Marvel Pinball: Marvel’s Women of Power

Score: 85%
Publisher: Zen Studios
Developer: Zen Studios
Media: Download/1
Players: 1 - 4 (Online)
Genre: Arcade/Classic/Retro/Online

Introduction:

After a string of movie tie-in tables, Zen is back to the dark horse hunt with Marvel Pinball: Marvel's Women of Power. Say what you will about the entertainment empire, but it hasn't been afraid to celebrate the fairer sex. With ass-kickers like Natasha Romanoff, Jessica Jones, and Peggy Carter dominating the big and small screens, it can only get richer and richer from here. But Marvel's Women of Power is Zen doing what I believe it does best: digging deep to lend some representation to those who have yet to make that fateful transition between mediums.

A-Force:

The first of the two tables in Marvel Pinball: Marvel's Women of Power is based on one of Marvel's newest properties. Based on the Secret Wars crossover storyline, the A-Force is a team made up of exclusively-female Avengers.

A-Force's Black Widow and Hydra's Madame Masque have, through a series of Cosmic Cube-related blunders, found themselves marooned in an alternate reality. So it's essentially The Odd Couple, if you reimagined Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon as superheroes... and as women. Okay, so it's not nearly like that. This is Marvel Pinball as it's always been; it's a well-themed and compelling pinball table that makes good use of the property it's out to adapt. Fanservice abounds on this table, so you can expect appearances from the likes of She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Wasp, and more.

Champions:

The second of the tables in Marvel Pinball: Marvel's Women of Power is a bit more daring when it comes to under-represented Marvel characters.

Ms. Marvel is having a good day gone bad. It's her first day on the job at a quaint little coffee shop, but as she's on her way to bring a deposit to the bank, Bombshell blows the door open and makes off with the lock box. So it's up to our heroine to rally her motley crusaders and get it back. Thematically, Champions is bubblegum fluff, but the variety of heroes it brings into the fold is impressive. I don't think we've yet seen the likes of Nico Minoru, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Gwen, and America Chavez, but like in A-Force, there's a bonus pick in there, as well.

Value:

Zen Studios has always been the poster child for asking the right price for what it's offering, and more publishers need to take note. Marvel Pinball: Marvel's Women of Power runs for $6.99, which is a good deal for what you get. And you get two really awesome pinball tables that help some awesome superheroes leave their ink and paper confines behind. Keep it up, Zen!

-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications
AKA Jon Carlos

Introduction:

A-Force:

Champions:

Value:

Related Links: