Marvel Pinball Avengers Chronicles
Developer: Zen Studios
Publisher: Zen Studios
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3 (Reviewed)
Release Date: June 19th 2012
Price: $9.99
Overview:
The critically acclaimed pinball game by Zen Studios Marvel Pinball has 4 brand new tables for players to enjoy: Fear Itself, World War Hulk, The Infinity Gauntlet, and the Avengers. Each table is based on various events in the Marvel universe.
World War Hulk:
World War Hulk is based on the events of World War Hulk and Planet Hulk back in April of 2006 to January 2008. The premise of World War Hulk actually started in Planet Hulk when the Marvel Heroes decided to ship Hulk into space, where he landed on the Planet of Sakaar. After Hulk took over Sakaar, Hulk set his sites on Earth to gain revenge against his former allies.
The table itself seems to have scenery based on Sakaar as Hulk is standing on the opposite side from the flippers. While playing you will hear Hulk talk about some things that happened on Sakaar and how he feels betrayed by the other heroes after they launched him into space. Other Heroes will chime in as they realize that Hulk is making them go through what he did on Sakaar. Out of the 4 tables World War Hulk is by far the easiest in terms of playability and being able to get high scores.
The Avengers:
The Avengers is based on the Film and has the most interesting gameplay out of the 4. There are 6 pinballs to select from with each one based on a specific avenger. Captain America and Iron Man are your standard pin ball and are slightly difficult to rack up points with so it’s best to get them in the base as fast as possible. The Hulk and Thor are the heavy hitters and can be used to rack up a large score though because of this they are harder to control, so it may be wise to use them last.
As for Hawkeye and Black Widow, they are for getting to the back of the table. They score less points then Iron Man and Captain America, but unlike Iron Man and Captain America they can get to back bumpers much easier and more often. Throughout the game you’ll here Loki talking, he is cocky and arrogant like usual and at certain points Thor will come in to fight Loki. Players will have hit curtain areas to charge Mulnear, how ever if the ball is lost then the sequence ends. Which ever character you select has their on dialogue. The Avengers Table is one of the more difficult in this pack.
Infinity Gauntlet
The Infinity Gauntlet Table is based the events that took place in the the Infinity Gauntlet back from July 1991 to December 1991. Thanos, a being from Titan, obtains various gems which turn his gauntlet into the Infinity Gauntlet which grants the wearer the ability to manipulate time, space, mind, soul, reality and power. Thanos, in an attempt to gain the affection of death, plans to kill half of the universe and Adam Warlock must stop him.
Thanos, Adam Warlock and the Silver Surfer occupy this table which is the most event driven out of the 4. In fact, nearly anything you do will trigger some sort of event, such as Silver Surfer attacking Thanos. This makes the Infinity Gauntlet table the most interesting table to play out of the other 4.
Fear Itself:
The Fear Itself table is without a doubt the most challenging out of the 4 tables. This table is based on the events of Fear Itself from April 2011 to October 2011. Sin, with the help Baron Zemo, releases the hammer of Skadi and actually becomes Skadi, where he then frees Serpent the Norse God of Fear. Once on Earth, Skadi and Serpent cause mass panic and destruction. Skadi kills Bucky and does battle with Steve Rogers who takes back the monicker of Captain America after Bucky’s death while Thor does battle with Serpent.
The table features two halves of Captain Americas shield as bumpers while Serpent and Skadi reside on the opposite side from the flippers. Events are hard to pull of due to how difficult the table is, but pinball fans looking for a challenge will love this table. While playing on the table players will hear Captain America yell out at Bucky’s Death as well as Thor stating that Skadi and the Serpent must be stopped while other Asgardians yell that they must return to Asgard. Out of the 4 tables included in this package, this one happens to be the most fun.
Overall:
In the end the package is well worth the price. Anyone how has Marvel Pinball should get this pack. The Best Pinball in a long time, plus the comic themes make it all the more worth it. So Pinball fans, and comic book fans will really enjoy this pack. There is something hear for all levels of pinball players from beginners to the hardcore. The only problem was that you couldn’t turn of the dialogue without muting everything, because sometime the dialogue got pretty annoying, but other then that Zen Studios did a fine job.
