Pinball FX Hands-On

If there's one thing that the Xbox 360 has been sorely lacking until now it's a pinball game. But that problem will be addressed sometime in the not-too-distant future with the arrival of Zen's Pinball FX. We happened upon a playable (and presumably near-finished) version of Pinball FX as we explored an Xbox Live Arcade menu at a recent Microsoft press event. We also had an opportunity to spend some time with all three of the tables that were featured.

The first pinball table that we checked out was titled Agents. The artwork on the table included images of a Men in Black-style operatives in suits and shades. One of the table's most distinguishing features was a minigame that gave you the task of shooting a moving target on a small screen while launching your ball. The second table, titled Extreme, was daubed with images of skaters, graffiti artists, and other urban stereotypes. The table played quite differently from the previous one because most of the bumpers and targets were up on a raised platform that could only be accessed by hitting your ball up a tunnel. The final (and our favorite) table, titled Speed Machine, was themed after tuned-up cars and featured several ramps that were designed to look like highways and flyovers.

All of the tables appear to be quite unforgiving because the balls drop straight down the middle and down the sides. However, things got a little easier toward the end of our session when we realized that we were able to "tilt" the table by using one of the analog sticks. The all-important ball physics felt believable, and we're really looking forward to spending some more time with Pinball FX as its currently unconfirmed release date gets closer.