Four new Marvel Pinball tables have joined the ranks on Xbox LIVE and PSN (360 versions reviewed here). Juggle the silver ball with boards based on X-Men, Ghost Rider, Thor, and Moon Knight in Marvel Pinball: Vengeance and Virtue, the newest pack for Pinball FX 2.

Downloading Pinball FX 2 is free (and highly recommended), and it acts like a hub to keep all the pinball games you can buy with MS Points. So here’s a brief rundown on the four new tables in Vengeance and Virtue.

Moon Knight

I don’t know much about Marvel characters since I don’t really get into comic books. Most of my Marvel knowledge comes from these pinball games, Marvel vs. Capcom, and the live action movies. But my guess is that this hero is a bit more obscure since I’ve never heard of him before. Seems like a more mystical, magical version of Batman. His table is all silvery so it can be a little hard to see the ball sometimes, but other than that it’s a fairly entertaining playfield. Some of the new Marvel tables are a bit more, ‘cinematic,’ so to speak. When you start this game, the hero swoops in on a really cool crescent-shaped spaceship/airplane thingy, and when a villain challenges you, the camera zooms in on the action figure-like characters on the field as they talk and taunt.

Ghost Rider

Motorcycle fans will love this table, as the flame-headed Ghost Rider atop his hog is the main feature of this board. When you make a jump over one of the ramps, he’ll even do a wheelie. I didn’t like this board as much because there’s this devil guy you can hit near the center of the table. Most of the time when you hit him consecutively, he’ll give you a random bonus. But sometimes he’ll challenge you to catch a flaming ball, and it always goes right down the middle into the hole! Ugh! Sometimes the ball will even do that on its own, too! At least getting skill shots are easy and fun on this table.

X-Men

This table does a good job of implementing some of the X-Men’s powers into the playfield. The ball plunger charges Cyclops eye beams, for instance. You can also charge up his eyes as you play, too, and you’ll know it’s time to do that because the ball will turn red. Shoot up the middle to battle Magneto, but watch out because he can sometimes stop the ball with his magnetic powers! Only problem with this table is that there are so many bright colors! Iridescent purples and reds and blues make it a bit of an eyesore sometimes.

Thor

Out of all the Vengeance and Virtue tables, I think the Thor one is my favorite. I know who he is because I just saw the movie last summer, and the playfield is really imaginative and easy to get a high score on. On one side of the table is an ice cave with a frost giant, and on the other side are volcano bumpers and a cool dragon ramp! Plus it’s really simple to activate challenges and events. When you fight the ice monster, you can even dip your ball into the lava pits and turn it on fire before battling the icy beast. Thor can be a little annoying as he bellows out words of praise every time you go up a ramp. And when he’s not doing that, he’s boasting about how great Asgard is. All right, already, Thor. We get it. We know you really like Asgard. Get over it. Sheesh! Actually I found Thor’s antics more humorous than annoying, personally.

And those are all the tables! I think that Marvel fans and pinball wizards alike will enjoy them.

Kid Factor:

Marvel Pinball: Vengeance and Virtue is rated E for Everyone. There’s not really any violence, just action figures battling each other. I did hear a couple of mild curse words in a couple of the tables, however, even though I didn’t see Mild Language as one of the ESRB descriptors. Kids love super heroes, and pinball games are easy to get into with little to no reading required. So I would let any age play this with no problem.

Tags: Game Reviews