In the third-person hack & slash action game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, former Padawan Cal Kestis had to relearn all the Jedi skills he’d forgotten while trying to survive in a post-Order 66 universe.
But as Jedi Master Albert Einstein said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”
Which is why, despite now being a Jedi, Cal still has a lot to learn in his new adventure, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC). Good thing Jedi’s learn by doing…
In all my years of reviewing the pinball tables made by Zen Studios for their virtual pinball games Zen Pinball and Pinball FX, and their sequels (and it’s a lot of years), the only tables I’ve done have been ones based on movies, TV shows, and video games that I was already familiar with. Not on purpose; they just never made any games based on movies, shows, or games I didn’t watch or play. But that changed recently with the release of the Crypt Of The NecroDancer table for Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X /S, Xbox One, PC), which is based on a roguelike rhythm game that I’ve heard of but not played (it’s not my kind of thing). But as I quickly learned from playing this pinball table, you need not be a fan of the original game, or even know anything about, to enjoy this virtual pinball machine…though it helps if you like old school pinball tables (and have Google).
One of the best things about the virtual pinball tables Zen Studios makes for their game Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC) is that no matter how outlandish or unrealistic the mechanics may get, the ball always moves like a real ball would in a real pinball machine. And it sounds right, too. Which made things all the more interesting when, a few years ago, they got the rights to make virtual versions of real pinball tables by Williams and Bally. To see this in action, one has only to play the latest, Twilight Zone, which was originally built by Bally in 1993.
I’ll admit, when I first heard Zen Studios were doing pinball tables for Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X /S, Xbox One, PC) based on the Godzilla and King Kong movies, I was hoping they meant the classic Toho movies. I would’ve loved to play pinball tables based on 1963’s King Kong Vs. Godzilla, 1967’s King Kong Escapes, and 1971’s Godzilla Vs. Hedorah, as well as their respective and eponymous debuts from 1954 and 1933. But it seems getting to play black & white pinball tables, or ones drenched in smog or robot monkey parts will have to wait (or cost me $7K), as the Godzilla Vs. Kong Pack instead has three tables based on the more recent movies: 2014’s Godzilla, 2017’s Skull Island, 2019’s Godzilla, King Of The Monsters, and 2021’s Godzilla Vs. Kong. But as fun as these tables may be, it’s odd that they’re not really based on all four movies…
it’s a virtual pinball arcade, filled with whatever pinball tables you purchase individually. These not only include classic pinball tables made by Williams and Bally, such as 1997’s Medieval Madness, 1996’s Safe Cracker, and 1996’s Tales Of The Arabian Knights, but also original ones based on Star Wars, Marvel Comics, and Jaws. All of which come with such options as multiple viewpoints, including a slider that moves the camera angle up and down, letting you see how the table would look if you were, say, 4’11” or 6’2″ or somewhere in between.
The tables in Zen Pinball are also more forgiving than real ones, and will give you a reprieve if you lose a ball rather quickly. Which makes sense; they’re not build to suck down your every quarter.
But the real difference between the recreations of classic tables and the new ones are that while the Williams and Bally tables are accurate replicas, the ones made by Zen Studios have the ball moving realistically around tables that are unrealistic. How else can you explain how the tables in the Godzilla Vs. Kong Pack have such physically and technologically improbable mechanics as, for instance, an action figure of Mechagodzilla shooting a laser beam across the table.
As for the specific tables in the Godzilla Vs. Kong Pack, let’s start where the movies did, with the Godzilla table. Befitting his stature as the king of all monsters, the Godzilla table is a rather classic-style pinball table, with a relatively open lower half, and a number of ramps and hidden passageways at top, along with bumpers and spinners. It also only has two flippers, and has them at the bottom. As a result, the ball can really get moving, especially when it shoots out from some unexpected angle towards your hopefully ready flippers.
Though what’s odd about the table is how it seems more inspired by Godzilla’s role in Godzilla Vs. Kong than either of his movies. Instead of having one of the M.U.T.O.s from the first film on the table, or King Ghidorah, Rodan, or Mothra from the second, it has Mechagodzilla from Vs. Which isn’t terrible or anything, but it does seem odd given that, as we’ll get to, the Godzilla Vs. Kong Pack includes a table based on Godzilla Vs. Kong.
