have anything more than casual games. I would like it to have more than that, and I think it will, but Nintendo has shown that the market for casual games is massive, indeed perhaps bigger then the "core gaming" market. Moreover, on an uber-portable platform like the iPhone and iPod Touch, casual games are even more the king IMHO. If Nintendo doesn't watch out they are going to lose a substantial share of their portable market to the iPhone.
I have had a DS for some time and I have loved it, but since the 2.0 update to my iPod Touch I haven't played my DS much and I haven't bought any new DS games. I'm even less enthused about upcoming DS games. It's not that the DS games are worse (they certainly aren't), but I have my iPod Touch with me all the time and it contains all of my games without any cartridge swapping, nor cartridges to lose. Those are *huge* things for a portable platform. Oh, and not to mention that AppStore games are way cheaper than DS games.
Does anyone remember Tigerheli? It was originally an arcade game and the Sega Genesis had a port of it. Great game. This game reminds me of that. Hopefully it will be 80% of what Tigerheli was.
It's in the store! http://phobos.apple.com/Web...
Let the reviews commence (and convince me if it's worth the $$?)