Marvel Pinball 3D Review

Earlier this year Zen Studios released Zen Pinball 3D on the 3DS and I loved it, finding it to be one of the rare 3DS games I could play with 3D turned all the way up. After a decent wait, Zen Studios has finally added to their 3D pinball collection with Marvel Pinball 3D, a standalone collection of the four Marvel tables released previously on other platforms—featuring tables based off Captain America, Blade, Iron Man, and the Fantastic Four.

The first thing I did when I loaded up Marvel Pinball 3D was push the 3D slider all the way up and, like Zen Pinball 3D, I had no problems playing the game with 3D at full power. And playing the game in 3D is the only way to play because it brings an extra layer of literal and figurative depth. The 3D makes the game feel as if I have a tiny pinball table in my hands and it's always a little jarring at first, but soon I find myself hours in the future wondering what happened to all the time as I enjoyed one of the few games I love playing in 3D.

If you don't like 3D—well, I'd first be asking why you have a 3DS if that's the case—there's no reason to pick up this version of Marvel Pinball over the various others; every other version is much prettier and plays just the same. The 3D is what makes the game and it's enough to pull me away from the console and mobile versions when I feel like experiencing pinball in a way I can't on any other platform. The tables are all familiar and a lot of fun to play, and it's nice having a game with local multiplayer and a fairly extensive online leaderboard system. At $7.99/€7.00, Marvel Pinball 3D is little bit pricier than Zen Pinball 3D, but the tables much better, making Marvel Pinball 3D a great deal for fans of pinball who want to experience pinball in a way they can't anywhere else. (It's available right now on the eShop.)

Marvel Pinball 3D ($7.99/€7.00)