Moving on, sort of, a similar criticism can be levied against the King Kong table, which is also inspired by his part of King Kong Vs. Godzilla and not his movie, Skull Island. Hence why the plunger is the ship the people fly into the hollow Earth as opposed to a tiny and ticked off Samuel L. Jackson.
The King Kong table is also similar to the Godzilla one in how the lower half is also relatively open, while the top half is largely covered. Except where Godzilla had numerous ramps and railways, King Kong is one giant mountain that the ball can go into, and come out somewhere else. It’s also slightly bigger than the upper part of the Godzilla table, and has a third flipper, about half-way up the right side, all of which results in the ball not going as fast (usually), but compensating by giving you less time to notice it and react.
Which brings us to the final table, Godzilla Vs. Kong. Which, unlike the others, actually is based on the movie in question. Hence why King Kong is standing on an aircraft carrier, looking like he’s learning how to surf. Though it’s hard not to think this might’ve worked better had it been based more on the climactic battle in the bright and colorful city of Hong Kong, which was not just the highlight of that movie, but of all four.
The Godzilla Vs. Kong table is also different from the Godzilla and King Kong tables in that the lower half is more crowded, with the ramps and alleyways filling up the right side. It also, like Kong, has a third flipper in the middle of the left side. Because of this, the table is the slowest of the three, which makes it more thoughtful than reactive. Which isn’t to say it isn’t fun to play, it is, just that it isn’t as much of a challenge to keep the ball in play; the challenge is more in sending it where you need it to go.
Now, as these things go, the tables in the Godzilla Vs. Kong Pack are not as addictive or inventive as the best Star Wars ones, or the Family Guy and South Park tables. It also seems like they missed an opportunity by not having King Kong or Godzilla go on a rampage on any — or really, all — of these tables, chasing after the ball like it’s some army guy who’s been trying to kill them. Now that would be a pinball table. But as is, all three are still a lot of fun, providing the kind of addictive challenge as, well, that $7K pinball machine I’m currently saving up for.
SCORE: 8.0/10
Usually if a remake of a classic game doesn’t modernize its controls and make other improvements or additions, it’s not worth getting. Just compare the faithful but dated-feeling remake of Resident Evil compared to the updated and upgraded Resident Evil 2. But leave it to this new version of Resident Evil 4 (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PC) to buck that trend by being a lot like the original that came out for the GameCube in 2005, and yet still be a must-have for fans of this classic horror shooter. And, well, for people who’ve never had the pleasure.
Originally released in 2019, the first-person action-oriented role-playing game The Outer Worlds was like the recent Fallout games if that series had better real-time combat, was even snarkier, and was more influenced by such space operas as Firefly than such ’50s sci-fi movies as Forbidden Planet.
While a sequel is on the way, people who missed the original — and who own a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X or S — can now enjoy an enhanced and more complete version of the game with The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition. Which, no surprise, is just as good as the original, and may even be worth getting if you played some but not all of the original version.
Sometimes, when you first start to play a video game, you notice that something doesn’t feel quite right, and no matter how small or insignificant it may be, it still taints the experience. That, unfortunately, is what happened when I started playing Atomic Heart (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC), a first-person sci-fi action / adventure game that could’ve been unique, exciting, and interesting…had they not made one simple mistake.
Though it spawned two sequels, a couple side games, a mobile game, a pair of novels, two animated movies, some graphic novels, and a bunch of toys, t-shirts, and collectibles, the 2008 survival horror game Dead Space is often just considered a cult classic.
Which made it rather surprising when Electronic Arts announced a remake of the game for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (and just a few years after Glen Schofield, one of the original Space creators, announced a spiritual successor, the recently released Callisto Protocol).
But a lot can happen in fifteen years, especially in video games, something I kept in mind as I stepped once more into the breach.
Sometimes it sucks to be a gamer who’s picky about music. Not only do you frequently feel compelled to turn a game’s music off — which can lead to weird moments, like when you go into the bar in Mass Effect and see people dancing to silence — but it can make rhythm games extra annoying unless they have the word “Metallica” in the title. Oddly, though, some rhythm games don’t actually need you to listen to the music. Metal: Hellsinger was like that; it worked just as well (or, in my case, even better) when I turned the music off.
It was with this in mind that I started playing the rhythmic third-person hack & slash action game Hi-Fi Rush (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC), initially with the music cranked up, but later with it turned off, to see if it was even playable, let alone fun, without the tunes…and, of course, if it was fun in the first place.