Moreover, while the designers strive for aural verisimilitude with the blockbuster film, the generic actors that perform the game's bits of dialogue sound very little like their big screen counterparts. The excellent Infinity Gauntlet table easily outshines this one, for example. Players can activate 'missions' by performing the right actions, such as hitting the proper number of bumpers or sending the ball through a particular character's lane a requisite number of times.ĭespite being serviceable, the table is ultimately a disappointment-it’s just not as dynamic as it could or should be, especially when compared to other Zen Marvel tables. As per usual, there are a number of lanes present, each representing a different Avenger, such as Captain America or Hawkeye, and a center hole, normally blocked by bumpers, representing Thor. The playfield itself is rather unremarkable. The ball launches from a Hulkbuster gauntlet, the fictional Eastern European country of Sokovia acts as the background setting, and Iron Man and Black Widow adorn the outskirts of the table. Like other Marvel-themed boards, the AOU table's aesthetic borrows heavily from the film on which it is based. They begin the game with an awkward dynamic of trying to keep two balls in play at once-not the normal pinball situation-and appear to be included for narrative reasons only: a strange decision for pinball, which is not a narrative-driven experience. Although players are able to skip them, these sections have always struck me as odd. Like other Zen Marvel pinball tables, the AOU board features a prelude section where players must juggle multiple balls as expositional, out-of-context dialogue plays in the background. Does it feel good? Does it produce suitably rhythmic play? How complex is the architecture and design of the table? What are its aesthetic qualities, if any? For most of these questions, the AOU table does not provide satisfactory answers. Rather, I judge pinball tables based on a number of admittedly esoteric criteria. Zen's newest Marvel board, Avengers: Age of Ultron (AOU), coincided with the launch of one of this summer's biggest blockbuster films.Ī caveat: I am not a pinball connoisseur. Zen Pinball has had a long relationship with Marvel and has developed tables based on intellectual property such as Spider-Man, Captain America, and more recently, Guardians of the Galaxy, just to name a few. The Zen Pinball games have made a lucrative business of licensing iconic geek franchises and offering gamers a pay-per-table business model. WTF Why is a pinball table based on a summer blockbuster so boring to play? HIGH Launching the ball from a Hulkbuster gauntlet.

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