Here we are again, with yet another DLC from Zen Studios: Mars Table for ZEN Pinball. This marks Zen Studio’s 5th DLC for their incredible Pinball simulator, and they have been doing a great job bringing in quality table after quality table. So how does this one fair? Let’s find out.

First and foremost, as expected from any new DLC table from Zen Studios, it looks very pretty. However, unlike previous tables, this one is not as ostensibly impressive. Looking at the Excalibur table, or the Earth Defense table, all the cool little mini games and missions are already present on the table, giving the table a very impressive initial look. However, the Mars table is a little different. Many of the mission animation is “flown in” to the table. For example, when you activate the spaceship mission, a shuttle flies in and lands on the table, or when activating the satellite mission, a space satellite hovers over your table. There is definitely more than meets the eye with this table. On a side note, my two favorite icons/animation are the cool holographic icons as targets for some of the missions, and a sweet robotic space spider that acts as the ball saver and kickbacks. Martian robotic space spider: sweet.

So how does the actual table play? I couldn’t help but feel that this table was beginner friendly. It usually takes me at least a good 3 or 4 tries just to even activate and understand a mission, let alone finish it. But with this table, I was able to complete my first mission on the second try. Of course, I’m not expert pin baller, but I felt that this table definitely had enough going on to keep you coming back. I’m not going to get into all the details of the available missions and mini games, one because I haven’t spent enough time to experience them, and two, you can always look at the Rule Sheet.

All in all, I thought this table was rather excellent. It’s got a good mix of beginner friendliness and challenge. And all of the animation associated with the different missions (at least the ones that I was able to achieve) were just really entertaining. Another great table and another rewarding purchase from Zen Studios! The Mars Table is available on the PSN for $2.49.

Our Score: 8.5 /10

A well balanced table filled with surprises.

Before we get into the DLC review, I’d like to give a kudos to Zen Studio for a steady stream of DLCs. DLCs, the good ones, add so much more value to the original game. And with a game like ZEN Pinball, it really brings out the collector in us with each new table. First it was Street Fighter, then Ninja Gaiden Sigma II, Earth Defense, and now, the latest table to add to the mix is Excalibur.

Excalibur

 So I’m going to come right out with it: this wasn’t my favorite DLC.  It didn’t have the enchanting and capturing feel that the other add-on tables had, especially the first two.  But that doesn’t mean that this is a bad DLC. In fact, I’d have to say that this DLC has a lot to offer. First of all, it has everything you’d expect from a ZEN Pinball table, including high quality visuals and pinball simulation. 

A small playfield in the upper corner of the table

But the main prize with this table is the number of quests and challenges you can take on. Along with the various objectives that need to be met on the main playfield, this table also offers two mini play field, one in the top right corner, complete with its own set of bumpers, as well as a mini joust game at the lower right corner. There is quite an adventure packed into this table.  

Joust!

But with that said, I also have to put in a disclaimer. Like ClassicMoments said, it’s hard to be conclusive about these tables because it’s more a matter of taste than anything. For me, Street Fighter holds a dear spot in my heart, and so naturally, when I hear the familiar sounds and see the familiar actions, it makes me happy and enjoy it even more. Like I mentioned before, this table provides all of what you’d expect from ZEN Pinball and Zen Studio, and then some. Do I think it’s worth the $2.49 purchase? Definitely yes. Is it my favorite Zen Studio DLC? No. The rest is up to you guys.

Our Score: 8.5 /10

An action-packed table filled with adventure.

Famous for their awesome pinball machine simulator, ZEN Pinball, ZEN Studio announced today their new project; Planet MiniGolf. And of course, they’ve sent us the Work-In-Progress screenshots:

And before we give you more information about it, let’s go through the features list:

• A deep and engaging single player campaign taking players through fantastically designed courses with over 140 different holes.
• Worldwide Tournament Play – Set up personal tournaments with a group of friends or go online up against gamers from around the world
• Golf Course Editor – Build, manage and share golf courses…make them crazy, challenging and wacky and then upload to share them online!
• PlayStation Move Functionality – Planet MiniGolf will be fully compatible with PlayStation 3’s upcoming motion control system, “Move.”
• Multi-national Game – Countries in the world are represented on the global leader boards!

