Zen Pinball 3D

I’m not entirely sure if it’s a positive or negative thing that I am very close to being an unpaid PR guy for Zen Studios. The more games they release on more platforms, the more reviews I end up doing where I praise them for almost every aspect of their work. In the interest of journalistic integrity I shall declare that I have reviewed Zen Studios’ pinball games here, here, and even here. You know what’s going to be really difficult? Finding words to fill yet another review without repeating myself. That’s the negative side. The positive side? I’ll be spending this entire review carefully searching out those precious few words I haven’t already used to convey just how amazing these guys are at making pinball games.

Luckily for me the folks over at Zen Studios have given me a few easy new things to talk about with this version also being in 3D and portable; pretty much the only two things the Nintendo 3DS has to brag about. I’d like to kick things off with the 3D as that usually tends to be the sore spot when it comes to 3DS games. Allow me to put all fears to rest when I say Zen Pinball should be played with 3D on at all times. Yes, really. Pinball is a game which requires depth and the 3D on the 3DS delivers it perfectly. You can see the multiple layers of the table clearly, which gives this version a huge leg up on its console counterparts, and it also makes the beautiful art and design that goes into every table stand out (if you’ll pardon the pun). It’s one of the rare gems of the 3DS’ library where I felt that the 3D element was a necessity the entire time that I played it.

That nicely covered and out of the way, let’s talk about what you’ll be getting for your £4.50 downloadable. There are four tables, with their own mini-games hidden if you are skilled enough to trigger them, each with their own themes which are: medieval, tribal, treasure hunter, and science fiction. Every table has its own unique multiplier bonuses, style, feel, and play style so there will certainly be at least one table which you will be unable to resist going back to time and time again. This is par for the course with Zen Studio titles as they always provide something for everybody with no substitution of quality of any of the options. My personal favourite was the sci-fi one because: 1) The table is called ‘Earth Defence’, 2) Having a giant robot over look any of my proceedings in a game makes me happy, and 3) Because I was able to get #1 on my local leaderboards on my first attempt – BOOYAH!

There is, of course, a highscore table for both local and online play which will cause joyous glee to show on your face as you leap into the air and proclaim victory while at the same time make the person sitting next to you on the bus want to murder you slowly with a rolling pin. Zen Studios know their audience; we’re a right bunch of score-whores if there ever was one, and they know that one way to make sure a downloadable title remains worthwhile is with extreme competition across a series of skilled levels. If you can nail that 80,000 bonus on the tribal table five times in a row you’ll be in good stead on those leaderboards. That tip is free on me.

Overall? Do I really need to say more. It’s cheap, it’s got insane replayability, it’s got an addictive highscore system, and you can carry it with you at all times and hope your eyeballs don’t pop-out from being unable to turn the 3D off the entire time you play it. If I were to criticise it in any way, it’d be the size of the screen. The 3DS does not have a screen size worth envying and so the default camera position can make it very difficult to pick out some of the finest details and shots on the table. My solution? Switch to Camera 5. Follows the ball the whole time and makes EVERYTHING a Hell of a lot easier. Done and dusted! Rack another winner up to Zen Studios. I’ll see you on the leaderboards (I’m ‘DNK’).