Pinball FX2 is a bittersweet game for many Windows Phone gamers. A Windows Phone version of the popular Xbox 360 game was supposed to come along in 2012 (see our interview), but it turned into vaporware (unofficial cancellation) instead. At least it did come out on Windows 8, giving tablet and PC gamers plenty of pinball goodness to enjoy.
The Xbox One is still a new console and doesn't have a pinball game to its name. That will soon change with the arrival of Pinball FX2! Zen Studios' epic pinball platform has long been announced for Microsoft's latest console as part of the ID@Xbox program. And now the Xbox One version has an official release date: July 31. The base game will cost nothing and includes a full table for free! Read on for more details and a list of tables that will be available to buy at launch.
Xbox One tables
The Pinball FX2 client will be a free download and includes the original table Sorcerer's Lair completely free. This matches the game's release on other platforms like Android and iOS, as Sorcerer;s Lair has always been free on those systems. It was not free on Xbox 360 due to Microsoft's publishing restrictions, but thankfully Zen can self-publish now on Xbox One.
Other tables can be purchased individually for $2.49-$2.99, with packs of tables ringing up at $9.99. Each table has a free demo so players can try them before buying.
The launch tables include a mixture of original tables, plus licensed Marvel and Star Wars tables.
Licensed:
- Captain America
- Deadpool
- Doctor Strange
- Fantastic Four
- Marvel Civil War
- Marvel Pinball pack – Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, and Blade
- Marvel Pinball Avengers Chronicles: World War Hulk, Infinity Gauntlet, The Avengers, and Fear Itself
- Marvel Pinball Vengeance and Virtue: Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Thor, and X-Men
- Plants VS. Zombies – See our detailed impressions of this table!
- Star Wars Pinball: Heroes Within – Episode IV A New Hope, Han Solo, Droids, Masters of the Force
- Star Wars Pinball: Balance of the Force – Episode VI Return of the Jedi, Starfighter Assault, Darth Vader
- Star Wars Pinball Original pack – Episode V, Boba Fett, The Clone Wars
Original:
- Earth Defense
- Epic Quest
- Excalibur
- Mars
- Paranormal
- Pinball FX2 Core pack – Biolab, Pasha, Rome, Secrets of the Deep
- Sorcerer's Lair
- Zen Classics – Shaman, El Dorado, Tesla and V12
Coming soon:
- The Walking Dead
Xbox One details
The good news is that Pinball FX2 for Xbox One will be the best version of the game yet. It runs in 1080p at 60 frames per second, which should look really nice. It boasts a brand new menu interface. The Xbox 360 version's menus were a tad clunky, so the new menu should be an improvement. It will support worldwide tournaments, as I believe the 360 version did. And of course it will have new Achievements! Let's hope they're more humanly attainable than most of the 360 version's Achievements.
The bad news is that tables purchased in the Xbox 360 version will not transfer over to Pinball FX2 on Xbox One. We have only Microsoft to blame. Zen supports the cross-buy concept on Playstation platforms, but were denied the ability to share purchases between Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that universal apps are even a thing on Windows Phone and Windows 8 nowadays, right?
Cross-buy or no, a certain crowd of Xbox One owners (myself included) are starving for some pinball action on their new consoles. We'll soon have an excellent pinball game and tons of great tables to choose from. Stay tuned to Windows Phone Central for hands-on impressions with Pinball FX2 for Xbox One in the weeks to come!
