There are few companies out there that you can depend on to deliver quality games on a regular basis. Telltale always puts out quality point-and-click adventure games, Nintendo rarely disappoints with any of their outings, and Zen Studios always provides quality with their multitude of pinball tables.
In the past I have played their licensed tables, most recently with the excellent Walking Dead Pinball. This time around Zen Studios lightens things up with their latest table, Venom Pinball. Get ready to salivate over some symbiote fun as this Marvel licensed table brings the fun in spades.
Pinball and Spiderverse fans will enjoy what this table has to offer as the table features Eddie Brock as Venom as he goes toe-to-toe with his greatest enemy, Spider-Man. Not only that, but you’ll also be squaring off against the crazed monster, Carnage. There are lots of little touches that make the Zen Studios tables stand out and Venom Pinball is no exception.
Playing well will give you the opportunity to play three major events involving each of the tables characters. You can engage a mini-game that dives into the origins of the villainous, Carnage as well as getting to see Spider-Man don the original black suit symbiote in a really neat multiball event.
Venom Pinball is a bright and colorful table that is crammed with a lot of ramps, tubes, and table events. It’s a nice change from the more serious and dark nature of The Walking Dead Pinball from a few months back. As this table isn’t tied to any one series or arc, Zen had the opportunity to let the table be the star, as opposed to the licence.
They pull it off for the most part, but for such a crammed board it does feel a little light on content. You won’t find the depth of The Walking Dead board with its plethora of table events, and because it’s not following any script, you may feel that the table is a little disjointed from the Venom character. For fans of the character they may feel a little disappointing, but fans of straight pinball will enjoy this one immensely.
The table is chock full of features with the coolest being the webbed ball. With this you can save a ball for later use once you find this special capture saucer. This can really help in a pinch when you lose a ball if you are on a big points run. Spider-sense is another neat features that grants you the ability to “sense” when you are in danger of losing a ball in one the the tables outlanes. You can nudge the table at just the right moment when your spider-sense activates and save your ball by bouncing it back into play. It’s not easy to pull off, but when you do it feels awesome.
While the table may look fairly simple in design, Zen have done a great job of keeping you interested by having a lot of ways to score big points and open up new in-table events. There are a number of 3-way combo that can be racked up in quick succession as well as on big 4-way combo that ups in value by one million points with every success until capping out at 20 million. Those that take time to learn the board can easily rack up big points and fight for a place on the leader boards with the number one player having over 45 million points!
If you are looking for a fun pinball table with a nice Marvel twist, Venom Pinball is a pretty nice way to go. While it may intentionally let down some Spider-Man fans, if you give it time and learn the table, you’ll find yourself coming back over and over again. Give this one some time to grow on you and at $2.99 you really are getting a great amount of pinball fun.
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