Star Wars Pinball – Balance Of The Force Add-On

9.7 Overall Score
Presentation: 9/10
Content: 10/10
Challenge: 10/10

Awesome animations and great amount of visual/audio detail | More Star Wars to bring balance to the force

Voice acting does not necessarily hold the same amount of spirt as that from the movies

It’s time to bring balance to the force. Zen Studios has given way to another add-on to keep the spark ignited by the Star Wars franchise alive. You will find this additional content for both Zen Pinball 2 and Star Wars Pinball on the Playstation 3 and Vita as well as the Pinball F/X 2 for the Xbox 360. But will this new add-on, called Star Wars: Balance Of The Force, be welcomed amongst pinball enthusiasts?

First, there is the table featuring the Darth Vader. Jumping right in, you can feel the intensity from this very character. And the way the animation sequence composes itself is pretty surreal. As you get the ball to hit specific ramps, you’ll notice that Vadar gets assembled together piece by piece. It certainly is interesting watching Anakin Skywalker transform into the dark side. The objectives essentially involves carrying out Sith missions and covers events from the movies, including facing off in battle against his own son, Luke Skywalker.

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Secondly, you have the Starfighter Assault table where you will have to choose which side you want to be on: the Rebel Alliance Fleet or the Galactic Empire’s Armada. Once you launch your ball, your objective is to carry on various missions that involve eliminating your enemies. Right off the bat, you’ll see how the details of the items on the table to be top-notch. To watch the lasers shooting everywhere on screen, whether it’s on the TV or the Vita’s OLED, is a definite treat. Furthermore, with all the sounds of the shootings and explosions, it never gets boring at all with this particular table. And to add a little diversity to the pinball gameplay, there is a point where you’ll actually have to pilot a group of starships to take down your enemy craft. The controls may throw you off a little at first, but with given time, you’ll be able to transition into this part of the gameplay with ease.

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Lastly, there is The Return of the Jedi table. The featured movie was my favorite one within the series, and coincidentally, this table happens to be the best in my opinion. As expected, the events from this particular film is featured all throughout the table. It covers such parts as entering into Jabba’s Palace to the final battle between Luke and Darth Vadar. While the audio effects are outstanding with sounds of lasers and R2D2 beeps, the voice acting is a little bit of a let-down. You may notice that the voices are not consistent with nor were they taken from the original film. While it is not really a big deal breaker here, Star Wars fan may be a bit disappointed. But luckily, the table looks absolutely phenomenal with the forest moon of Endor being the very theme. Occasionally, you’ll see some intriguing animations such as the AT-ST walker moving about from the sides. Additionally, you’ll see the familiar characters from the movie, includwing Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and Lando.

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The first Star Wars add-on that Zen Studios introduced was great. And so it should be of no surprise that Star Wars: Balance Of The Force continues its tradition of offering a fantastic and uplifting pinball experience. The challenges are great while the amount of satisfaction you’ll get from these tables are significant. You’ll definitely want to include this in your Zen Pinball library as this will help not only bring balance to the force, but also a lot of enjoyment to your video game console.

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Author: jflux98 View all posts by
I am a hardcore gaming enthusiast for the Playstation 3, Vita, and Nintendo 3DS. My passion is to share my opinions and experience with the online community as well as help them find that special game. You can contact me via twitter @jflux98 or email me at jflux98@jggh.net.