Multi Zen Pinball 2

Finally Zen Pinball 2 has it's official PS3 release date!

It will be released on September the 4th.

Zen Pinball 2 is a combining of both Zen Pinball and Marvell Pinball on the PS3 with a better ball physics engine. Every table including those not owned will be able to be play tested. Any tables owned prior to the launch of ZP2 will be available to play fully on ZP2. As I understand it the Fantastic Four table is not going to be available for those who have it upon launch but will be released shortly afterwards.

Another great feature of ZP2 is that any tables owned on the PS3 will be fully playable on the Vita version and vice versa.

In some additional news a PopCap inspired table is to be launched on the same day.

I have been excitedly waiting for this news.

 

I missed the tweet but I did see the official announcement by Zen Studios on Facebook.

So excited that I posted an SNR blog post about it.

EDIT : You must have tweeted me just after I saw the news and was making this and the blog post. Thanks for the thought.

 

More news for the imminent release of Zen Pinball 2. They revealed the PopCap table this morning and as speculated it is indeed going to be a Plants vs Zombies table.

The table itself is very fantasy with zombies walking down it and other such although personally I'm more of a fan of classic pinball rather than unreal simulations. The table itself will feature a fogging effect during the attack cycle similar to the classic tower defence Plants vs Zombies. The day time phase is when you collect money and sun to setup the defences to keep the zombies at bay and apparently there's a melon chucker on the table as well.

 

I've a sneaky suspicion we're not going to see the release today but tomorrow due to the PS Store update being Wednesday not Tuesday.

 

Yeah, it's great and very well put together. I'm going to make a post for the blog this evening. There's a lot of changes, some good, some not so but the overall package is very solid and plays well. If you've never owned the prior titles then each table can be played as a time limited demo. If you've owned Zen Pinball 1 or Marvel Pinball all the tables owned for those two titles will be fully available to play on ZP2.

Scores have not carried over from the prior titles but I'll make sure I set something close tp them so that you all have a challenge. Starting with Blade.

 

First impressions published on the front page and tweeted at zen_studios.

 

Yinkin it's the new physics engine. The ball reacts more like you'd expect it to and feels like it has more weight to it. Especially transitioning ZP1 to ZP2.

There are a couple of bugs though. I've signed up on the Zen forums and have reported two of them.

• Motion control being far too sensitive to the extent it even bumps untouched on a flat surface
  Captain America hurry up, save bucky, central adhesive X ramp doesn't always detect if the ball is moving at speed

All in all I'm hugely impressed. I played Marvel Pinball to death as I preferred it's physics over ZP1 once I'd played it. The new engine running the original ZP1 tables is a joy. No more hugely spinning out of control balls flying around the table or vanishing through ramps.

I like and dislike the change to stick ball launch controls. Whilst it's more "realistic" I find it less accurate than the pressure sensitive X key. Still that's not stopped me playing.

I'm going to jump on Marvel at some point and make a note of my scores so that I have something to aim for. I know I'm not even close to my Ironman score although I'm chuffed that I PB'd Blade on my first play of the table.