With even more pinball tables being released by Zen recently, it’s time for another roundup of what’s been going on recently and which tables you can pick up for just a small handful of your hard earned pounds.
Star Wars Rebels
There’s already some Star Wars pinball action on offer, but just recently another new table appeared in the shape of Star Wars Rebels. Set on a Ghost starship, you’re presented with a series of missions to try and complete in between flicking that small silver ball about the place and desperately trying to keep it in-play. The are several tasks to carry out before being confronted with the big final battle, but unlike most tables which insist on your succeeding at all of these missions, the Rebels missions only have to be attempted without losing the ball in order to progress.
Elsewhere you’ve got loads of ramps, skill shots, combos and multipliers to help build your score up to pretty epic proportions – make no mistake about it, if you like a table where you can end up with scores comfortably in the many millions, this is definitely one to consider!
Portal
Anything, and I mean ANYTHING which gives you a chance to enjoy more Wheatley and GLaDOS is going to worth your money. With Zen’s Portal table, you get to enjoy much of what you might’ve already loved in Portal 2 while switching your attention to a very different platform. Based in a half-knackered testing lab (a style similar to what you came across in Portal 2) the table itself is very approachable, giving a nice mix of open spaces to let the ball fly, as well as numerous lanes and targets to aim for. There are various modes which you can activate in very specific ways, including a Test Chamber which lets you select a test to complete, help Chell reach the exit by hitting certain lanes and build your way up towards the final big finale against GLaDOS.
Other mini-games allow you to disable turrets for the final battle, making the eventual (and very difficult to reach) fight that little bit less challenging with up to three turrets being switched off by succeeding in various tasks. Some involve hitting certain areas of the table, while others drop you into smaller mini-tables below the main table for some superfast and tricky few moments.
But what sticks with you after playing all this is that, frankly, it’s awesome. Awesome with a capital AWE. If you’ve even had a passing interest in Portal, and especially if you like it was much as I do, you won’t want to miss this one at all. It’s fantastic.
Ant-Man
Another Marvel tie-in brings Ant-Man to the table (pun intended) with what looks like a fairly naked looking table. There’s quite a bit of open space to be had, but once you take a look at the table guide and see what’s on offer it soon becomes clear just why there’s not much going on – you need to find it.
There are no spoilers for the film here, so you can play happily enough without worrying about finding out some key info from the last 10 minutes of the film. Challenges are varied and very tricky in places, and include a huge subatomic particle which shrinks when you give it a good smack, eventually becoming a second ball in play during the duration of that current life.
As you’d expect bynow from a Zen table there are plenty of combos on offer, lanes to aim for and various other targets to help you build a mean score, but it’s the missions which give the big bucks, and that’s where you’re likely to focus your attentions. it’ll keep you on your toes this one, it’s not easy in the slightest. Good fun though, that’s for sure.
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