If you were wondering if Zen Studios’ Star Wars license was going to carry over to the new movies, then this week’s release of Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens Pack just answered that question. Now available on PC, Mac, consoles, and mobile devices, prepare for the ultimate intergalactic adventure; or at least the best version possible where the only playable character is a polished silver ball (and the occasional adorable BB-8).
The Force Awakens Pack is home to two new pinball tables whose design perfectly juxtaposes the Dark and Light Side of this epic conflict. Not only do these tables feature some of the best artwork in any Star Wars themed table to date, there is also a much meatier story mode embedded in the gameplay that carries over from ball to ball. This certainly helps to reduce, if not entirely eliminate the feeling of randomness in most pinball games by giving you intuitive goals and missions to target. As always, both tables have multiple breakout areas with their own flippers for some mini-game opportunities.
The first table and perhaps my favorite art design of any table in my 60+ collection is The Force Awakens set on the world of Jakku. What I really loved about this design is that the entire table is sunk into the desert planet with the various buildings and tarnished steel rails rising up out of the pit almost like real architecture. Not only is the table beautifully designed, the gameplay is flawless with perfectly angled chutes and ramps and triple-lane side chutes all designed for maximum ball life, and with twelve story modes featuring all your favorite resistance fighters you’ll want to stay alive; at least long enough to play as BB-8 in his own mini-game where he tries to avoid being captured in a net. I was surprised to rack up a score of more than 40 million on my second game, but don’t confuse that with this table being “easy”. Even with that score I had barely tapped into the content this table has to offer.
Up next is the Might of the First Order table that replaces the brightly lit sandy surface of Jakku with the cold dark steel of the hangar deck on Kylo Ren’s Star Destroyer. While not as visually stimulating as the Jakku table there are plenty of table design elements to keep even veteran pinball players at the top of their game including a two-level playfield and perfectly placed chutes and rails to send your ball spiraling around the level. My only issue with this level was that at high speeds it is very hard to detect when the ball has moved to the lower level, which means a lot of instant drains out of the mini-game and back to the main board. I almost wish there was a brief pause before the ball was released into the lower section.
Both tables feature 3D animated characters and ships that will move and fly about the table architecture and help propel the story. Both tables are loaded with sound clips and music cues, which definitely help immerse you in the Star Wars mentality, but I did notice the Jakku table had a bad habit of repeating the award ceremony fanfare from Episode IV: A New Hope, which was super-distracting after only a few game sessions. There is so much Star Wars music out there; I’m not sure why they chose some of the most memorable bars from one song and repeated them so often.
We played these new tables on both the Xbox One and the PS4 and while both systems offer similar experiences the PS4 version was definitely our preferred format. Not only do you get the added value of it being cross-buy so you can enjoy on your PS Vita, there is also 3D support, and these tables really pop in 3D. Xbox One also had some issues with controls and framerate where we were getting some flipper lag and the random jitter in camera panning using any of the views other than the fixed top-down view. We overcame flipper lag by using our Elite Controller with hair trigger toggled on, but that’s a $150 solution for a $5 problem, and not even switching our Sony display into game mode eliminated the video lag. On the plus side, I still enjoy the Xbox One game interface and the way they sort their tables.
If you loved the movie and want more Star Wars in your life or if you just love good pinball table designs, you can pick up this double-pack for $5 on your favorite digital store. With some of the best artwork and table design of any Star Wars pinball table in the Zen Studios library, not to mention deep and rewarding gameplay with numerous modes and challenges, these are two table that will keep you entertained for hours, and two tables no Star Wars fan will want to miss.
