Ant-Man (Pinball FX Table Review)

Special Note: Originally all Pinball FX tables were going to be posted to a single review guide, but there would have been loading issues. I’m splitting the guide into individual table posts.

Ant-Man
First Released July 14, 2015
Main Platform: Pinball FX
Switch Platform: Not Yet Released
Designed by Zoltan Vari
Pinball FX Set: Marvel Pinball Collection 2 ($29.99)
Links: Strategy Guide – Pinball FX Wiki

Ant-Man shares a lot of DNA with Theatre of Magic. The layout is largely a mirrored version of its layout. It makes for an interesting experiment, because the two pins couldn’t play or feel any more different.

How do you screw up an Ant-Man table? Seriously? It ain’t complicated! You do big and small things a lot. If any table invited a designer to get weird, it’d be Ant-Man. But, while there is a shrinking element, it’s such a grinding slog to activate. There’s a gigantic plastic ball (think Cirqus Voltaire) inside a ring as the central target that you have to ricochet into five targets. You have to hit all five targets enough times to shrink the ball to the size of a standard ball, at which point it’s small enough to fall under the ring. The rest of the table is the typical angles and shots you expect from a generic science lab theme. What’s strangest of all is how this feels like a tribute to The Pinball Arcade with its ultra-floaty ball. The skillshot is nearly impossible because the ball goes flying. In fact, the whole table might be the fastest-running pin in Pinball FX. This feels like some kind of oversight, where no adjustments were made for the new physics engine, and as a result, shots like the jump ramp, which is only “lit” for a moment, are a lot harder because the ball is too lively to catch, let alone have enough time to aim.

Signature Shot – Particle Ball: Easily the most notable shot on Ant-Man is this gigantic plastic ball. Whereas the plastic ball was Cirqus Voltaire’s “they’ve run out ideas” novelty, this actually works really well and makes for an exciting shot. It’s literally the only thing about Ant-Man I enjoyed.. except for the grinding. It takes too much work with this ball. It’s fun, but not so fun that I want to shoot it THAT much just to accomplish anything.

Dad, Sasha, and Jordi all liked the shot selection, and I’ll admit that Ant-Man’s layout is anything but boring. That’s why it’s such a shame that the table plays so poorly. Even Dad conceded that Ant-Man could use a lot of patchwork. For example, the table features a magna-save that still managed to drop the ball down the outlane about half the time. Still, that’s preferable to the Cassie Save attached to the left outlane, where you have to ricochet a ball up a chasm lined with rubber balls to get a second chance that’ll make you thank God for kickbacks being automatic on other tables. Lack of a proper scoring balance (three million points for a combo? On a table with scoring this incrementally low? YIKES!) ultimately pushes this one from merely dull to offensively dull, though let it be said that we weren’t unanimous in this. Angela agreed with me that the shrinkage multiball was a chore to grind-up and the table was dull overall, but she also felt hurry-ups were fun shots. Oscar felt the large ball wasn’t a slog and made for a fun and unique novelty two-ball, and Jordi just really liked the theme and shot selection. To each their own, I suppose!
Cathy: BAD (2 out of 5)
Angela: BAD
Oscar GOOD (3 out of 5)
Jordi GOOD
Sasha: GOOD
Overall Scoring Average: 2.6 – OKAY AT BEST