'Star Wars Pinball' [REVIEW]

Let's start with the good news. First, "Zen Pinball 2" is ubiquituous, so fans should have absolutely no problem finding this DLC. It's out on just about everything, from iOS to XBLA, and everything in between. For the review you're about to read, I occupied myself with the PS3 version.

The DLC offers up three different "Star Wars" themed table tops, the most iconic of which is probably the "Star Wars: Episode V" table, blaring the Imperial March while you play. This is joined by a "Clone Wars" table, and a Bobba Fett table, complete with waving tentacles of the monster that brought the bounty hunter to his demise, the Sarlacc.

Beginning each table prompts a basic intro, and a fly over of the table's various elements, none too different from the others. All the customary pinball elements are represented, rails, flashing lights, flippers, binging and bonging sound FX, and a big glossy picture adorns each table, just like the rows of pinball machines that adorned the arcades of yesteryear.

Each table has all the proper sound effects, characters, and lines from the movies fans will recognize. As such, franchise fans will get a nice jolt of those warm feelings of nostalgia whenever they load up a table.

The bad: There does seem to be the slightest delay with the paddle controls, but that could just be my imagination, or limited to the PS3 version. Being given the name Luke, I've never had an affinity to anything related to Star Wars. If I had a nickel for everytime someone quoted Vader's line revealing his identity to me, I could buy and sell Bill Gates three times over. I think I heard that line before I even found out where it was even from. As such, I've actually done my best to avoid the franchise as best I could. So admittedly, I'm a bit biased.

That being said, through no fault of its own, Star Wars pinball is simply that. Just pinball. There's not a whole lot of improvement that's come to the game as a whole over the years, no two tables are amazingly different from the other, and this DLC is quite a good example of that. Not that I dislike pinball, but there's not much more that can be done with it. Given the simplicity of the game, I can see the mobile version doing a bit better than its console counterparts.

Star Wars fans will no doubt enjoy Zen's take on it, but the rest of us will give it a quick look up and down, say "meh," and walk away. If I came across an actual "Zen Pinball" Star Wars, I wouldn't give it a second thought to pump in a quarter and give it a go. But $10 for DLC? Meh.