Zombie Pinball

Note: This review will seem very similar to my review for Babylon 2055 and Quantic pinball games. This is because the "developer" of both games just copy and pasted the entire game. Asset flipping begins at home, I guess.

Zombie Pinball is an extraordinarily mediocre pinball simulator game... I won't go into explaining what pinball is, but it's important to know there's quite a few pinball games on Steam, and while I don't agree with their predatory pricing models, a few of them give you completely free tables to play on and are backed by a really solid pinball simulator engine.

This one is the opposite.

You can unlock a handful of tables, but there's no point... this is worse than the 3D spaceman pinball you get with Windows XP. It's only in 2D, there's no table bumping feature (I guess you don't have to worry about Tilt???)... it's just a simplistic mess that I am surprised isn't a Flash game. And a slew of technical shortcomings.

From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.

There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.

The game features simple, fairly basic 2D visuals, and while some effort went into them, and they don't look bad exactly, they don't look great, either. In the 3D era of gaming, that kicked off in the mid 1990's with dedicated 3D GPUs like the S3 Virge and ATI Rage, phoning in the graphics like this isn't going to win any awards or appeal to enthusiast PC gamers.

The very poor quality of this game puts it squarely on-par with ancient 1990's Flash/Java games, and given it's 2024 (and this was released not so far back in 2017), gamers and the industry expect and deserve better than this kind of low effort shovelware.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

You don't have to take my word about how bad the game is, we can measure the interest in a game by how much people bothered to play it. Zombie Pinball has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the game absolutely failed to capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is "Veritable Pirate", hitting the pirate thing on the table score thing, trivial to achieve, but less than 8 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. That's a tiny, tiny proportion of gamers who even bothered with this. Ouch.

Reviewing SteamDB to check how popular this game was with players reveals a surprise... there's a modest spike in player counts for the game. But this only happened once, and isn't consistent with the achievement stats, that show less than 8 percent of players bothered playing the game for any reasonable amount of time. How is it possible for this game to have so many concurrent players who didn't bother engaging with this game? Trading cards. People will use card idling software to collect the cards and sell them, but this won't trigger any achievements in-game.

That tells us people only really bought this game for trading cards, and that's a damning indictment of the woeful quality. A closer look at the numbers shows the game just has a couple of players every week running up the game and idling it for cards, then deleting it. We must ask how it benefits gamers for there to be so many games like this, with little merit as a serious game, that only generate sales from people idling and selling the trading cards.

So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 110,000+ games on Steam?

Zombie Pinball has the farcical price of around $5 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam. This is also competing with over 14,000 free games available on Steam, many of them far better than this paid product.

I am 32 years old.

My ex-wife and I have a daughter together, and we adopted our son together. Both are now 4 years old.

When we were going through our separation, I felt lost and unhappy. I was self-destructive. One day, I was so angry with everything spiraling out of control that I punched a concrete wall in a moment of overwhelming emotion. This resulted in breaking my fifth metacarpal in my right hand—the hand I worked with, played games with, and used to carry my children to bed—the hand I desperately needed to ensure I could continue providing.

Upon learning the severity of the self-inflicted damage, I became almost suicidal. Keep in mind that just a few months before this, I was the happiest man, with no history of depression or anxiety. I had never experienced anger outbursts, nor was I the type to break down and cry, but I was in a tough situation that truly prevented me from seeing the light on the other side.

With nothing better to do, I looked for a game I could play WITH ONE HAND while recovering. Somehow, I stumbled upon this game and read some of the comments. I decided it was worth a try... I must admit I didn't beat the game, nor did I play as much as some of you. In fact, I may have played this game for only a day or two. That being said, after doing so, I had a new joy and hope for life. I managed to leave behind the pain and suffering that had been thrust upon me. I could experience the joy and happiness of other people. I relaxed for 5 ♥♥♥♥ minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.

