A few days ago I covered EnjoyUp’s Jurassic Pinball after getting to the near-top of its leaderboard. Today I am doing the same thing with their second pinball release on Switch, World Soccer Pinball. I wasn’t expecting another one to show up so soon but I suppose they’re trying to make their own series of tables similarly to what Farsight Studios and Zen Studios have done.
Graphics
Hey, the framerate has increased from last time! The game plays smoother this time around and the aesthetic used here plays a bigger role in the playing field than just for backdrops. It still looks like an early Playstation 2 title though. It also has the same faded color scheme for the flippers and certain surroundings. I feel the bar environment the table takes place in could also feature more things going on in general. Maybe have something on the left side like how an arcade machine is displayed on the right. Some way to spice it up would be nice, you know?
Audio
Here’s another pleasant surprise: The music is livelier than the atmospheric background track used in Jurassic Pinball. It suits the energetic nature of pinball a lot more than the aforementioned piece. That’s not to say it’s a complete improvement, though. The announcer’s voice clips are drowned out by the music, and the announcer himself sounds intimidated by recording on a mic – an opposite of expressing sheer enthusiasm like you’d expect.
Gameplay
This table is arguably another simple outing but what makes it stand out is its soccer theme. This isn’t just an aesthetic choice; there’s a goal right in the middle and it’s encouraged to shoot the ball past the goalie for chances to score. While there isn’t much else in the middle of the field, there are slides on both sides as well as a total of two sets of flippers. This is still mainly a casual title where you go for the highest score you can in the online leaderboards, but for a $1.99 pinball game, that’s all it seems to set out to do. And it works fine enough.
Verdict
It could still use plenty of more pizzazz and polish (They still didn’t correct the “Counrty” spelling error) but World Soccer Pinball has its addictive moments. It’s pinball with a soccer theme that’s utilized effectively. Not a bad combo, I’ll say. I’m interested in seeing where else the folks at EnjoyUp would go from here. Hopefully, they can step up their game and deliver a table that further exceeds the quality of the two available so far.
Review copy provided by EnjoyUp Games
