Star Wars Pinball: The Last Jedi Review – PlayStation 4

Zen Studios stokes the fires of their Pinball FX3 franchise with another set of licensed tables perfectly timed to exploit the media hype for the home release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Available individually or as a pair, Star Wars Pinball: The Last Jedi brings two new exciting table designs to the Pinball FX3 lineup, offering all the quality design and attention to licensed detail that we’ve come to expect from the franchise. Both tables will bring back fond memories of the film and numerous key events with amazing interactive elements rooted in core pinball design elements as well as animated 3D characters and authentic sound effects right from the movie.

Up first is Star Wars: The Last Jedi Pinball, a table that captures all the elements from six key scenes from the film. The longer you play the more opportunity you’ll have to select and relive your favorite moments in classic pinball fashion by shooting targets and sending the ball up ramps and through designated lanes. The table springs to life with animated characters such as Finn, Rey, and Captain Phasma, as well as a brilliant moment with BB-8 commandeering a walker to shoot at Stormtrooper targets. You can even pick your favorite Fathier and watch them race below the surface of the table.

Star Wars: Ahch-To Island Pinball is a more focused look at the film with events that take place between Rey and Luke and the occasional interactions with Chewbacca who has some Porg problems to deal with. This table is home to a surprising 15+ modes of play with fantastic 3D animated characters for R2-D2, Luke, Rey, Chewie, and those adorable Porgs. There are some fantastic visual effects to accompany the excellent table design including a stunning lights-off multiball mode. The longer you can keep the ball in play the more powerful Rey becomes in the Force as she masters her lightsaber, meanwhile, Luke gets some quality hologram time with R2 and Chewie faces off against the Porgs. I was truly surprised how much awesome content this table had to offer given the limited part it played in the film.

As always, the PlayStation 4 is our preferred platform for the Pinball FX3 game and the tables we play on it. The DualShock 4 offers the best and most precise flipper control and you still have that SIXAXIS motion control view of the table anytime you hold down the square button. My only minor complaint with this latest set of tables is that the scoring seems awfully inflated compared to any of the other tables in my collection. I was doing simple stuff and getting two million points for target hits and ultimately logged scores of 60+ million for each table on my initial playthroughs. I mean, I love high scores but these seemed a bit much. I was even in the top 500 on the worldwide leaderboards which never happens.   I’m sure that’s changed since more people have had time to earn their own inflated scores.

Star Wars Pinball: The Last Jedi brings the Star Wars table count to no less than 16 Pinball FX3 tables, so there is something to enjoy for every generation of Star Wars fan and pinball lover. The Last Jedi certainly wasn’t my favorite movie, but it certainly offered up enough content for two new quality tables that I will be enjoying for a long time to come. This is a worthy addition to your pinball library and must-own tables for fans of the film.

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Author: Mark Smith
I've been an avid gamer since I stumbled upon ZORK running in my local Radio Shack in 1980. Ten years later I was working for Sierra Online. Since then I've owned nearly every game system and most of the games to go with them. Not sure if 40+ years of gaming qualifies me to write reviews, but I do it anyway.

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