After realizing this, I turned off the game and went back to work. My hand hurt a lot, but I was motivated. I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and became the father I needed to be at that moment, not the weak boy I was behaving like.

Today, I am close friends with the mother of my children. We don't fight, argue, or say hurtful things to each other. We are parents and friends.

Now I have 3 children. My third child is, wait, ALSO 4 YEARS OLD. The woman I am with was going through a very similar situation at the time of my separation, and we just unexpectedly stumbled into each other's lives. We have been dating for a year and are very happy together.

Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today. This silly little game helped me realize that.

Thank you.

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zmbobie pibaal 👍🏿

Whenever I start a new Game, I first of all go to the options to turn off the Blur.
Welcome to my nightmare!

All the blinking and flashing and glowing has something good. It distracts you from the table-Layout.

The Layout reminds me on an old pinball on my old C64. Nothing wrong with nostalgia. But its boring.
And if it really is a good idea to put a big Character half over the table, hiding some lanes, is doubtable.

Of course its not a high polished, expensive pinball. And to make some progress is what keeps a pinball fan running, right? So yes, you can make some progress in Zombie Pinball. At least I had some numbers in my highscore and everything was blinking and glowing like crazy. But I think I had enough and will not play it further.

One REALLY bad thing is the language. I could not find any way to change the language to english. Not even via Steam. And the forced german translation is - to say it friendly - funny here and there. No, thats not funny anymore.

I payed 1 euro something in sale. For that price its ok for me to keep it. But for the full 5 Euros I would have refunded it.

I do not recommend this. Its cheap and lazy design with a huge annoying zombie mascot always floating in your face. Did not enjoy enough.

this reminds me of a game you would find on a free flash game site.

I like this Zombie Pinball game and seem to like playing it around this time of month. I give it a thumbs up.

This is the worst piece of rubbish I ever played. My happiest moment was deleting it from my library.

Very boring very quickly to this semi-pinhead, and have to earn other tables which is an unwelcomed hassle.

Not a serious pinball game, might be good for kids/new to pinball.

Wouldn't recommend this over any Pinball FX2 table, Pinball Arcade, or Zaccaria Pinball, or even Worms Pinball.

This game is hillariously fun, omg the first table is simply put a scream, the amount of replayability is cannot be described in this review. This game has what it takes to put a smile on my face. I got this game for $2.49 and I have to say it was well worth the money if not for my collection, but for the entertainment value. Get this one, you will not regret it.

"Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball." - The Who

I have never been to Soho or Brighton, but I have always loved pinball. I grew up during the golden age of pinball. I played some really good tables, good themes, talking tables, etc. The best tables always had great gameplay with smooth flipper action. The theme was almost always fun, but good gameplay always wins out over theme. I've played many a table where the hotspot on the flippers would klunk off an corner. As the tables aged, the flippers would give the ball less momentum and the ball didn't roll as well ... leading to weak action (balls just going up to the target and .... falling well short to roll back down again without hitting anything).

Video pinball never ages or succumbs to weak action, burned out lights, poor ball rolling, etc. There are many pinball games that capture this table realism and maintain the pinball feel like an actual table, but Zombie Pinball is not one of these. Zombie Pinball offers an interesting approach to pinball, doing some really cool things that a real table never could. And it does these things quite well. The flipper action is smooth - no klunking off corners. The flipper hotspots have a real smooth and satisfying result - usually to the top and down a winding side tunnel or pegging a target. Very nice.

Floating video animations can be unlocked that are vaporized with the ball. Multiball can be unlocked (two ball), and several other multiball scenarios can be unlocked with what appears to be a dozen or so balls. Sometimes they are on fire. It has a thoughtful "Ball Saved" mechanism, so that when multiball happens, drained balls are automatically shot back out onto the top (for a certain amout of time). This way, you get a reasonable amount of gameplay with the multiball scenario that you spent the time unlocking (a super nice feature). I've played a real world table that shot the multiballs at high speed right at the flippers. If you weren't expecting it, they went straight down the drain - and there went your multiball. Thanks for that!