Did you notice something there? That’s right. They’ve done a very good job rendering the girl’s boob. We love it. Oh, and it supports PlayStation Move, of course.

So far we can tell that this is going to be a arcade-fun minigolf experience. We don’t know if the game will implement realism-accurate physic engines or not, but even Sudoku games probably comes with some kind of physic engine nowadays, so we wouldn’t worry too much about it.

We’ll let you know how it plays out once we get our hands dirty to it.

Last time when ZEN Studios sent us an image teaser, it was a bit too obvious. This time though, we don’t see any indication of ZEN Pinball-related images.

Well, that logo can be related to ZEN Pinball we guess.
And are those…… Ninja Gaiden characters??
Could it be? Can it be???

They told us that there will be announcement on official Sony Playstation Blog tomorrow.
We’ll let you know as soon as we get the news!

If you have played ZEN Pinball for PS3, you know that it’s simply the best pinball machine simulator out there, you know that it’s fun too. With all its modern pinball technicalities, it’s as good as it gets when it comes to pinball games for gaming consoles. And it looks like ZEN Studio, the developers of ZEN Pinball, aren’t going to stop there.

ZEN Studio announced its first DLC for the ZEN Pinball on PS3, though they took some time before they spilled the beans. It wasn’t a huge deal anyway, since we already knew that many developers are trying to satisfy their fans (and their financial status) by releasing DLCs from time to time. It was almost expected. Almost.

But then we heard it was going to be one of the most respected franchise of all time: Street Fighter II.

Nice. Very nice.

In partnership with Capcom, ZEN Studio promised that gamers will be able to see and feel the originality that Street Fighter II has brought us since its memorable debut. And since we’ve already seen what to expect from our ZEN Pinball review, we will focus more on the DLC instead of the whole game itself.

The Stree Fighter II Tribute Table DLC features a total of nine characters from the SF series; Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Sagat, Akuma, Vega, Balrog and M. Bison. Those are just the playable characters though. There are other characters like Blanka or Zangief that help you out to get boost your score. One of the great things about this DLC is that it uses the original sound effects from the Street Fighter series. Whenever the player  hits a target and hears the sound, it just brings back so many memories (at least those of you old enough to have experienced Street Fighter II in the arcade). All the quarters we invested, that certain aroma only the arcade has, kids having seizures all over the ground.. Ahh, good times.

The table layout is high quality, as expected. It isn’t an exact replica of real-world Street Fighter II pinball machines out there, but with the unlimited resources the in-game environment has, ZEN Studio came up with their own creative design. We’re glad they didn’t go too far to break the physics though; it feels like a genuine ZEN Pinball table that simulates real pinball machines. All the challenges are well balanced to provide many hours of gameplay, and you can relive some old school SF moments like crushing a car with a flurry of kicks and punches or barrels just waiting to be broken into pieces.

With everything well placed and designed, some of us actually wanted more out of it. It’s as good as any ZEN Pinball player would expect, but some might say that it’s just that; it doesn’t go beyond expectations. For the price, ($2.49 US and €1.99 ) it’s understandable that people would want more. It’s a high quality DLC for sure, but considering that some full downloadable games go as low as $5, the price can seem a bit expensive for one table. But then again, this one table translates into many, many hours of gameplay.

This is the first DLC for ZEN Pinball and so far, we love it. The nostalgia effect is just awesome. It is a high quality DLC that both pinball and Street Fighter fans can enjoy, and we can only hope that ZEN Studio brings us more high quality tables.

Our Score: 9 /10

An excellent addition to the great ZEN Pinball tables.

If you have played Zen Pinball for PS3, or read our review about them, you would know it’s a very high quality pinball machine simulator. We dare to say that so far, it’s the best pinball machine simulator in the world. Good job, ZEN Studio.

Today morning, ZEN Studio dropped us a line saying, “There’s going to be an announcement.” It’s so big that they’re going to announce it tomorrow on official PlayStation blog. You just can’t get more serious than that, right?

When we asked for the hint, they sent us a picture

It can be easy if you’re a fan of ZEN Studio’s work.
..And is that a Street Fighter character that I see?

