Zen Studios has previously released Zen Pinball, Marvel Pinball and Pinball FX2 for the consoles. But their latest release, Zen Pinball [Free] brings some of these popular pinball tables to the App Store. You can either play a single player game, or compete with up to four friends on the same device in "local hot-seat" (pass-and-play) mode.
Zen Pinball for iOS comes with one free pinball table, named "Sorcerer's Lair". It's a fully functional table, without any restrictions or adverts, so it's a great opportunity to try the game. If you enjoy it, there's two additional tables (Captain America and Wolverine) available as in-app purchases for $1.99 each, with more tables promised in future. Sorcerer's Lair is my favorite of the three tables, so by downloading the free game you're actually getting one of the best.
Any pinball fan reading this post can be no stranger to Gameprom and their quality iOS pinball collections, Pinball HD and War Pinball, and related, standalone tables. Last summer, the studio partnered with Sony Music Entertainment to add a little rock and roll to the pinball equation in the form of Slayer Pinball Rocks HD [App Store], a fast and furious Slayer-themed table. Gameprom has recently rekindled the Sony relationship to release AC/DC Pinball Rocks HD [App Store], a standalone table that makes you want to scream out, "Angus!"
The first thing you'll notice about AC/DC Pinball Rocks is that it's a pretty ornate table, over the top in a fashion that, I think, well fits the band. Arrayed about the table are various bits of AC/DC stage memorabilia, including the Rock 'N Roll Train, Hell's Bell, the For Those About To Rock cannon, and the Highway to Hell, itself. As you work the table, AC/DC tracks, including "Thunderstruck," "Highway to Hell," and "You Shook Me All Night Long", play along with the action as pyrotechnics blast sparks across your screen. The occasional vocal quip from lead singer Brian Johnson can also be heard during gameplay.
As far as the table itself, it's quite a different experience from the fast-paced Slayer Pinbal. AC/DC Pinball Rocks features slower-paced ball action than the other rock title and notably lacks the two main bumpers typically found above a table's central set of paddles, leaving the center of the table pretty much wide open. This may seem to be the formula for a bland game of pinball at first, but after playing the game for a short while I realized I was able to be rather more strategic and precise on this table than most others. It's possible, on the AC/DC table, to aim for targets as distant as the far corners, thanks to the ball pacing and the open central area. That's really not something you can do on a more traditional table and makes for a non-typical game experience. What's more, the sides of the table are nicely busy, with elevators, lightning bumpers, and the mission-lending TNT bundle.
The main reason that the central area of the table is left open is the mini game that takes place there. There are three mini games in all, in fact. On the right side of the screen is a guitar mini-game featuring a small ball pin with paddles, while on the left is a mini-game involving the aforementioned stage cannon. The central area mini-game raises a barrier and challenges you to score in the lower portion of the table, ultimately in a mission to open the Trap Door to Hell. AC/DC Pinball Rocks is definitely more mini-game focused than any of the studio's other pinball offerings.
The game features both single- and dual-player modes and offers a variety of camera angles, just like Gameprom's other pinball titles that came before.
AC/DC Pinball Rocks HD is a fun table that definitely feels like Gameprom pinball. I won't call it my favorite of their offerings, but it's certainly worth its space on the iOS devices of any pinball fan out there.
Da Vinci Pinball Update
Another bit of news from Gameprom is a video posted a few weeks back that contains (among other previews) a brief walk-through of the incredible-looking upcoming Da Vinci Pinball table that we previewed back in August.
The Da Vinci table is expected to arrive as a DLC item for the studio's Pinball HD collection. It will be made available soon for both iOS and Mac OS X, and is one we're very anxious to get our hands on. Stay tuned for a close look.
Coming early next year, developer FarSight Studios will be bringing a massive collection of some of the most classic pinball games from throughout history to just about every single gaming platform imaginable. Of course, the one that matters most to us is the iOS platform, which the upcoming Pinball Arcade is indeed slated to hit. You're likely familiar with FarSight's previous pinball work, the Pinball Hall of Fame series, with The Gottlieb Collection and The Williams Collection, each of which has landed on various platforms over the last several years. With The Pinball Arcade, they look to take a similar "collection" approach, only with far more licensed tables.
