“Goat Simulator Pinball” for “Pinball FX” Review

 

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.

For those who’ve never played…

any of the tables the good people at Zen Studios have made for Pinball FX, video game or otherwise, the game is (obviously) a pinball simulator which allows people to play a bunch of different pinball tables like they just walked into a super cool bar. Or the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California.

Like real pinball tables, the ones made for Pinball FX have realistic physics and sound effects. The ball really does move around the table like it would if the machine was real, while sounding like a big ball bearing rolling on wood.

But this is where the realism ends. While the physics of a Pinball FX table may be realistic, the mechanics of these tables are often not (save for all the recreations of classic Williams pinball tables that Zen Studios have released). They feature animatronic-looking characters, elaborate secret areas, and other mechanics that would either be mechanically or financially impossible.

In the case of the Goat Simulator table,

for instance, there’s a farmer who stands on the sidelines, and occasionally tosses dynamite onto the table.

Pinball FX tables also give you options you wouldn’t get on a real table. Most notably, the camera, which can follow the ball around or make it look like you’re actually standing in front of the table, and from multiple heights: short like a kid, tall like an adult, really tall like you’re a professional basketball player, and other heights in between.

The result is often a table that’s as much fun for pinball fans as it is for those who love the video game it’s based on.

As for those unfamiliar with Goat Simulator,

or its sequels, they’re weird and funny games in which you, playing a surly goat, go around destroying things, and annoying people, often by headbutting them as goats are prone to do.

Well, some goats. Not those cute little ones who do yoga.

Unfortunately, the Goat Simulator Pinball table will not help you center yourself.

Though you might achieve some inner peace if you find pinball relaxing. Because if nothing else, the Goat Simulator Pinball table is an engaging pinball table.

This is, in part,

because of how it mirrors the original game by having the top half of the table be cluttered and busy, with multiple pathways and ramps, as well as hidden bumpers underneath. It even has a somewhat hidden third flipper all the way at the top.

Then there’s the center top tower, which has an entrance at table level, as well as doors in the middle and top part, both of which connect to different ramps that empty out onto different parts of the table.

It’s just one of the ways Goat Simulator Pinball keeps you on your toes. By having the top half be so dense, and with multiple ramps and runways, and by these giving the ball an opportunity to really get some speed behind it, this table ends up being challenging and fun.

That said,

Goat Simulator Pinball isn’t perfect. Or as Goat Simulator-y as it could’ve been. And not just because the plunger — i.e., the thing that shoots the ball onto the table — isn’t a headbutting goat.

For starters, Goat Simulator Pinball squanders another opportunity by having the ball change into a different kind of sphere, often in mid-run, but having it not mean anything. Along with the usual silver metal ball, you also get to knock a basketball around the table, as well as a beach ball, though they all seem to behave the same. The basketball, for instance, doesn’t seem to bounce more, while the beach ball never got me excited to be at a rock concert.

Goat Simulator Pinball also doesn’t have the wanton destruction of the original game. Which could’ve really made this table unique, since pinball tables aren’t known for having parts break unless they’re really, really old and in need of repair.

None of which…

ruins the Goat Simulator Pinball table for Pinball FX. Sure, it’s not as clever as the original game — it’s not the G.O.A.T. (sorry) — it is still a solid and entertaining pinball table that will be as fun for fans of pinball as it is the titular game.

SCORE: 7.5/10