Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens Pack (PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, 360, PC, iOS)

STARWARS_BOXThe newest movie in the Star Wars franchise came out recently, and it has been a big hit! And now you can play two themed pinball tables based on The Force Awakens.  This new pinball pack is available for consoles that support Zen Studios’ pinball platforms (reviewed on PS3 here).  Oh, and since people on the Internet are pretty sensitive about movie spoilers, especially when Star Wars is concerned, I’m just warning your right now that there may be some spoilers in this review.  Sorry, but if it’s in the game, I have to talk about it!

You can download and play the new Star Wars pack on consoles that support Zen Studios pinball platforms. When you download Pinball FX 2 or Zen Pinball 2 (depending on which game console you own), you’re just downloading the hub.  It’s free, and then you purchase separate tables for play in the game.  Here are the two tables in The Force Awakens pack.

Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens

This table is set on the sand planet at the beginning of the movie and features the adventures of Rey and B-88 in the first half of the film. I like this table because it’s not too complicated to learn all the rules, and it does a great job of keeping the themes of the movie intact.  You’ll shoot down TIE Fighters with the Millennium Falcon in multiball mode, the plunger is that fudgesicle-looking vehicle Rey rides, and B-88 even has his own mini-game.  I was a little disappointed with B-88’s game, though, because it’s pretty hard to activate it.  You have to spell B-88 on one of the side lanes, but if you run over a lit letter, it’ll revert back so it’s hard to get all three lit.  And then you have to quickly go up another ramp once you spell the letters.  You’d think the mini-game would have B-88 be the ball (he was made for pinball), but you only control him with the L and R buttons like an RC car as you avoid scavengers’ nets.

Star Wars Pinball: Might of the First Order

This table features the bad guys from the movie, and is a nice contrast from the other field. The table looks like the docking station where Poe and Finn try to hijack a TIE Fighter.  This field has a Storm Trooper with a flame thrower, a holographic Star Destroyer used to lock balls, and a mini-playfield under the main one where you can bring pinballs to Kylo Ren to use in multiball.  This table is a little more complicated than the other one, but still fairly easy to figure out after a while, and it’s fun to go into the mini-table.  This field also does a great job keeping the personality of the bad guys intact.  If you shoot up a ramp, but the ball doesn’t roll far enough, the Storm Trooper leader will say, “Shoot harder!”  And if you go down into the mini-table and lose, Kylo Ren will say, “Do not fail me again!”  It’s pretty funny and Star Wars fans of all ages will enjoy these new pinball tables.

STARWARS_SCREEN

Kid Factor:

All Zen Pinball games are rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence and Mild Language. But this is pinball and is safe and fairly non-violent and has been around for many generations.  Youngsters love Star Wars, and if you’re OK with your kids watching the movies, they’ll be OK with the game, too.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the rules and menu texts, but not necessary just to play.

One Response to “Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens Pack (PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, 360, PC, iOS)”

  1. now that is rad.

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