Pinball Archives | Broken Joysticks

Recently released, Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens pinball pack for Zen Pinball 2 is Zen Studio’s newest themed offering for players. This pack features the two aptly named tables Star Wars Pinball: The Force Awakens and Star Wars Pinball: Might of the First Order, with themes from Jakku and a Star Destroyer respectively. As with the the previous licenses for Zen Pinball 2, these two tables are not only top notch, but stunningly beautiful as to be expected from Zen Studios. First thing I’ve noticed, is it’s either because of the board layouts for the two, or my eyes are fooling me but both tables seem to be a bit larger than their last release in comparison

The first table covers parts of the first act from The Force Awakens and upon loading it up, I was greeted with John William’s orchestral score. As with standard pinball fare, completing various objectives will advance the certain bits in the story, the movie plotline in this case, and make things entertaining. For this table, some of the stuff that can be done to rack up a high score are hitting Orbits to collect scrap metal, hitting tentacles after enough times will bring out the creatures to hit for high scores. Loading up the second table brings up a very nice Star Destroyer-themed layout. In comparison, having a dark contrast to this table with a light one for the first table offset each other just enough to compliment each other very well. One of the more entertaining objectives for this table is after sinkhole shots are made, Poe will sneak onto the table to engage with the Stormtroopers in a firefight. After Poe is captured, he’ll need to be recaptured by hitting the bumpers.

Both tables are are very nice, and stack up just as good with the others available for purchase. One thing that I noticed in comparison to my previous table set review is that voice samples are spaced out a bit more, which provides a smoother experience when trying to rack up points and complete objectives. An issue, albeit a very small one, is that it sounds like Kylo Ren’s voice sampling isn’t up to par and volume is louder in relation to all the other voice samples out there, which doesn’t adversely affect the entertainment value of this set. For any fans of Star Wars and pinball, I would definitely recommend getting this pack.

Star Wars Pinball- The Force Awakens is now available for Zen Pinball 2 on consoles, PCs, and mobile devices.

First off, I want to say that I’m a huge pinball fan since I got an Atari 2600 with Virtual Pinball back in 1995. I’d spend hours playing on it trying for a high score, so when I’m able to go to an arcade, I always hit up the pinball sections to see how high of a score I can get. So imagine my surprise when I was given an opportunity to try a themed pinball set for Zen Pinball 2.

After downloading the Fox Digital Entertainment Balls of Glory corroboration pack for Zen Pinball 2(ZP2), it came with four following boards to try out: Archer, Family Guy, American Dad, and Bob’s Burgers. At first glance, I noticed the most recently announced Archer board, and as being a big Archer fan, I immediately started it up to play. After starting it up, Archer’s theme played to my delight.

What Archer fan wouldn’t love to be able to play this?

With standard pinball fare, the player is able to rack up points by hitting bumpers, and by trying to complete minigames by hitting certain bumpers and objects a certain number of times, or though certain timed events. As an example for the latter, Archer’s cell phone rings and if you can light up the two small bumpers that are to the right of it, Archer will send it to one of his voicemail soundboards. It can be quite entertaining to listen to the small touches like this that the developers have put into the boards. One of the more unique minigames though is where it’s a first-person persepctive of Archer and you’re trying to shoot terrorists with a very limited ammo supply, all the while not trying to shoot friendly targets.

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Zen Pinball 2: The Force Awakens

Hands on with Zen Pinball 2: Balls of Glory | Review