At this point, Pinball FX is a game widely known for the various crossover tables that it has in its ever-growing library. Ranging from Family Guy and Back to the Future to Star Wars and Fallout, there’s no shortage of digital pinball machines for fans of each respective property to jump into for a few minutes at any given time.
Now Jurassic World has made its way into the lineup with rather stellar results.
Dropping with three tables, developer Zen Studios covers fans of the dino-centric film franchise by providing them with Jurassic World and Jurassic Park romps to blast steel balls around in – two of which feature sound clips and tabletop events from each respective movie. The third table, however, is a brand new venture titled Jurassic Park Pinball Mayhem, which seems to be a new (albeit flimsy) narrative that occurs between the first film and the debut iteration of the IP’s newest trilogy.
While it’s probably true that hearing Chris Pratt and Jeff Goldblum rattle off lines alongside a motionless tyrannosaurus-rex statue on a pinball table would have been enough to tickle the fancy of fans, Zen Pinball went to great lengths to better serve the intended audience by adding a noteworthy amount of detail and features within each and every facet of the digital tables.
Whether reliving the Jeep escape scene from the original film or feeding Blue in Jurassic World, it’s important to point out that nearly every major aspect of the two motion picture phenomenons has made the transition to Pinball FX as well. The aforementioned theatrical dialogue and dinosaur roars flood the air whilst in the heat of a pinball session, successfully immersing fans in an environment that’s as familiar as it is engaging.
Fan service aside, there are a number of other events that will occur for the sake of keeping things interesting. One level features raptors that will rush around the table in a bid to gobble up your ball while another table hosts a stegosaurus that will launch the steel sphere through windows to keep similar raptors at bay. It’s a wonderful layout that mirrors what has come from the studio in the past, with a uniquely Jurassic twist on all of the action.
Those familiar with the series will find a lot to like about the newest additions to Pinball FX, and the fact that there’s so much painstaking detail placed into capturing the spirit of the films is reason enough for theatrical fans to check these out. On the other hand, pinball aficionados will also find joy in the various tasks that build upon the overall challenge and resulting skill required to thrive on the three ball battlegrounds – providing countless hours of pickup-and-play bliss.
Zen Studios was so preoccupied with whether it could, it didn’t stop to think if it should make Jurassic World pinball. Thankfully – after shoehorning that quote from the original film in – I can safely say it should have. Heck, after this the firm should take the initiative to make more dinosaur-filled tables based on Universal Pictures’ series. Here’s hoping Zen does.
As a note for readers, I played this game on the Xbox One version of Pinball FX 3.
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