The Pinball Arcade lays claim to more than 50 different tables from classic companies like Williams and Gottlieb (naturally), Bally, and Stern. FarSight is calling the game "the most comprehensive pinball video game ever created" which it certainly will be if they can really achieve their lofty goal of included tables. Details are scarce at this point, but it sounds as if the game will initially ship with at least the tables mentioned in the above trailer, and possibly more, with a steady stream of additional tables being made available as downloadable content post release.
We'll look to dig up some more information on The Pinball Arcade as the new year approaches, but the prospect of having dozens of virtual representations of classic pinball machines available right in your pocket has players in our forums drooling in anticipation (myself included).
Last week at about this time, we learned that developer Gameprom has a brand new pinball table in the works that is set to be added into their excellent pinball compilation app Pinball HD [99¢/HD]. This new table’s theme is based around Leonardo da Vinci’s famous art and inventions, and the screenshots for it looked absolutely gorgeous. Today, Gameprom has released the first video for Da Vinci Pinball, and it looks even more stunning in motion.
As we’ve previously stated, Da Vinci Pinball is slated to release sometime next month as an update to Pinball HD for both iOS versions and the Mac version. No word on what the price will be, though based on their previous efforts I’d guess anywhere in the 99¢ to $2.99 range. Whatever the price, it’s sure to be a bargain for the type of production values Gameprom injects into their work. We’ll keep our eye out for Da Vinci Pinball to hit this coming September.
Gameprom, one of the leading developers of iOS and Mac pinball games, have just revealed their latest upcoming table: Da Vinci Pinball. They’ve released a bunch of new screenshots for the game on the Da Vinci Pinball website, several of which you can see above as well as in the gallery below (click to enlarge). Here’s a quick blurb from Gameprom about the direction they’re going with Da Vinci Pinball: (more...)
Marvel Pinball is a big deal in some circles. It’s often hailed as one of the best digital pinball translations known to man, which isn’t saying a whole lot since the lion's share of these kinds of games are bad-to-middling. But, anyway, its reach will expand in the near-to-mid future. At Comic-Con in San Diego, it was revealed that the game is coming to iOS and every other console or handheld device (including Android) under the sun by the end of 2012.
No other specific details were noted about any upcoming version, but it appears as if the port work will remain in the hands of Zen Studios — a move that bodes well for the game since Zen knows what's what with digital pinball and pinball physics in general.
Notably, a new DLC pack was announced, too, at the event. It will bring in a total of four new tables later this winter. One of them will be Ghost Rider-themed, as you can see from the above screenshot.
I can imagine a scenario in which, if this iOS version is significantly late to the party, this update as well as the others is rolled into the overall package. Then again, that doesn’t make the best business sense... Zen Studios would probably love the extra revenue stream IAP could provide. Regardless of the business plan, we'll be keeping a look out for this one out as it creeps towards release.
Earlier this month, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Cowboy Rodeo, who lovingly ported the classic Amiga titles Pinball Dreams [$4.99/Lite] and Pinball Fantasies [$5.99] to iOS, were getting set to release a brand new version of Pinball Dreams that was fully remade with 3D graphics. Just a few days ago that game, known as Pinball Dreams HD [$4.99], arrived in the App Store.
I was sort of confused as to why they would decide to remake the game seemingly out of the blue, but according to the developer they had been getting requests for iPad versions of their games ever since the iPad’s release last year. But redrawing the old graphics to suit the new screen size and resolution would have been too large of an undertaking, so they started toying around with the idea of building the tables in 3D to solve those problems. After being happy with the results, they took the project full steam ahead.
Developer Cowboy Rodeo was kind enough to port the classic Amiga pinball game Pinball Dreams [$4.99/Lite] to the iPhone all the way back in February of 2009. The port was very good, with physics that accurately represented those of the original and ever so slightly enhanced graphics. In fact, Pinball Dreams was almost better on the iPhone thanks to its elongated screen that didn’t need to scroll as much as the original did to show the entire table. Pinball Dreams was followed up shortly after by its sequel Pinball Fantasies [$5.99], which was given the same wonderful treatment in the transfer over to iOS as the first game.
