Ever since I purchased Pinball FX 2 I have slowly become addicted to the game and just recently finished buying all of the tables that have been released to date. When asked to review the latest table I jumped at the chance like a kid getting candy. Although not too familiar with the Splosion series I am a fan of Twisted Pixel and look forward to seeing their work put into a different title.
The Ms. Splosion Man table is themed after the arcade title of the same name Ms. Splosion Man, a sequel to Splosion Man. Having little familiarity with either of the titles the title was approached more with the gameplay in mind than the actual theme. One of the first things noticed was the enormous amounts of a pink throughout the table, almost to a distracting level. Making things worse were the complimenting colours to the pink, varying degrees of silvery white and aqua blue which caused the pinball to blend into the table so much that I often lost the ball within the table. As with the design of many of the tables in Pinball FX the main character, Ms. Splosion Man has the prominent bottom right position on the table. Throughout the game she dances along with the music and her telltale explosions have her “exploding” off the table after you set off a variety of triggers with the pinball. There is also the huge robot I battled with during the Ms. Splosion Man demo that lurks at the back of the table, which added to the gameplay quite a bit when it came to the table mini-games.
Like all of the pinball tables for Pinball FX 2 you are provided with a quality virtual pinball table with all the lights, animations and overall presence of a classic arcade table. The table designs are pretty much perfect but with the case of this table the colour scheme could have been improved so keeping your eyes on the fast moving pinball wasn’t quite so difficult or frustrating.
The background music is exactly the same music from Ms. Splosion Man which gives the atmosphere of the game immediate impact along with the squeals and laughter of Ms. Splosion Man. Ms. Splosion Man has also a few catchy phrases including one strange “Cotton Candy Panda” perhaps myself just missing the reference to the game. The ‘splosion sounds as the ball hits certain targets, the robotic sounds and beeps & bleeps that go off as the ball hits bumpers, ramps and walls just builds on an already fantastic sound experience. There are also the familiar whistles, dings, and the metallic travelling noise of the ball as it travels around the table that round out the sound department.
Although not very extensive in the variety of sound effects and music, sometimes the more simple a sound experience is better as it reduces another potentially distracting element to this table.
Pinball FX2 for those who don’t know is a highly rated pinball simulator that has nailed down all the mechanics, physics and charm of pinball into this virtual version. The ability to tilt the table, aim accurately with the pinball flippers and the overall themed gameplay is expertly done.
All these features with the addition of an array of themed objectives such as breaking down the glass panels, hitting a explosives on the table, shooting ramps to activate an awesome cannon that you can zoom in and aim with to hit hard to access ramps as well as many others make this Pinball experience a lot of fun and challenging at the same time. One of the mini-games is to take down the huge robot hanging out on top of the table which you have to eventually get Ms. Splosion Man to launch herself at him by hitting the right areas which can result in some great point gathering. Along with that game is the multi-ball experience which is pure insanity trying to keep track of all the balls going all over the place and if you’re really good you can keep this going for some time because if you keep at least two balls in play, the third will eventually be tossed back into the mix.
Like all of the other tables in Pinball FX2 there is a great multiplayer portion of the game where you can take turns with three other players or play against a friend in split screen mode. There is also the ability to take the game to Xbox Live where you can play against up to three other players or you can even participate in Tournaments.
Once again Pinball FX2 has a brand new table that I can add to my collection and add to the already extensive library that Zen Studios has. Although not their best work to date due to some purely cosmetic issues that takes away from the gameplay quite a bit, it is a fun table that you can rack up some huge scores pretty quickly. Now that we have a Ms. Splosion Man table where is my Comic Jumper Pinball hilarity?