We don’t know for sure, but we can take a guess. A crazy one that might involves a DLC or two.
You guys can discuss this at our forum as well.

Before we talk about The Punisher: No Mercy, I want to say this first. I had high hopes for this title. Yes, the game originates from the renowned comic series, The Punisher, but that wasn’t the only reason. The game was being developed by Zen Studio. If you followed our reviews since the start of our website, you might remember Zen Studio as the developer of Zen Pinball, one of the most sophisticated pinball machine simulator so far. That’s why we were more excited than usual when we heard that Zen Studio is in charge of The Punisher: No Mercy project. Let’s take a quick look at the gameplay.

The game itself isn’t in such a bad shape, but sadly, it doesn’t take too long before the players begin to spot problems. To put it as simple as we can, it’s a “M for mature 17+” rated game that has multiplayer aspects even in single player mode. Nothing more, nothing less. No matter how many different ways we’ve tried to experience the game, it’s safe to say that this game is definitely designed for online multiplayer sessions.

The single player experience follows the story of The Punisher (of course), and the comic-style presentation looks cool. That doesn’t mean the story telling is good though; it wasn’t easy for us to understand what the game was trying to tell us. Fortunately(or unfortunately), miscommunication between the game and the player doesn’t matter much because every single level is pretty much the same. The player kill a certain number of bots within a certain amount of time. You kill, die, respawn then kill some more before you die again for another respawn. It’s basically a series of arenas with bots, like Unreal Tournament back in the day. It gets old rather quickly unless you’re a die-hard fan of the genre.

Talking about Unreal series, this game is based on the Unreal Engine 3, and it also utilizes the PhySX engine from nVidia. The graphics is sharp and very well detailed. But this isn’t going to really impress many gamers though due to the lack of good design. What’s the use of shiny, high quality textures if the enemies look like background thugs from 80′s movies? The main characters do look good, but you don’t get to even see them while you’re playing unless you fight them in the boss battles. And you hardly find any amazing in-game physics in the game. Yes, it’s a budget priced title, but I did want to see more from the UE3 and the PhySX engine. The audio is alright, and surround sound is a welcomed addition to such a genre where spotting your enemy by sound can be crucial. But for some reason the default audio settings were set to have loud sound effects and 50% BGM volume, making it hard to feel the dynamic sound until we tweaked a few audio volumes here and there. We came across a small audio bug where after the player dies in single player, the moment before you respawn, the BGM disapears and you hear nothing but silence. Weird.

The overall online gameplay experience wasn’t too bad though. You can use items you’ve unlocked in single player mode in your multiplayer sessions, and special skills called “mods” will also add another layer of strategy to the game. It might not be as deep into gameplay as some of the popular titles out today, but this kind of gameplay kind of takes me back, and reminds me of the good ol’ Unreal days.

Personally, I would actually prefer 60 frames per second with a bit lower texture quality or less polygon numbers, especially in online FPS multiplayer sesesions. Many gamers do own LCD HDTV that has about 6ms responsive time, and with 30 frames per second, it could make sensitive eyes a bit tiring. I also think that the cussing with F and S words between characters wasn’t worth the M rating from ESRB, but these are my personal preferences so it may not matter much to you.

So, will this game be for you? We can’t say for sure. I mean, I’m not a hardcore FPS gamer that beats every FPS out there, but when I play, I do stay on the top of the scoreboards in online matches. I couldn’t decide if The Punisher: No Mercy is a good buy or not for the price. This PSN title cost $10 which isn’t too expensive, but there are many good FPS games out there for PS3 already. I guess if you’re really a fan of the comic series, or if you played all the other good FPS games out there for the PS3 and are looking for more, this can be a fun title. But if you’re used to high quality FPS, this can be a turn off for your fragging needs.

Our Score: 7.5 /10

This old-fashioned FPS might bring some satisfactions to the hardcore FPS gamers, but that’s where it stops.

We have our very first game review by two of our writers ClassicMoments and GillsRider, and our guest writer, Spencer! We’ll be looking at the new PS3 version of Zen Pinball from ZEN Studio. Zen Pinball is a realistic pinball simulator that includes four tables : V12, Tesla, Shaman and El Dorado.