Somewhat surprisingly, and nearly two and a half years later, Cowboy Rodeo is set to release a brand new remake of Pinball Dreams called simply Pinball Dreams HD. What differentiates this version from the original is that each of the game’s 4 pinball tables have been recreated using entirely 3D graphics. Fans of the original may cry foul at this notion, but the developer has clarified that the game logic is identical to the original game and should play exactly the same, and the new graphics are a cosmetic change only.
In the above images you can see the Steel Wheel table in the original iPhone version on the left next to a screen from the iPad version of the new Pinball Dreams HD on the right. Down below are 3 additional screens that show the new versions of the other tables in Pinball Dreams HD. Click any image to enlarge.
What prompted Cowboy Rodeo to remake Pinball Dreams after all this time? I really have no idea, but as a huge fan of both Pinball Dreams and Fantasies, I’m really interested to check out Pinball Dreams HD. Cowboy Rodeo has stated in our forums that Pinball Dreams HD is already submitted to Apple, so hopefully it won’t be too long before it’s released. If the new version turns out to be a success, I’d love to see the same treatment given to Pinball Fantasies down the line too. And hey, Cowboy Rodeo, can you please finally bring Pinball Illusions to the App Store while you’re at it?
Back in March, experienced iOS pinball developer Gameprom released their newest pinball offering into the App Store called War Pinball [99¢/HD]. Like their previous games, War Pinball contained gorgeous 3D graphics, complex table designs, and a decent physics simulation, at least as far as video pinball games go. The game featured 3 different tables that were each themed after a popular war movie - Navy Seals, Missing in Action, and Platoon.
We really liked War Pinballin our review, and today a new update is available that adds a couple of interesting features to the game. First off, it now has Game Center integration with leaderboards for each table (as well as one for the Platoon mini-game) and more than 50 achievements to earn.
The other big feature in this update is a TV-Out capability for both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game. Retina Display devices will output the game in a scaled back HD resolution when played on a TV, but iPad 2 owners can run the game in full screen HD resolution. The TV-Out feature has been a welcome addition to other games like Real Racing 2 HD [$9.99], Chopper 2 [$2.99], and various other games we tried. It’s certainly a cool function to now have in one of my favorite iOS pinball games, and to be honest I wish every game offered this option.
The following trailer was actually recorded straight from a television running War Pinball HD from an iPad 2:
Owners of Gameprom’s Pinball HD [99¢/HD], the collection of their 4 previous pinball games contained in one app, can look forward to getting the Game Center and TV-Out treatment in the very near future as well. For fans of pinball games I can easily recommend War Pinball as it’s definitely my favorite of the Gameprom titles so far, and now you can earn you Game Center achievements and compete on the leaderboards on the big screen in your living room.
This past week, I was pleasantly surprised to find a new update for one of my favorite games, Pinball Destruction [99¢]. Pinball Destruction came out ages ago, back in April of 2009, and has definitely flown under the radar since. But it’s one of the more unique pinball games in the App Store, and this unexpected update has added some very welcome features to the title.
Pinball Destruction is an extremely simplistic take on pinball, with very basic table designs and insanely bouncy physics. This is intentional, however, as the game is meant to be incredibly fast-paced. It’s best to think of Pinball Destruction as an arcade game based loosely on pinball, because if you’re expecting any sort of realism or accuracy then you’ll be sorely disappointed.
The thing that makes Pinball Destruction so unique is the ability to destroy the elements that make up each table after completing its missions. There are sets of pegs at the top of the screen which act like drop targets. Once you’ve knocked every peg down they reset, and once you’ve knocked them all down a total of 3 times the various bumpers and blocks of the table can be destroyed with the ball. Destroying all table elements allows you to move onto the next table, of which there are 5.
Last week we showed you the new trailer for Gameprom’s latest iOS pinball title War Pinball, and over the weekend the game went live in the App Store. It comes in two flavors, War Pinball [99¢] for iPhone and iPod touch and War Pinball HD [$2.99] for iPad. If you’ve been a fan of Gameprom’s iOS pinball titles over the past couple of years, you should be instantly familiar with the basic mechanics and layout of War Pinball. But this new game is easily their best effort yet, and besides containing 3 solid pinball tables within one app it’s also a great showpiece for owners of Retina Display devices or the new iPad 2.
