Zen Pinball World | iOS Review
I’ve been trying to get non-pinball fanatics to experience the joy I have with the silver ball for years. It’s always a hard sell to get people to drop money for a new experience, especially when tables can get pricey. Not everyone is a Zen Studios whale like I am that buys every single table he can get his hands on. Zen Pinball World remedies that problem and lets people experience their amazing tables in free-to-play fashion. It’s not the ideal place to experience Pinball FX, but hopefully it’s enough to whet the appetite for many newcomers.
But How Free Is It?
Zen Pinball World is a free download on iOS and Android. It acts more or less like the Pinball FX client on console and PC that I’ve been talking about for years. Once you have it installed, it’s as simple as downloading individual tables you’d like to play, and then trying out the chosen table to your heart’s content. The catch? You have to watch an advertisement and play the “find the X” button to clear it. These ads can last for 30-45 seconds, and are mostly trying to get you to play those awful-looking games we see advertised on social media. You know the ones I’m talking about. They’re usually match-three or runner style games where the person demoing the game plays horribly. Their play is so bad, that you’re very tempted to download the game so you can play it “right”. I’ve yet to fall victim to those kinds of games, but I’ve come close.
On the other hand, this seems like a small price to pay for these highly-detailed pinball tables. The physics and graphics aren’t going to be quite up to par with console and PC, but they’re good enough to give you the idea. Plus, the version which I was provided gives you the opportunity to purchase individual tables for $4.99 each, so you can play them without watching an ad each time. That’s comparable to the price you would pay on other platforms. It’s a bit steep for a lesser version of these tables, but at least you have the option.
Where Are My Buttons?
The biggest downside to playing on your phone or tablet, however, is the lack of physical buttons. Seasoned pros of the silver ball will tell you that fidelity is a huge part of playing pinball. The controls work just fine, but there’s nothing like good physical buttons to give you the best experience. I had pretty good success using touch controls, but I found that no matter what, my thumbs always end up drifting in unwanted places. They either go outside of the area that sense my touch or end up covering vital areas of the bottom of the table obscuring my view. It makes me yearn for some kind of pinball attachment to put on my phone. But at that point, I might as well just play on my console.
The table selection is also slightly limited as of this writing. There’s a solid collection of tables here, and I’m going to assume that more will be added in the future. But this is far from the complete collection of tables available on Pinball FX. It’s enough to get some interest, though, and could be just the catalyst needed to get you into the genre.
Zen Pinball World Final Verdict
Playing games you love on the go is always nice when you have the option. The interesting part of reviewing Zen Pinball World is that it wouldn’t be my natural first place to point you towards. If you want to experience these tables in their best version, Pinball FX is where you should go. But if you’d like to learn about what can make pinball so magical, this is a good place to start for more or less no cost to you. Once you see how good the physics can be in digital pinball, it could interest you in exploring further.
So that’s my recommendation. Give it a try and see if it’s for you. If it strikes your fancy, then pursue Pinball FX for the grander experience. As for seasoned veterans of pinball, this is a decent way to practice when you’re on the go or desperate to play when you’re away from your console or PC. But more than likely you already have the superior version of these tables.
To hear me talk more about Zen Pinball World, be sure to listen to our December 23rd episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 57:00 time stamp.
This review is based on an iOS copy of Zen Pinball World provided by Uber Strategist for coverage purposes. It is also available on the Google Play Store.
