Pinball FX features three tables: Agents, Extreme and Speed Machine, each of which have their own rules and theme. Each table has basic things you'd expect to find on a 90’s pinball machine, such as ramps, loops, target mini-game at launch, end-of-ball bonus and multi-ball, but none of the designs really stand out. One question that must be asked is: Where is the end of game match?

Extreme has an extreme sports look and feel to it, with play split over two clear areas. Speed Machine (the table available in the trial version) carries a car-racing theme, and is the most basic of the three. It features an open centre, and an upper playfield with a couple of ramps that send the ball back down the bottom again. Yawn. Agents, probably the best of the three tables, has a secret agent theme and includes a big tanker at the top of the table, along with a loop and a ramp that can only be hit using the topmost flipper; these both require some quickfire timing, and as such make the table more enjoyable to play.

The movement of the silver ball comes across very well, if not totally realistically, and the reflections give a good idea of spin and speed. There’s perhaps a little too much momentum at times, but the ball responds well off the flippers, and reacts understandably off bumpers and through loops and ramps. It would have been nice if parameters such as table angle and ball weight could be tweaked, alas they cannot. The only letdown of the sim side is the tilt mechanism, which has never been well simulated in video games, it just feels wrong. The table can only be tilted left and right, so drain saves aren't really possible; using the left stick to shift the ball doesn’t have the same satisfaction as physically shifting a proper table.

Something unique to this sim is the use of the Live Vision Camera to control the flippers. It's a neat idea in principle, but the execution in somewhat lacking. It does work, but it ends up being a chore; it doesn't add anything to the game. The rumble is lost, which gives some decent feedback, and it's simply easier to control the table with a pad. The camera can also be used for video chat in the simultaneous competitive four-player online matches. Again it's a nice idea, but it doesn't gel as well as Uno, where the action is far slower paced.

Although the draw of online leaderboards and achievements is compelling, unfortunately for Pinball FX, the table designs all feel a little mediocre and lack the features of truly great pinball tables like The Addams Family and Star Trek TNG; maybe the future downloadable content will be better. That said, it is a solid pinball simulation that portrays the ball physics with some degree of finesse, and so it's definitely worth checking out the trial game at least.