Smoots Pinball | PS4 Review

Smoots. What is a Smoot? This is a question I pondered while I tried to figure out my final verdict on this five table pinball package. All I know is that Smoots are basically tied to various sports style mobile games, and are miniature people-like representations of sports players. This is fitting in the case of this new pinball release as four out of the five tables are sports themed. Down to the pinball itself. You get a baseball, summer games, tennis, golf, and zombie table for one lowly price. Each with their own theme, balls, and special effects. Complete with extras in the form of unlockable 2D and 3D art assets. Is it all worth it though? That's the question that begs to be answered.

If you aren't a diehard Smoots fan, and could care less if they existed or not then Smoots Pinball will not be the game for you. It is very much a Smoots experience, and carries with it the same brand name character models you'd see in those mobile titles. Table-wise there's nothing really profound or fun about what is offered. Not even on the zombies table. 

All tables seem to adhere to the same design logic featuring a few bumper clusters, a few plinker targets, a ramp, or some raised tube/rail pathway for bonus points. That, and light up wording for spelling out the table's theme to some capacity. Special effects are minimal, and the center playing field mostly bare across most of the available tables. Leading to quick ball out situations that do not allow for long play. The delay in flipper response also makes accuracy, and maintaining momentum a problem.

Visually, and audibly the tables in this set look very dated and near mobile by design. The graphics on the PS4 are some of the worst I've seen yet, and aesthetically the tables all look very generic and uninspired. Not something a pinball fan would readily throw their money at, especially with alternatives like Pinball FX on the same console. 

As you can likely tell I was not at all impressed with this pinball experience, and left it wondering why someone would even try to sell something like this. The obscure nature of Smoots, and the fact that this is a subpar effort really does not sell the product to a wider audience. Even with leaderboards, and a four player option nothing is really worthy of your money.

The Verdict ...

Sometimes games are best not released even at a budget price, especially when quality is not the focus. Smoots Pinball is a pinball experience that feels extremely dated, and irrelevant in contrast to alternatives like Zen Studio's Pinball FX or the Stern Pinball collection for the PS4. It pales greatly by comparison, and feels more like a cash grab than something that would earn it's keep in a gamer's collection. 

The playability is also a glaring issue. With the way the tables are designed maintaining the pinball's momentum for high scores is near impossible. Most pinball tables adjust for this by adding more targets, bumpers lanes or pits in the middle area to keep the pinball from heading directly back from whence it came so easily, but that's not the case here. The mostly open and empty spacing between targets, bumpers, and lanes makes the inevitable pass back between the flippers all but certain. It is, because of all of this that I cannot recommend 'Smoots Pinball'. When you've played better pinball games it's hard to see past such issues.