Have you ever wondered what football would be like if you crossed it with pinball? No, of course you haven't. Zen Studios has, though, and the product is quite entertaining.
Zen Pinball 2's Super League Football downloadable content comes down to three questions: Do you like pinball? Do you like football? Would you be willing to spend £2.99 ($2.99) to fuse the two?
Do you like pinball?Super League Football replaces the standard Zen Pinball 2 table with a footie-themed variant. For the asking price, players get the Super League Football table and the choice of extra table featuring either; Arsenal, Liverpool, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid C.F., A.C. Milan, Juventus, and A.S. Roma.
The DLC isn't just a simple skin pack, mind. Instead of a lever that would normally thrust the ball upwards, there's a footballer who boots the football up and onto the table. At the top of the table, meanwhile, is a sectioned-off goal area with moving cut-outs endeavouring to block shots.
Do you like football?Another amusing addition is evident whenever you try to use outside means to win. Should you tilt the table, you get a yellow card. If you tilt it again, you get a red card and the flippers stop working.
It's all surprisingly pleasant and not overly gimmicky. Of course, it's not possible to capture the magic of a football match in anything else other than a football game. But when the crowd are cheering, and the commentators are spouting their regurgitated nonsense, it's hard not to get caught up in the action.
Would you like to fuse the two?It's a shame all the different DLC packs are identical bar a colour change depending on the team selected, but in the game's defence, most players will buy their team to play with and ignore the other packs, so it's not really worth grumbling too much about the superficiality of the differences.
If you like pinball, and if you like football, and if you have just under £3 knocking about, Super League Football is easy to recommend. It's original, and more importantly, it's fun. So at the end of the day, isn't that all that really matters?
Zen Pinball 2: Super League Football
Zen Pinball 2: Super League Football is an inventive and exciting take on two classic games
Wesley Copeland
Wesley Copeland loves video games. Probably more than he should. In fact, while you're reading this, he's probably Googling how to find a specific piece of armour or beat a certain boss. It's a disease.