Zen Studio's 'Zen Pinball series has finally made its way to the Wii U eShop on Wednesday with the release of "Zen Pinball 2" as a free download. Don't get too excited though, because players will only have access to trial tables which are either score or time limited in their use. But sure, you can play them over and over again as much as you want, just don't expect to do so well.
If you're looking for a list of available tables, just scroll on past the next two sections.
Presentation and Table Download Experience
First off, "Zen Pinball 2" on the Wii U features off-screen play on the GamePad by adjusting through the options menu.
The game has a clean, mostly white and blue interface, similar to the Wii U's home, which makes visually understanding the available content fairly easily. While perusing your table collection, leaderboards are consistently presented to the player on the right hand side of the screen, begging the player to climb and climb. Additionally, the game feature's achievement style "Awards" to entice both extended play and instigate a desire to learn each table's ins-and-outs, as seen in previous "Zen Pinball" releases. It's all very direct, the background music is elevator-soothing and getting to the tables within the game is easy to do. Additionally, you can pause gameplay at any time and access nearly every feature outside of the actual list of tables, which means heading into the options, viewing leaderboards and awards, etc. It's all very convenient and intelligently laid out.
If only the process of buying those games was quite as user-friendly. It's not bad, but it could be easier.
No in-game store exists, you have to jump out to the eShop to access table purchases, despite all available tables listed but greyed-out within the game's menus. The game doesn't even link you into the eShop itself, you need to jump out using the home menu yourself. However, to Nintendo's credit, you're automatically pushed into a specific game's place in the eShop if you're running that game when you make the jump. Kudos on that. Subsequently, downloading each table or pack is like any DLC on the eShop - you're going to need to jump in and out of your game to allow "Zen Pinball 2" to install the tables itself, but from there you're golden. Trials show up with little key hole symbols in front of them, just waiting to be unlocked.
Gameplay
Pinball tables are complicated things. You really need to get to know them to understand how successful they are as individual pieces of entertainment. Especially if you've got a whole lot of real-world pinball experience under your belt. For that reason, judging individual tables based on a general release like this is both unfair and basically impossible in a day (check back later on, friends), but Zen Studios overarching style for the way they develop these tables remains delightfully consistent: they want you to think you're playing a real pinball table.
This means there aren't any "gamey" gimmicks, with impossible objects doing physically impossible things, and it also means the ball physics are absolutely top notch. The tables themselves are complex, with missions, multipliers, objectives and ball saves, just as you'd expect from a real table, only in some cases you might have the Hulk narrating a story as you play through.
As for multiplayer, local swap and split-screen options are available. The game supports both the Wii U GamePad and the Pro Controller.
Available Tables
Zen Studios dug deep into its catalogue of pre-produced tables to give "Zen Pinball 2" a proper coming out party, though no brand new tables make the Wii U collection anything special for "Zen Pinball" fans. Most notably, the "Star Wars" collection of tables did not make the Wii U cut, though chances are they will appear eventually. The developer is promising "Regular table releases through the Nintendo eShop," according to a release.
Each individual table will run you $2.99, while specific four-pack deals go for $9.99. Here's the initial list of available tables and package details, all of which are available as trial downloads as well:
Zen Classic Pack featuring Tesla, El Dorado, V12, Shaman
Marvel Pinball featuring Spider-Man, Wolverine, Blade and Iron Man
Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles featuring Marvel's The Avengers, Infinity Gauntlet, World
War Hulk, Fear Itself
Marvel Pinball: Vengeance and Virtue featuring X-Men, Thor, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight
Individual DLC Tables: Excalibur, Earth Defense, Sorcerer's Lair, Paranormal, Mars, Epic Quest,
Plants vs. Zombies, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Civil War