The 3 tables in War Pinball are all based on MGM action movies from the 80s and 90s - Platoon, Navy Seals, and Missing in Action. Gameprom has done an excellent job putting these licenses to good use, and each table features visual elements, music, and sound bites that are appropriate to the movie it’s representing. Even the table missions follow along with the movies really well, and if you’re familiar with the basic plot elements from the movies you’ll get a kick out of seeing nods to them as you play through each table. As a quick note, there are several curse words contained in the voice samples taken from the movies, but there is an option to turn these off or set a password lock to restrict access to certain tables if you’re concerned about younger players being exposed to them.
Each table in War Pinball is rendered in full 3D and contains more complex designs than any of the previous Gameprom titles. The visuals are crisp and colorful, and look especially great on Retina Display devices. War Pinball HD is also optimized for the iPad 2, and it not only looks razor sharp on the larger screen but it runs at an absolutely insane frame rate, running fast and smooth without so much as a single hitch. I’ve always loved having an assortment of pinball apps on my iPhone in my pocket at all times, but in the case of War Pinball HD the performance is so impressive on the iPad 2 that it’s my preferred platform for playing the game.
Hey there, do you like over-the-top action movies from the 80s and early 90s? And do you like pinball? Have you always dreamed that both of these things could be magically fused together in a game for your favorite iOS device? Well Gameprom is ready to make your dreams come true with their upcoming game War Pinball HD.
Gameprom has been one of the preeminent pinball developers for iOS, with their Wild West [99¢], The Deep [99¢], Jungle Style [99¢], and Slayer Rocks [$2.99] pinball games all garnering huge download numbers and earning many fans. All of these games are available individually or in a single app called Pinball HD [99¢/HD]. Two hallmarks of Gameprom’s pinball games have been really solid physics behavior, which can often make or break a pinball video game, and impressive graphics which are rendered in full 3D.
War Pinball will retain these hallmarks, and I was able to play a preview build of the game at GDC a couple of weeks ago. If you’ve played any of Gameprom’s previous pinball games, War Pinball feels very in line with those experiences, which is to say it’s a lot of fun. What really surprised and delighted me was the theme of the game. War Pinball will contain 3 separate tables, each one crafted after a war-themed action movie. There’s one based on Platoon, one for Navy Seals, and one for Missing in Action which features prominent Chuck Norris decor.
The first trailer for War Pinball doesn’t show off a ton of gameplay, but in true action movie form it features a montage of all 3 tables:
War Pinball was looking great when I checked it out at GDC, and I’ve been enjoying a preview build on my iPhone ever since. The evolution of Gameprom’s pinball creating prowess is clear in each new game, as War Pinball is a much more complex and strategic game in comparison to the relatively simplistic Wild West Pinball. The game has already been finished and shipped off to Apple for review, complete with optimizations for the new iPad 2, so we’ll be keeping our eyes out for it to hit the App Store soon.
New Potato, who brought us the Jackpot Slots [App Store] game / accessory for the iPhone, has just released another such bundle for the iPhone and iPod touch -- but this time around, the game in question is pinball.
Pinball Magic is a gaming accessory that is intended to transform your iPhone or iPod touch into a realistic pinball machine, albeit a rather diminutive one. The pinball table-shaped accessory sports flipper buttons, a ball-launching plunger, a credit / select button,an animated LED backbox display, and foldable legs for easy transport. The device mates with your device's 30-pin dock connector and delivers a pinball experience by way of New Potato's free Pinball Magic [link] app.
Game features, listed by the developer:
Multiple classic and unique playboard layout
Advanced multi-level and multiplayer competition
Four possible multi-ball modes
End-of-ball and replay bonuses
Tilt detection, tilt warning and activation
Ball saver
Pinball Magic is currently available from Best Buy, online and at certain retail locations at a price of $39.99. And don't bother downloading the game app if you don't have the accessory -- it won't play at all.
Shortly after the iPad arrived, Gameprom treated iPad gamers to Pinball HD [App Store], a collection of their excellent stand-alone iPhone pinball titles -- Wild West Pinball [$.99], The Deep Pinball [$.99], and Jungle Style Pinball [$.99] -- all in one high resolution, iPad application. We found the title easy to recommend, and we weren't the only ones; Pinball HD was a WWDC 2010 Apple Design Award winner.