Other tables can be unlocked by accruing Bloody Stars (basically points for scoring while playing a table). It's fun to spend some effort learning to do something well with a reward at the end! I haven't played all of the tables, but the main table is fun enough for the price of admission. The unlockables are just a bonus. I am having fun just playing the main table so far...

The configuration options for the game are very limited. The devs just added using the SHIFT keys for the flippers, so that was really the big concern. The keys can't be configured, but they are pretty standard. Some people report issues with certain resolutions, but the Devs are on it.

The devs are active on the forums, and they have already implemented several suggestions. Please feel free to add some constructive ideas!

Bottom line. If you want realism, look elsewhere. If you want something fun and interesting with smooth action and some unlockable rewards, right here.

Tired of traditional pinball games? This one is for you! Colorful, with lot of effects, I recommend this game. It is fun and very cheap for a game like this.

Before beginning to write this review of Zombie Pinball, the reviewer carefully read ZP's Store Page. Actually, it says very little, and claims little more, except the possibly questionable “A super addictive gameplay”. In fact, Zombie Pinball is all it claims to be (with the one possible exception.) It is fun, it does (one presumes) have seven tables. Thus, this reviewer will give a positive review of a game that presents itself honestly, but will also attempt to include enough information to allow each gamer to make a personal choice.

Yes, Zombie Pinball does involve hitting BALLS with FLIPPERS, and by doing so, scoring POINTS. It has lots of SOUNDS, and LIGHTS, and does it ever have POINTS! And it looks GREAT! So it certainly does fulfill every component of the definition of “pinball”. But it is by no means “traditional” pinball.....

Zombie Pinball has seven tables, but at this point only three of them (very similar in most ways) are part of this review to any degree. The reason? Tables beyond the first one need to be unlocked by the acquisition of “Bloody Stars” in order to play. And while it’s not an overwhelming number of stars, for some beginning players it might take many hours of play to access each next table. (This player managed to get over half the required stars for the next table from a single, 1.3 billion-point game (since, vanished from history. "News at 11:00".)

As for scoring, Zombie Pinball offers an achievement when a player manages to “Obtain more than 100.000.000 points on any table” (table or game?), so clearly this game is geared toward the less experienced pinballer. And this reviewer doesn’t doubt for a moment that for these players the game will be a real blast, providing many hours of fun and considerable challenge. But for a more advanced player (with this player falling somewhat in-between), this game may not be more than marginally suitable or enjoyable. One can see endless games; literally games without end. Or at least, games lasting hours and hours, since most of the time there is more than a single active ball. As such, it’s unlikely that there will ever be a time without the opportunity to assure a "next" ball in play, with the relatively easy opportunity for extra balls. There does seem to be some indication of table difficulty increasing (far too gradually) as new tables are unlocked, so this review may be wrong, and need correcting later.

No doubt, for a less experienced player it will be exciting to have in excess of ten balls in play at once during a Zombie Pinball game. But for the experienced player this multi-ball play might easily account for up to a third (or more) of game time, with the flippers constantly “tattooing’ (or, pressing of the keys in a rapid, staccato fashion.) This "rapidly" (Har!) grows tiring, and more than just a bit boring. But, WOW!, does it build the points quickly! And did this reviewer forgot to mention: 5-ball games? (Great when quarters are at stake, but perhaps unnecessary in computer pinball.) A player may also invoke the previously mentioned “tattoo tactic” when the common “fire mode” is achieved, as it’s very difficult to see exactly what is, or isn’t, a ball. That’s also the case in some of the more flashy modes. Red balls have become the 21st century's version of "DIP", or "Darned Invisible Pinballs" ( at the best of times.) So clearly, the fingers will get a workout, two at the time.

