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This is an update to the Xbox 360 game Pinball FX and the first time the series appeared on PC. The game works as a hub, allowing players to purchase and play downloadable tables. All tables can be played freely for a few minutes. They are permanently unlocked or added by purchasing them as DLC. Major updates from Pinball FX include a revised physics engine and various graphical updates. Tables have six to eight different view options, along with optional supplementary effects like floating points numbers, a ball trail, or a picture-in-picture skillshot camera showing the next target on the table. The table's active LED display is also shown within a window, and can be moved to one of the four corners of the screen. Separate windows appear when the player is close to specific milestones (such as a high score, beating a friend, or moving up in the leaderboard). Players use the left and right triggers to control the respective flippers. Balls are shot into play either using a mechanical trigger or an analog plunger. You can also freeze the game and enter a free look mode, where they navigate a zoomed camera around the table to get a better sense of the layout. When this is activated high scores are not saved. All tables include a rules sheet that explains each mini-game's activation criteria and goals. An authentic operator's menu (driven through the LED display) allows loading difficulty presets, run light, and sound tests on the virtual circuitry, reset each table's local high scores, and calibrate aspects of each table (such as flipper strength and tilt sensitivity). While most of the tables are grounded in reality and based on physical pinball parts, the virtual nature is occasionally used to do things physical tables could not - figures on the table move and interact with the ball, some tables have secondary modes (like a day-to-night cycle, or temporary zero gravity), and objects are sometimes flown into or out of the table. Multiplayer options include split-screen, simultaneous over internet, or local hot seat for up to four players. Ranked multiplayer uses fixed rules where the players have infinite balls and try to be the first to reach a target score or highest score in a time limit. Unranked multiplayer can be customized. Leaderboards are also driven by Superscores and Wizard Scores. A player's Superscore is the player's highest score on each table, rounded to the nearest million. A player's Wizard Score is their Superscore, plus the Superscore of anyone on their Friends list, times the number of tables they own. The system encourages interaction, competition, and of course, buying more tables. Players can download the free version, play every table in a limited time trial mode, and/or purchase and play DLC tables. Each table has its own set of three achievements, usually tied to winning mini-games / missions. It contains the full and unrestricted table Sorcerer's Lair for free. |
