Pinball FX2 (XBLA): "Epic Quest"

Zen Studios have produced some spectacular pinball tables in the years that they've been involved in game development. This time around though they really outdid themselves with a unique pinball table experience that combines the elements of RPGs with all of the goodness of a Pinball FX2 table. The table I speak of is called "Epic Quest", and the title definitely suits the experience you'll get when you play the table. I honestly think that Zen Studios covered every single element you'd find in a classic, or even modern RPG. There's HP, MP, Spells, A Ranking/Leveling system, Upgradeable weapons/armor, and epic boss/creature battles that continue even after you have lost. The brilliant innovation that Zen Studios has applied to this table goes way beyond just RPG elements, but also includes some "Epic" replay value. It's something you won't find anywhere else in the pinball gaming world at this current time. I know you guys, and gals have been awaiting my review, so I'll go ahead and get into it ...

Epic Quest is a table that takes the classic knight, and princess tale a good bit further. As Max the knight you must conquer the beasts of this medieval land, and tend to your beloved princess in the process. You will rank up as you would in any RPG, and gain more respectable titles as you do so. At your disposal you have a customizable setup of weapons, and armor. You can gain loot from your fallen adversaries, and switch out your current equipment as you earn more. You will encounter a wide array of enemies that must be dealt with by using parries, shields, sword strikes, and even spells. Among those creatures you'll find vampires, trolls, living trees, rats, ghosts, and other fantastical creatures of darkness. It will take all of your pinball expertise to come out on top in this whimsical "Monty Python" inspired table.

Epic Quest has a lot of features that mimic what you'd find in other RPG games. For example the two center ramps are your shield, and your sword. When you trigger a battle with a creature (via the stage theater side slots) you will need to strike it down with sword attacks by flipping the pinball up the corresponding ramp with a sword image on it. You can also block attacks by flipping the pinball up the ramp with the shield image. Aside from your basic attack (sword), and defense (shield) you can also flip the pinball up the far side lanes in order to parry or dodge an attack. Another RPG related feature is the ability to trade out equipment (swords, axes, shields) as you win loot. The weapons and shields come in three different grades (common = yellow, better = blue, epic! = purple) that are determined by text color via the dot matrix. There is also a ranking (XP) system in "Epic Quest". It involves a rank title (Minor Knight, Knight, High Knight, Champion, Monster Hunter, Golden Knight, Arch Night, Veteran Looter, Epic Hero), and a digital bar that that keeps track of the XP you earn from boss battles.

There are quite a few bumpers, ramps, lanes and launchers in "Epic Quest". In the center of the table you'll find a water wheel that will take the pinball to an upper level flipper. From this flipper you can flip the pinball through a track that leads to a stage like puppeteer play which showcases the upcoming "Encounter Mode" fight. The bumpers are located around a pink, and purple monster tree that is located to the left of the water wheel .This monster tree is part of a side quest that can earn you a fairly decent amount of points if you can hit it a certain amount of times before losing your current pinball. The shield ramp doubles as a side quest ramp as well. When you are not in "Encounter Mode", and pass through this ramp enough times you will trigger the "Bat Country" event. After this event is triggered you merely have to enter or exit the ramps with the lit up bat symbol beneath them. The more ramps you successfully enter/exit during this event the more points you will earn. I actually ended up getting over a million points in that event alone. Aside from the "Bat Country" event there's also a similar multi-ball event that involves skeletons. It plays out pretty much the same as the "Bat Country" event requiring to to enter, and exit the appropriately marked ramps.

There are plenty of ways to score in in "Epic Quest". Among the previously stated ways you will also find another multi-ball event called "Princess Multi-ball". This event is triggered by landing three pinballs into the Princess roulette table. After you land the three pinballs an announcement from Max the knight will occur, and they'll be launched onto the table. The "Princess Multi-ball" roulette table also doubles as a sort of bonus event with things like an extra ball, jackpot, and super jackpot that are available if you land the pinball in the appropriate roulette/princess slot. I actually forgot to mention something a couple paragraphs above about the spells system, so I'll tackle that here. There are spells that can be gained/used during boss battles though the puppeteer stage mechanism. By pushing the pinball in one of the four holes (via bars) you will gain elemental scrolls, spells, and trigger boss battles. In this way the puppeteer stage has multiple uses during gameplay.

In conclusion I found "Epic Quest" to be the most impressive Pinball FX2 table to date! Zen Studios took an innovative approach to this table, and succeeded in making it one of the best tables currently available. The way they utilized various RPG elements was brilliant. I actually wanted to keep playing the table just to see what equipment I could get for Max, and of course to shoot for that highest score. The replay value of this particular table definitely goes way beyond what you'd find in most pinball related games. It even surpasses the replay value of other genre based games I've played. The bells & whistles (metaphorically speaking) that Zen Studios added including the ability to reset your rank stats when you max out at level 100 really makes the table stand out from others in the Pinball FX2 series. I could go on, and on about how great this table was, but the fact of the matter is that it's a Pinball FX2 table worth having. In fact I "Highly Reccomend" that you add this to your Pinball FX2 library if you haven't done so already!!!