Star Wars Pinball

Genre: Compilation / Pinball

Players: 1-4 (Local Alternating), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Zen Studios is a name that should be very familiar to anyone who’s played Pinball videogames in the last decade or so, and their own Zen Pinball series of games have acted as a gateway of sorts to a wide variety of different tables available for purchase. Among those sets, as well as in smaller standalone packages, Zen Studios have released various digital Star Wars pinball tables over the years, covering many of the franchise’s films, characters, and spin-offs. This game, Star Wars Pinball, collects all of those tables (19 in total) in one place and combines them into one cohesive package joined together in numerous ways to make it greater than the sum of its parts.

The presentation here is phenomenal, with each table designed to look like a real pinball table, if that table was impossibly elaborate to the point where it would be a feat of engineering, and then somehow found a way to populate that table with real characters, creatures, moving robotic parts, holograms, and the like. There is a lot going on in every table, yet it never feels so overwhelming that you lose track of what’s going on. And while the characters only look like approximations of their silver screen counterparts, they still look extremely good when zoomed back, thanks largely to animations that perfectly mimic those characters’ behaviors, as well as the sound.

Yeah, the sound here is also absolutely superb, combining John Williams’ epic score, Lucasfilm’s incredible library of classic sound effects, and countless voice clips that are clearly just voice-alikes, but sometimes do a good enough job of mimicking the cast of the films that you could on occasion be fooled into thinking you’re hearing recordings pulled directly from the films. At other times, not so much, but it’s a solid effort, regardless.

As for the tables here, you have a pretty wide variety, though the focus here is clearly on the original trilogy and all of the content the series has seen since the Disney buyout prior to Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian. There are references to the prequel trilogy here, both in the series-encompassing Masters of the Force table, as well as a table based on The Clone Wars animated TV series, and Battle of Mimban technically takes place during the timeframe of the prequels (although I had to look it up to discover this)… but it seems that largely this collection is focused on the rest of the film and TV franchise and mostly ignores the prequels.

Here’s a listing of the tables you can expect to see in the game:

Episode IV: A New Hope

Darth Vader

Han Solo

Droids

Starfighter Assault

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Boba Fett

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The Clone Wars

Battle of Mimban

Masters of the Force

Star Wars Rebels

The Force Awakens

Might of the First Order

The Last Jedi

Ahch-To Island

Rogue One

Solo

Calrissian Chronicles

With this collection selling for $30, that means the price clocks in at just over $1.50 per table, which is a hell of a deal, since these tables are all well-designed, and generally feature multiple areas to transition between, as well as minigames. Players will undoubtedly like some tables more than others (I personally loved the Darth Vader, Might of the First Order, and Masters of the Force tables, and did not like the Clone Wars, Rebels, and Rogue One tables), but there are so many available here that players will undoubtedly find multiple favorites of their own.

Of course, since Zen Studios is an old hand at pinball games at this point, it’s no surprise that the table design here is phenomenal, the physics are sharp, and the controls are superb. However, the big surprise with this release is how much effort has been made into tying this all into a cohesive experience.

Players can opt to just jump into a regular old-fashioned game, of course, but the game also has a lengthy campaign mode that tasks players with meeting specific goals on specific tables, and this works in a number of different ways. There can be regular point goals with a specific number of balls, of course, but more often you’ll be playing with an alternative ruleset, such as having unlimited balls but a limited amount of time, or having unlimited balls and time but having the game end when the ball has traveled a certain amount of “parsecs” (distance). I feel like playing with one of these alternate rulesets can definitely appeal to more novice players who get frustrated at missing the ball and losing too quickly.

There are also goals that require you to meet a specific umber of points on a table’s minigame, with those minigames ranging from Shmup-style games, Combat Flight Sims, to even simulated lightsaber fights. However, these minigames are actually one of my biggest complaints regarding the game – they go out of their way to continue using the same three-button scheme the pinball gameplay uses, and it really limits the gameplay and feels unnatural – that lightsaber duel I mentioned, for example, has to be one of the most frustrating and needlessly difficult parts of the game, and the shmup stuff would be a delightful change of pace if you could just use the D-pad to control your ship like in most games in the genre.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten my minigame complaint out of the way, back to the game’s campaign. One of the other cool things this game does is it has an RPG-style skill progression system where progress in the campaign allows players to unlock bonus abilities and modifiers that can allow them to customize their experience and help them to rack up higher scores. This is a clever addition that gives players a reason to get better at all of the game’s tables – because completing each table’s goals in the campaign will help them to build up these skills.

Another area where Zen Studios has cleverly worked to build up the experience in this game is in the multiplayer… which shouldn’t even be a thing because this is pinball, which isn’t exactly a genre that caters to multiplayer. Yet despite this, the studio has done what they can with what little they have to work with here, allowing up to four local players to play in an alternating “hotseat” mode, as well as allowing players to both create online tournaments with a specific table/ruleset, and participate in an overarching “light vs. dark” campaign where their winnings will help to fuel the progress of their chosen team. It’s… well, to be honest, it’s all a bit superfluous, since you’ll never see online opponents in action, and your interactions will be limited to simply trying to beat each others’ scores, but it’s nice that it’s there, regardless.

One other thing I need to mention here is how adaptable this game has been made for players. Players cannot choose to assign buttons, but are given multiple button assignment options to choose from, including the ability to use the touchscreen if you prefer. And while by default it’s turned off, this game makes excellent use of HD rumble, so definitely go into the menus and turn that on before starting. There’s an option here to turn the screen sideways to play the game vertically (super-useful in handheld mode!), and there’s even an option to mute licensed content for those looking to stream the game without getting a copyright strike on YouTube.

I only have one more complaint about this game before finishing up here. Like I said, the different tables here can be a bit complex, and while each table gives players a lengthy guide to say how it works, I feel like it’s not as helpful as it could be, pointing out multiple things on a page without making it clear what each of those things is. I feel like, if more effort went into turning this game’s lengthy table descriptions into more of a tutorial, it would have gone a long way into making this game more accessible for less experienced pinballers.

Yikes, I never thought I would write so much about a pinball game. However, it goes to show just how packed Star Wars Pinball is. While I have small complaints about the minigames and a lack of accessibility in the table explanations, overall this is one of the best Pinball games ever made, period. It makes fantastic use of the license and sports an excellent presentation, is priced very nicely and features a ton of content and options, and brings everything together in one cohesive whole that makes it greater than the sum of its parts (which was a pretty hefty sum already). If you enjoy pinball games and have a Nintendo Switch, you need to own this game.

tl;dr – Star Wars Pinball is a collection of various digital Pinball tables Zen Pinball has released over the last decade, collected together and joined into a cohesive whole. The amount of value here for the $30 price tag is phenomenal, with some really excellent table designs, great gameplay, a fantastic presentation, and plenty of options and extra content. While there are a few tweaks that could still be made to improve the experience even more, overall this is one of the greatest Pinball games ever made, and if you enjoy Pinball and have a Switch, you need to have this game.

Grade: A-

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