ClassicMoments: I honestly haven’t played many pinball machines. I don’t have much knowledge about pinball. All I know about pinball is that it’s a game where you try to save the ball by using the flippers. I tried it a couple of times at one of my favorite local pizza places back in the day, but lost my quarters faster than I could say “What the…!” But now, I can play pinball as much as I want without losing my quarters, thanks to Zen Pinball.

Spencer: I consider myself a bit of a pinball fanatic – having owned my own physical pinball machine and having obsessed over many others. So when I was asked to help out with this review, I was quite excited as you might imagine. I purchased Zen Pinball’s Pinball FX on the Xbox 360 and played it extensively, gathering a few scoreboards rankings here and there before being knocked off by better players; I have to say I enjoy Zen Studios’ Zen Pinball for the PS3 much more than its Xbox 360 predecessor.

GillsRider: I think I’ve actually played on a physical pinball machine once, and that was because someone had started a game and had to leave. I do however, have  some pinball experience: 3D Pinball: Space Cadet (remember this game on Windows!?). Needless to say, I know close to nothing about pinball machines, the physics behind it, or the fact that each pinball machine has its own set of rules and objectives to score high points. Even so, my experience with Zen Pinball was a pleasant one.

Graphics:

CM: The first thing I noticed with Zen Pinball was its very detailed graphics. You can hardly tell the aliasing artifacts unless you own a very large sized HDTV. Even if you’re not a computer-whiz who knows all of the latest 3D-graphical terms, you’ll immediately notice that Zen studio tried to make not just another fun pinball game, but an accurate pinball machine simulator like no other.

Spencer: Like CM mentioned, this game is a pinball simulation and the visuals serve to emphasize this. The graphics in Zen Pinball are fantastically realistic depictions of pinball tables. The wire ramps and reflections off the mirrored ball look great, as do the various lighting and special effects. The processing power of the PS3 is really utilized well to draw the player into the table and make them feel as if they are playing on a real machine.

I found the art direction for each of the tables appealing and unique (although the “Shaman” table was a bit politically-incorrect…), but my favorite has to be the “El Dorado” table, with its lush greens and overgrown stone colors blending well into the playfield design. The style here gives off an awesome “Indiana Jones” style feeling, and the stone totem dominating the upper left playfield is fantastic.

GR: This game is just so pretty. Each table looks immaculate down to the very last detail. The Free View mode allows you to freely move the camera around the table and inspect the machine (the current game pauses) using the Sixaxis feature on the PS3 controller. This feature was very very awesome.

Audio:

CM: As important as the visuals are, sound is also a critical factor for a pinball game. Zen Pinball undoubtedly emulates modern machines, and it emulates them right. Sounds are accurate yet punchy, and you definitely feel like you’re playing the real deal. The BGM tracks are not bad at all either. The only downside is the voice acting, but even then it goes surprisingly well with some of the tables. I just wished there were a variety of voice tracks for us to choose from. However, you always have the option of turning them off and playing your own playlist from the XMB. A very nice option indeed.

Spencer: True-to-life, the creators here went for very typical soundscapes on modern pinball machines. Gone are the clanging bells and chimes of the machines form the 1960s and 70s; these tables sound very similar to the brand new state-of-the-art style machines. The voice acting is a little cheesy, but I enjoyed it. The booming god-like voice on “El Dorado” reminded me of the voice of Olmec on the Nickelodeon show I used to watch as a kid, “Legends of the Hidden Temple.” Pinball isn’t really a super serious medium anyway. It’s not like they’re trying to tell me a Shakespearean story (though I do think that might make an awesome theme for a table), so the cheesy Olmec-voice and the silly thick Russian accent on the “Tesla” table work well.

GR: All I can say is I definitely enjoyed the cheesy voices. I felt that the cheesiness of the voices further adds to the realistic experience of playing on a pinball machine (and I just LOVED all the little songs and cries the natives made in “Shaman”, no matter how politically incorrect they were).

Gameplay:

CM: Again, I wasn’t a big fan of pinball machines so I don’t know how a real pinball machine reacts to the physics and controls, but this game has an amazing feel of reality. Everything translates well what a player should feel, and everything moves the way a player would expect. But a good simulator doesn’t mean an easy game; it just means it’s closer to a real life pinball machine. So if you’re not good in real life, you wouldn’t be good at this game. You need time to actually learn the machines.