Zombie Pinball includes some game-accessible modes which are interesting, but of minimal challenge to many players. In some of them creatures or items float across the screen, offering additional balls as they are hit. It also offers Challenges that might act to liven the game up a bit for more advanced players, 70 Challenges total. Each must be completed to continue to the next. The first one simply reads “Validate 10 ramps”, but not a clue as to how that’s done, or quite what it means. And after scoring numerous billions of points, it hasn’t happened on its own for this player, so perhaps only the best players can achieve these 70 goals (or it’s really far simpler, and being overthought.) However, Challenges do offer additional, no doubt well deserved “Bloody Stars” for those figuring it out.

There’s a total of eleven Zombie Pinball achievements, most involving “Completing” individual tables. Apparently a table is “Completed” by invoking four specific modes. However, having received as many as thirteen times the “achievement” high score, and had the words “Completed” flashed on the screen repeated times…the reviewer has yet to receive this achievement. Not even on the original table. Who knows, at this point, what’s missing or done incorrectly? The “Rules” are very brief with terms that may be familiar to the DEVs, but are not expressed clearly enough, or sometimes grammatically proper enough to be helpful to this player. (Achievement statistics indicate that while nearly half of players have the high-score achievement, no one has any of the others.)

Currently Zombie Pinball has a number of bugs, apparently mostly under consideration. One causes the game to crash upon every exit. This reviewer encountered one on a three occasions where balls simply ceased being issued mid-game, and experienced the disappearance of the mentioned 1.3 billion-point game from the high score listing (though without the documentation necessary to substantiate.) Perhaps some of the other concerns or questions expressed in this review are actually not intended to be a part of the game. Perhaps we'll know soon.

This player hasn’t attempted to play Zombie Pinball with a controller, and it seems perhaps to be designed exclusively for keyboard play. The menu system is very poorly designed, but game play should be the deciding factor.

Who should buy Zombie Pinball? Completionists, of course. Beginning pinballers. Better pinballers who don’t mind throwing the last balls of a game away in order to leave the house. (Seriously.) Those who want to have fun without taking the experience too seriously. Those who want a pinball experience to cool down after or warm up before serious pinball. And certainly, those who enjoy zombies, which I suspect is the intent of this fun, but (so far) non-challenging game. For its moderate and fair price perhaps no one should ultimately be discouraged from this purchase.

Thank you.

cheap and funny

Well I just wanted to put a few things out there for people looking to buy this game...

I spent a little over an hour with the first table, which was fun but not at all what I was expecting. The table itself is fine, and there is 5-6 mini games you can activate by hitting targets. The physics feel super floaty... the balls themselves sound and feel more like you are playing a pachinko machine filled with glass beads. I say this because the first table has at least 4 differant seperate multiball modes and you can trigger them all at the same time. Ten+ glass beads shooting (floating) all over the place while on fire (yes on fire with trail effect) is exciting but not what I have been used to playing on FX2 or Pinball Arcade. In how it compares to actual pinball I would say this is the lowest of the pinball games I own.

Some of the rules language is a bit strange. The first challenge is "Validate 10 lanes"

There seems to be a score bug occasionally and the scoreboard is local only for now from what I can tell. The real stinker for me is the lack of changeable options. I have not figured out how to change my flipper and launch keys, as in there is no setting on the menu (the default is the left and right arrow keys). Not mentioned anywhere in the game either so you kinda have to press keys to figure out what is what lol.... lame. (Enter was table shake, and space was launch). Another thing that irritated me was the fact that all but the first table are locked. You must earn enough points to unlock the next table. Maybe I dont want to play the same table 20-30 times in a row? Pinball just seems a strange game to content lock table variety down.

I know it just launched, and its super cheap... but it FEELS like a tablet game to me. If you are totally fine with that and want some semi mindless pinball lite gameplay then grab it. I DO like it I just don't know how often I will play it when there are so many other options with leaderboards and tournaments. Maybe in the future they will add more options to customize keys.