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PC PlayStation 4 Reviews Video Games Xbox One

Williams Pinball: Volume 1 for Pinball FX3 Review

 

For years, the video game Pinball Arcade offered faithful recreations of real pinball tables, while Zen Studios’ Zen Pinball, Pinball FX, and their sequels featured original tables that paired realistic physics with unrealistic mechanics. But that’s no longer the case now that Zen Studios have secured the rights to tables by the iconic pinball company Williams. The first three of which — 1992’s The Getaway: High Speed II, 1996’s Junk Yard; and 1997’s Medieval Madness — are now available for Pinball FX3 (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC) as Williams Pinball: Volume 1. (A fourth, 1992’s Fish Tales, will also be available, but will be free, and wasn’t sent with the other three, hence it’s not included in this review). But while they are almost as authentic as the versions made for Pinball Arcade counterparts, there are some differences that will delight pinball fans but annoy purists.

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iOS Movies PC PlayStation 4 Reviews Switch Video Games Xbox One

Jurassic World Pinball Review

In honor of the movie Jurassic Park turning twenty-five this year — and, of course, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom turning 0 when it’s released on June 22nd — the good people at Zen Studios have put together Jurassic World Pinball, a trio of new virtual pinball tables for Pinball FX 3 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Switch), Zen Pinball (iOS, Android), and Zen Pinball 2 (Mac). It’s just too bad that, as with the movies, not all of them are keepers.

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PC PlayStation 4 Reviews Video Games Xbox One

Universal Classics Pinball for Pinball FX3 Review

To celebrate the launch of Pinball FX3 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), the sequel to both Pinball FX2 and Zen Pinball 2, the good people at Zen Studios have teamed with Universal Pictures for Universal Classics Pinball, three new virtual pinball tables inspired by the movies JawsE.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and the Back To The Future films. And like Pinball FX3, all three offer the same kind of pinball fun we’ve come to expect from these folks.

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PC PlayStation 4 Video Games Xbox One

Exclusive Interview: Zen Studios Pinball Designer Peter Grafl

 

If you’ve been to this site more than once, you might’ve noticed that I have an affinity for the pinball games made by Zen Studios. Be they based on the Star Wars movies, Marvel Comics, or an original idea, Zen’s pinball tables always manage to mix realistic physics and sounds with physic-ly impossible mechanics. Which, for a gamer who grew up on pinball, hits a real sweet spot.

I recently had a chance to pick the brain of Peter Grafl, one of the pinball table designers at Zen Studios, and asked him who decides what tables they’ll make, how they’re designed, and what tables he’d like to make.