Pinball FX | Xbox Review

By this point, I’m borderline worried that listeners of our podcast or readers of my reviews are tired of hearing me talk about pinball. Regardless, I’ve spent more hours playing digital pinball than any other game on any platform. So hopefully you’ll indulge me one more time. At least one more time. My love for the game grew because of Zen Studios. Sure, I played physical tables as a kid and had a blast. But my passion grew when I had unlimited quarters on my Xbox to hone my skills and compete more easily with friends.

Which is why this is one the hardest reviews I’ve ever had to write in all my years at attempting to be a legitimate games journalist. The new Pinball FX client isn’t perfect yet, but it’s still an outstanding product. I take serious issue, however, with the new pricing model, which feels like a slap in the face to diehard fans like myself.

Sometimes You Get the Pinball Machine

Pinball FX is still the unequivocally best place to play pinball without going to a physical arcade. Zen has perfected the art of digital ball physics in a way that will make your forget you’re playing on a screen. If that weren’t enough, each table has added animations that add to the experience in a way that’s simply not possible with a real table. The level of detail is still just as astounding as it was when I started my journey years ago.

The newest client, which up till now had only been available on PC, boasts an updated physics engine in Unreal. As a guy who struggles to tell the difference between 30 frames per second and 60, I can’t quite put my finger on how this has affected my play, but it has. When pulling the plunger on some of my favorite titles, my timing was immediately off. The ball simply moves differently in a way I can’t explain. I’m almost required to relearn the game, but this isn’t a bad thing, honestly.

The best analogy I can come up with is Guitar Hero. Stay with me here. Not to toot my own horn, but I was pretty decent with a plastic guitar back in the day. When Guitar Hero Live released with a six-button instrument instead of the classic 5-button layout, it rocked my world. All of a sudden, my previous skills were almost nonexistent, and I had to learn the game all over again. Although I’m not in a position where I have to relearn how to play Pinball FX, it’s still taking me some time to get my reflexes in shape to the same level they were with Pinball FX3.

Sometimes the Pinball Machine Gets You

If score-chasing isn’t enough to motivate you to keep playing, Pinball FX offers some new bells and whistles. The most obvious is the inclusion of your own customizable pinball room. Playing multiple tables and unlocking certain challenges reward you with new decorations to adorn your shelf space. There are also daily challenges that you can only attempt a certain number of times every twenty-four hours. For example, you might be asked to get the highest score possible with a single ball. Another challenge might ask you to get as many points as you can with a limited amount of flips. In a world where previously you could only chase your friends’ highest all-time score, it’s nice to have a more achievable option on a more frequent basis.

I also had a chance to play the new licensed tables, many of which are only available on this client, I might add. Indiana Jones: Pinball Adventure is one I’ve reviewed before, but the Gearbox Table Collection and Marvel Pinball Collection are new additions. As a fan of the Borderlands series, I’m particularly fond of those tables, even if Claptrap’s voice gets old pretty quickly. The Addams Family is a personal favorite physical table, so I was more than ecstatic to see that it’s now available on this platform.

The new User Interface is worth mentioning, as it’s much easier to choose your tables quickly. You can even pin your favorites to the top for easy access. My only issue so far is one that I have to assume will be patched (if it hasn’t already as of this writing). One of the biggest reasons I play consistently is because I love chasing after my friends’ scores. For the life of me, I could not find a way to compare scores with just my buddies. I know I’m decent at pinball, but I’ll never stand toe-to-toe with the rest of the world. I’m most interested in seeing how I compare with my friends. Either I couldn’t find the option, or none of my friends are playing on the new client. If the latter is true, it’s probably because of the glaring issue I have with Pinball FX.

The Elephant in the Room

Much like with previous iterations of the franchise, the client is a free download. New players are given a free table to own once they start, and they can purchase other tables in packs while others are sold individually. Another option, however, is a new subscription plan known as “Pinball Pass”. For what equates to about $14.99/month (or $99.00/year), you’ll have access to over 70 of the 86 tables available as of this writing. In essence, if you don’t want to spend multiple hundreds of dollars for the same tables, you can rent them for a fee.

This is where I struggle as a fan of the series for as long as I have been. I’ve put so much money into the previous iterations of the franchise. The fact that I can’t import my tables from Pinball FX3 is damn near insulting. Sure, I can go back and play my previously-purchased titles on Pinball FX3. But that notion comes across a lot like Don Mattrick saying, “we have a product for people who can’t get online, it’s called Xbox 360”.

If that’s really how it has to be, then why not let me purchase your new tables on the old client? Some gamers like the simplicity of a one-stop shop for all of their owned content. Now you’re telling me I have to flip back and forth between Pinball FX and Pinball FX3 to play everything I’ve purchased? A hundred bucks a year sure feels like a hefty convenience fee, guys. I understand that licenses are expensive. And I understand that every single table has been remastered. But seeing how it feels like I’ve actually been renting my “owned” tables as it is, I’m less likely to throw much more money at this new client.

Pinball FX Final Verdict

I had both a lot of positive and a lot of negative things to say about Pinball FX. But it boils down to this. If you’re a longtime fan of the older tables, the new price of admission is nowhere near worth the upgraded benefits. While it won’t be convenient, especially if your score buddies jump to the new client exclusively, just stick with FX3. You can pick up the new tables on the new client and go back and forth as need be. Or, you know, wait for the inevitable sales.

On the other hand, if you’re even a casual fan of pinball but have never taken the dive into the digital realm, I can’t recommend Pinball FX enough. So long as you’re not already heavily invested, it’s a no-brainer. But seeing how a large majority of pinball fans are already closely familiar with the series, I have to imagine there’s not enough newbies coming to the table to sustain this business model.

It takes a lot to get me angry, but I haven’t been this frustrated with something I love in a long time. As good as this game is, I’m not going to be able to convince my friends to spend five times the cost of a Nintendo Switch Online membership to play a game we already own, just with a little higher quality. That reason alone will keep me from continuing to subscribe. And that’s too bad, because this game really is special.

To hear me talk more about Pinball FX, be sure to listen to our February 22nd episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:00:08 time stamp.

This review is based on an Xbox Pinball Pass for Pinball FX provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. Scott was also provided codes for other tables not available on the Pinball Pass. The client is also available on PlayStation and PC via Epic Games Store.