Star Wars Pinball Review

The team over at Zen Studios have made a living taking our favorite characters and worlds, shaking them up a bit, and finding a way to squeeze them onto the player’s platform of choice. Despite their steady support of iOS through DLC for Zen Pinball, the team hasn’t released a new app on the platform in over a year. Can they channel their collective efforts to start off Star Wars Pinball on the right foot, or are they looking a little rusty this time around?

Matching up LucasFilm (and now Disney’s) coveted Star Wars universe with pinball seems like a match made in nerd heaven. The lush back story, compelling characters and intriguing locales all seem custom fit for the world of the steel ball. Face it, swapping out flippers with lightsabers in battle just makes sense. Now if only they could find a way to get Yoda to shut the heck up.

All three tables in the collection: The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett and The Clone Wars, are easily some of the most compelling pinball tables available across all of iOS. What helps set the game apart are the social hooks, such as comparing score with friends in Game Center, being able to choose to support either the light or dark side, and the equivalent to the “Pro Score” system found in their Zen Pinball product.

One interesting thing to note is that this is the first time that Zen Studios’ tables are available for purchase ($1.99 respectively) in more than one game on the same platform. The same three tables are available for download within the studio's main pinball game as well. Though this could potentially fragment their audience by polarizing the masses between two separate games, the dedicated Star Wars Pinball hub has enough dedicated functionality to justify a purchase in its own right.

There is only one type of gamer who should consider purchasing Star Wars Pinball: those who are fans of the best pinball adaptation on iOS. Zen Studios has shown that they truly are the future of the Jedi Knights, as long as players prefer flippers to lightsabers. Don’t think twice about pulling the trigger on this purchase. After all, it is always better when you can shoot first. Just ask Han.

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