When the iPhone 4 was unveiled, sporting its high resolution Retina display, we hoped to see the same fine collection adapted to suit Apple's new iOS flagship. And, today, we're happy to report that Pinball HD 4 iPhone [link] has arrived and is now available for download in the App Store.
Pinball HD 4 iPhone delivers everything that the iPad's Pinball HD does, beautifully rendered on the iPhone 4's Retina display with a sharpness that almost makes your eyes bleed. (Though, the iPhone 3GS and 3G iPod touch are supported at their native resolution, as well.) And we're happy to see that Gameprom added the fixed, portrait table view mode that we requested in our April look at the iPad version. (This mode sits in addition to the floating, portrait view mode and the fixed, landscape mode.)
Like its forerunner, Pinball HD features split-screen, tap paddle controls, WiFi and Bluetooth multiplayer, online score tracking, and support for 3D anaglyph (red/blue, etc.) glasses rendering. And you get all that for  buck less than the iPad version. Any pinball fan with an iPhone 4 (or a 3GS if you're new to the series) needs to get this game on their device.
Last Gladiators Ver.2010 is a port of a 1995 pinball game for the Sega Saturn. In a world where there's so many different options to satisfy your pinball needs available on the App Store, some aspects about this release will stick out like sore thumbs. The price, the dated graphics, a lack of features, no online scores… the price. It can be kind of a hard sell on the surface. But make no mistake about it, this is hands down the best pinball gameplay available for your device. If I'm going to be trapped on a desert island with my iPhone and can only have one pinball app, I want it to be Last Gladiators.
Let's get right to the elephant in the room, the cost. The app itself is $4.99, and comes with the Gladiators table. The other three tables that make up the original Saturn game are sold separately as DLC for $4.99 apiece. Yep, $4.99 for each additional table. I know that most of us who were fortunate enough to have grown up during the arcade era have probably spent well more than five bucks playing a good table for a couple of hours. So asking that much for a table you can play infinitely that fits in your pocket doesn't sound unreasonable. In the App Store economy, however, it's equivalent to an arm and a leg. The pricing alone means this game won't be for everybody.
Pricing aside, Last Gladiators does everything right in the gameplay department. It's amazing that with all the different pinball games that have been released on iPhone, none of them have ever quite felt like playing a real life table. This one's different, this one feels right. The physics of the ball and the design of the tables are nearly perfect. I'm not going to go into specific table detail (a video of each one can be seen in the thread in our forums) but all four feature multiball and more rounds and missions than I can even count. The instructions run 30+ pages for each table so you can familiarize yourself with every scoring nook and cranny, and also get an idea of just how much depth is on offer here.
This isn't the most visually impressive pinball game, after all it is 15 years old, but it still manages to have a great look that functions well. The table designs are more akin to the pinball tables of the late 80's and early 90's, rather than the highly complex mechanical behemoths of the later 90's. A neat effect is a scaling ball, so it looks smaller while in the back of the table and quite a bit larger as it's near the flippers. Handy on-screen indicators point you towards active goals, and it's always clear what you're supposed to be doing even for a beginner. There aren't really any iPhone specific features, and as far as ports are concerned this is pretty bare-bones. This is basically the Saturn game reworked with touch screen controls, and that's about it.
If you're a pinball fanatic, and just want the best experience regardless of price, then you owe it to yourself to drop $5 on the initial Gladiators table. It will keep you busy for a long time, and you can always decide to splurge on the extra tables sometime down the line when you're ready for something new.
There's no official lite version available, but you can try Ultra Legend Pinball which is basically the Gladiators table with slightly reworked functionality and Ultraman artwork. I hesitate a bit recommending this, as it's entirely in Japanese and the Ultraman version of the table isn't nearly as good as the original, but at the very least it gives you and idea of what the Last Gladiators tables are like. Whatever your feelings on the pricing of Last Gladiators, it's a stellar game that shouldn't be missed if you're looking for an accurate simulation of pinball.
Zen Studios has previously released Zen Pinball, Marvel Pinball and Pinball FX2 for the consoles. But their latest release, Zen Pinball [Free] brings some of these popular pinball tables to the App Store. You can either play a single player game, or compete with up to four friends on the same device in "local hot-seat" (pass-and-play) mode.
