The Avengers (Pinball FX Table Review)

The Avengers
First Released June 19, 2012
Main Platform: Pinball FX
Switch Platform: Not Yet Released
Designed by Thomas Crofts
Set: Marvel Pinball Collection 2 ($29.99)
Links: Strategy Guide – Pinball FX Wiki

Kickback – Sasha: I can’t believe they don’t like Avengers more! I like that Thomas Crofts set the table on the Helicarrier from the film. They didn’t have Avengers Tower yet! This is their first adventure! Most importantly, I think Cathy is wrong about the color scheme. I think the gray-metal setting works because it’s the characters that are supposed to be colorful and stand out, not the setting. The modes follow the movie and the shots use the character logos to guide you. That wouldn’t look as good without the chain-link floor. Avengers has complex rules and six different balls, each with their own unique attributes (see the next caption), but having the lights and character logos contrast everything else makes it easier to find the shots. The slingshots are really bad, which is why I can’t give it MASTERPIECE, but I was very close. Come on, Zen! I want to play this on my Nintendo Switch!

Between this and Han Solo, I think Zen should avoid metal-grated settings. It just never works out for them. In fairness, Avengers is hardly a bad table. It’s just not really a remarkable one, either. Besides the balls being individually decorated to resemble the Avengers themselves, I found the setting here is so drab to the point that it’s exhausting. This wasn’t unanimous, as my niece’s kickback noted. In terms of themes and modes, it’s such a safe table, you know? That’s how I felt about the first Avengers movie, too. Given how the property has, again and again, produced predictable, boilerplate-type PRODUCTS, I have to believe there’s someone from Marvel with arms like tree trunks brandishing a wiffle bat who provides the one mandate from Disney overlords: don’t f*ck this up! Thomas Crofts didn’t. Zen’s first Avengers pin is FINE. Not great. Not bad. Fine. Kind of bonkers, really, since this is essentially Attack from Mars with a superhero theme. The funny thing is, one of our inside jokes is that if Zen Studios had made Attack from Mars, the saucers would have required more hits to open and more to kill, and the slingshots would have been aimed at the outlanes and the game would be anything but generous with extra balls. And that’s basically what Avengers is.

Signature Element – Custom Balls: You’re not just picking a load-out for the score display. In Avengers, the balls are painted to match their corresponding hero. The gameplay effect is tied to the grinding, as each character reaches one their corresponding mode and/or bonuses in fewer shots. I put a LOT of stock in tables having enough flexibility that it allows players to come up with their own strategy. By all rights, having six balls with unique abilities and perks should open that up in a way few tables can offer. But, Avengers load-outs are wildly imbalanced. One of the balls is so overpowered that it becomes a no-brainer. It’s Captain America’s ball. It grants you longer ball save and a longer grace period for combos AND it makes the Loki fight easier AND you get more time in the Repair the Engines mode AND if you manage to pull off an eight-way combo, it lights the extra ball. None of the other five come close to offering that much value. In fact, no other balls offer exclusive extra ball opportunities. Like so many Zen pins, this is begging for an update that balances the scoring. Come on, Zen. Stern updates the rules to their older pins. We’re talking about excellent layouts not reaching their full potential.

Oh, it could have been a lot better. A potentially great table driver, placed smack-dab in the center, had potential to one-up the saucer with three side-by-side targets and accommodating rows of lights. Easily the most satisfying shot on the table, but all it does is launch predictable, bland modes. It’s also got some maddening difficulty spikes. The slingshots spoon feed the outlanes too much. It’s not just the actual spring mechanism, either. The heads of the slingshots are actually more dangerous than the moving parts. That’s a weird one, right there. For whatever reason, if the ball bounces off the head of the structure, it’s likely to say “good bye, cruel world” and plunge straight down the outlane before you even get a chance to defend against it. This isn’t the Defenders, after all. It’s the Avengers. Also, the rails are practically bibs for the outlanes. Why would you make a table based on a movie that’s supposed to be for everyone be so focused on demoralization? If not for the razor-sharp scoring balance, probably the best of that era from Zen, I would have been inclined to give Avengers a rating of BAD. But the shot selection is top-notch and the tilt-table ball lock I personally like better than the one on Indiana Jones. It’s just too bad about the difficulty, which turns a solidly GREAT pin into one that’s just barely, BARELY okay.
Cathy: GOOD (3 out of 5)
Angela: GOOD
Oscar: GOOD
Jordi: GOOD
Sasha: GREAT (4 out of 5)
Overall Scoring Average: 3.2 🧹CLEAN SCORECARD🧹
Some review copies were provided in this review, others were paid for.