Spencer: Being a pinball fanatic, I have improved my skills considerably since my humble beginnings, but believe me when I tell you, pinball is a game of skill, not luck. Knowing whether to tap the flippers or to hold them down, where to launch the ball off the flipper to hit the shot you are aiming for, are all great skills to learn if you want to truly enjoy this game. Hell, the fact that I am even speaking about these machines as if they were real physical pinball machines (and the fact that my skills on a physical machine translate to the game) is a testament to the hard work put in by Zen Studios to create a true simulation of the game of pinball.

GR: Like CM, I can’t comment on how accurate the physics emulation is on this game due to my lack of pinballing experience, but I can definitely say that it feels real. The biggest difference I noticed in the way this game feels is in the weight of the ball. The pinball being flung across the playing field actually feels like it has weight, unlike the little silver dot on Space Cadet that glides all over the place. Hitting the ball with the flippers, I can almost feel the slight vibration you might feel when they make contact. I would say even without the sweet graphics and sound, this realism alone makes it an incredible simulator.

Multiplayer:

CM: This is where I felt Zen Pinball really shines, or I should say, could shine. Multiplayer is always fun. But, we experienced a freeze during our initial search for a match, and this was the first and only game freeze we’ve experienced with our PS3s. Like I said, it happened only once, and it looks like the game recovered perfectly well after a reboot. But it kinda leaves a bitter taste.

Spencer: Unlike CM, when I heard this game offered multiplayer, I was a bit concerned. Knowing that when I am having a great game, it can take me up to 10 minutes to lose a single ball, I was worried about what I would  run into when I faced a great player on the PSN Network. However, the multiplayer mode here handles this concern perfectly, offering a “race-to-the-score” style of play, where each player plays on his own individual machine, trying to beat the other players in the game to a pre-determined score (I find 10million to be the most fun). Each player is associated with a color, and there is a simple progress bar displayed on the top of the screen showing how close to the goal each color is.

GR: Like many games, multiplayer gives Zen Pinball an even higher replay value, and adds competition. It even supports the PS3 Eye, and other PS3 compatible webcams. The players’ feeds are displayed next to the dot matrix display and outlined in the color corresponding to their icon on the progress bar. It’s kind of a neat little function, especially playing with your friends, but when playing strangers, it’s just weird and the webcam obstructs the upper part of your table.

Overall:

CM: I am pleased, and am having fun. Though I do have a wish list, it just means that I really enjoyed the title now and am planning to have more fun with it. This game could have earned a higher score if it wasn’t for the minor bug we all experienced, but it is also the best pinball game out there for the current generation of video gaming. Bold statements like that don’t come out easily, but I dare to say it and I dare YOU to play if you have the chance. I sure hope that ZEN Studio is working on the next machine. I can’t wait.

Spencer: While I think V12 is the weakest of the four tables offered in the game, each one is extremely well designed, with deep rulesets that will keep you interested for hours. These tables could truly be built in real life and played with fantastic results – they aren’t shoddily thrown together layouts and are a large improvement upon their predecessors found in Pinball FX.

As a pinball fanatic, I strongly recommend this game to anyone who has any interest in pinball whatsoever. If you’ve ever been interested in buying a pinball machine, this is the closest representation I’ve ever seen in virtual form. You can even edit the game settings using an operator menu which looks and functions exactly like operator menus do on a real life machine. Even if you never even realized pinball tables had different rules and you weren’t just supposed to randomly bash the ball around, you could learn how to play on these tables.

GR: Even as an extremely inexperienced pinballer, I had a lot of fun with this game. Though I initially felt the learning curve was a bit steep, I was able to pick it up fairly quickly, and was able to actually tackle the available objectives and challenges. Being able to access the ruleset anytime through the pause menu definitely makes this game more accessible to the newbies. Like Spencer, I really felt that not only was this a fun game, but its an excellent introduction to and simulation of the world of pinballs.

Our Score: 9 / 10

We DARE you to play this awesome pinball simulator!

REVISION #1 (2009/05/20) : Scoreboards are now fixed. The players outside of top 1,000 rank can check their own scores and ranking.