For the last few years, Call Of Duty‘s multiplayer mode has been the center of attention for players of this first-person shooter series.
But for Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC), it’s actually the story-driven campaign that deserves your attention.
And no, I’m not just saying that because I don’t play well with others…
To fans of video game pinball, the good people at Zen Studios are best known for creating original tables based on movies (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Princess Bride), TV shows (Battlestar Galactica, Twilight Zone), and other video games (Goat Simulator, System Shock), as well as accurate recreations of classic real pinball machines by Williams (Funhouse, Dr. Dude And His Excellent Ray).
But they’ve also, on occasion, put their considerable pinball design skills to use on original ideas, such as 2022’s Wrath Of The Elder Gods.
Which is where we find them again with Camp Bloodbrook, a new table for their horror-themed pinball simulation system, Pinball M (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Switch, PC).
There are a lot of things that don’t seem like they would work well, but end up defying expectations. Like Cate Blanchette playing a comic book villain in Thor Ragnarok. Or the rock band Phish getting their own ice cream flavor. Or a video game in which you’re a complete jerk…and a goat.
And now you can add to that inexplicable list The Princess Bride Pinball, the latest movie-inspired virtual pinball table for the video game Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Switch, PC).
By paying homage to that classic fantasy comedy in a way that makes it feel like it’s as old as the movie itself, this video game pinball machine works so well that it ranks as one of the best movie-inspired tables for Zen Studio’s pinball system.
There are video games that are weird, and there are video games that are weird.
And then there’s the video game Goat Simulator. Which is really, really weird.
Thankfully, it was also really fun. Well, assuming you like knocking into things and generally being a destructive jerk.
Well, now that weirdness is taking a different form courtesy of Goat Simulator Pinball table for Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Switch, PC). Which — like the Pinball FX tables based on such video games as Doom, System Shock, and Borderlands — provide an entertaining mix of the titular game’s conceits and, well, pinball.
This past weekend, at Summer Game Fest: Play Days in Los Angeles, the good people at Milestone S.r.L. and Plaion Games gave me an opportunity to play the monster truck game Monster Jam Showdown, which will be released August 29th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
What follows are my impressions of this vehicular game.
This past weekend, at this year’s Summer Game Fest: Play Days event in Los Angeles, the good people at Cozy Game Pals and Blumhouse Games gave me an opportunity to play their old school, third-person survival horror game Fear The Spotlight, which is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox X|S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC later this year.
What follows are my impressions of this game.
Though he’s best known for his quiet demeanor, meat carving skills, and appreciation for landscape architecture power tools, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was also a big fan of pinball.
Okay, not really. Though had there been an old pinball machine in the corner of his house, especially in the first movie, no one would’ve batted an eyelash. It was the ’70s after all, and he’s clearly a hoarder.
Still, given how many of his fellow horror movie icons have gotten their own pinball tables (Freddy Kreuger, Chucky, Elvira), it’s fitting that Leatherface would now be similarly honored by the good people at Zen Studios, who’ve just released Texas Chainsaw Massacre Pinball for their virtual pinball platform Pinball M (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Switch, PC).
In 2017, the good people at Zen Studios celebrated the launch of Pinball FX3 by teaming up with Universal Studios to release Universal Classics Pinball, which boasted virtual pinball tables inspired by the movies Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and the Back To The Future films.
Now fans (and stockholders) of Universal have reason to celebrate again thanks to the Universal Pinball: TV Classics Pack for Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Switch, PC), which includes virtual pinball tables based on the TV shows Xena: Warrior Princess, Knight Rider (the original), and Battlestar Galactica (the second one from the 2000s).
As part of the newly released Season 3 content for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Call Of Duty: Warzone, and Call Of Duty: Warzone Mobile, Activision, Sledgehammer Games, and Legendary Pictures have announced that the game will include some fun add-ons connected to the new monster movie Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, including skins with abilities for the two stars (and two co-stars that I won’t spoil for people who haven’t seen this monster mash).
At an event held last week at the offices of IMAX — during which people got to see the Season 3 trailers, play Modern Warfare III on an IMAX screen, and then see the movie — I had the chance to speak to Sledgehammer Games’ Senior Development Directors Adam Iscove and Michael Liu, who oversee the Multiplayer team and the Live Operations Team, respectfully, about this monstrous collaboration.