Phil Webster reviews South Park Pinball…
Zen Studios have already shown they know what they are doing when it comes to pinball. Their engine provides physics that give their numerous tables an accurate facsimile of the tactile satisfaction that comes from masterfully flipping pinballs around a carefully constructed landscape of lanes, orbits, bumpers and traps.
With the two new tables in this pack; South Park: Super-Sweet Pinball and South Park: Butters’ Very Own Pinball Game, you can expect the crude humour of the show in buckets. Super Sweet Pinball is a masterfully crafted table with a great deal to do that uses parts and characters from throughout all series of the show. Managing to hit the correct lane enough times to light up the name of one of the main characters usually leads to a skill shot themed around a memorable moment for that character. Kyle’s search for Mr. Hanky leads to a multi-ball special with Christmas poo-balls in place of pinballs whilst Stan needs you to hit that right lane to help him kiss Wendy without throwing up in her face. Help Randy fight Batdad for big points or help Jimmy through his drug problem in the special Olympics to activate kickback on the side lanes and yes, of course, you can give Cartman an anal probe.
With so much going on sound bytes often get queued and make for a confusing mish-mash of half quotes and quips. Whilst amusing at first the same quotes over and over will eventually start to grate but these are quite minor gripes on an otherwise fantastic and fun table. I didn’t come across a single dead zone or gutter trap whilst playing, always feeling it was my fault when losing a ball.
Butters’ Very Own Pinball Game is more simple in table design but just as full of humour and being concentrated on just one character means we get to visit more memorable themed moments from Butters’ history. The tables’ mini games revolve around different personas Butters’ has taken on throughout the show like Marjorene, the un-groundable vampire kid and fan favourite Professor Chaos.
All of the mini-games are activated through getting a ball into the tables’ spinning wheel followed by a shot into the centre trap making most of the content for this table easily accessible after a few attempts. It makes for another fun table with plenty of rewarding action but retains the minor flaws of Super Sweet Pinball, somewhat magnified by the sound bytes chosen from Butters’ radio show complete with microphone crackle.
if you just like pinball you will appreciate the intricacies of both tables and enjoy the amount of activities on offer. If you just like South Park I think you will find enough amusement packed into the tables to justify the small price tag, so if you like both pinball and South Park you are going to love these tables like I did.
Pros
– Loads of activities and mini-games
– South Park humour
– Closest you can get to real pinball
Cons
– Sound bytes can be jarring and repetitive
– Still not the real thing
Rating: 8/10
Phil Webster
Originally published November 12, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
