Star Wars Pinball: Heroes Within (Wii U) Review

As it uses the same engines, be it graphical, physics, or sound, as the other tables, it should be no surprise that these new tables bring just the exact same amount of quality in those areas as the tables already available. This means some of the same tiny flaws are still there, such as the same jingle playing on loop when the game is paused as it plays, which can turn very irritating; however, the quality of pretty much everything else more than makes up for it. For those not in the know, each table in this pack is themed after a particular character, set of characters, or a particular episode in the long running saga by Georges Lucas. Such previously available tables included episodes V and VI, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (based on the TV series), and some centred around the story arcs of characters Darth Vader, Boba Fett, as well as the rebel and empire fleets of star-fighters. Tables feature visual details, character models, and mission objectives themed after events - including a mix or obscure and well-known - from the entire franchise, complete with voice clips sounding close to the character voices from the actual source material. Though a lot of the voices do sound like re-recordings, the lines are perfectly recaptured. Most impressive as well are the renditions of short video clips from the movies in pure dot matrix style, similar to the screens found on machines of the late 1980s and 1990s.

By far the most visually enticing aspect of the tables are all the things happening on-screen which would never be found in real machines, like ships flying over the play field, lasers being shot, balls exploding which of course are there to give even more purpose to making physical machines into pieces of digital entertainment.

This pack of tables brings, as one would expect, more of the same, just slightly expanding and broadening the offer to keep busy players who have mastered the original tables who are looking for more challenges keen. The first of the four tables is Star Wars episode IV: A New Hope. Like Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi before it, it follows the events of the movie it is based on and works in the most conventional way of the four. The main course is to be found in the missions, labelled as "scenes", and based on key events of the movie, which when they are all cleared unlock the final mission of the table which is tied to the final events of said film. Meanwhile the play field is full of other side missions, tied to less important parts of the plot or simply to some of the lore from the Star Wars universe encountered within the story, which help increase the score, increase multipliers, or can even influence the way the final scene plays. This is all fairly standard pinball mechanics. The table, overall, is very decent, playing a lot on the nostalgia factor of where the whole Star Wars saga begun.

Another table, Han Solo, centres on the main and back stories of the titular character portrayed by Harrison Ford in the series, and is perhaps by far the most fun to play due to the large amount of witty lines of dialogue taken from episodes IV to VI being blurted out by the animated character model in the corner of the virtual machine. "Laugh it up, fuzz ball!" is indeed sure to bring a grin on many faces among fans of the character. This table is a bit trickier than the previous one, due to some ramps being harder to aim for, but it otherwise plays just as well, and the references used throughout and the events depicted are the most enjoyable of the bunch, again thanks to the character providing comic relief in the franchise. It also helps that the table is accompanied by the Cantina theme music played in the Mos Eisley bar in episode IV, which in itself is one of the most light-hearted moments of the franchise.

Even more light-hearted, though perhaps in a more irritating way, is the Star Wars: Droids table, which centres mainly on the events tied to C-3PO and R2-D2, and more widely to pretty much all the types of droids encountered in the original trilogy, especially in company of the Jawa droid smugglers on Tatooine, inside their sandcrawlers such as Red, also known as R5-D4, seen in episode IV. This table is somewhat easier to navigate compared to Han Solo, but certain mission requirements involve accurate aiming of the ball into ramps and holes within very strict time limits leaving small room for error or multiple attempts. It otherwise has loads of fun objectives, one of which being to aim the ball at multiple holes and ramps to collect parts of a dismantled C-3PO, the ball turning golden, like the droid himself, when a part is collected.

Last, but certainly not least, is the table titled Masters of the Force. Not focussed on a particular episode or trilogy, not nor on one particular set of characters, it pits the dark and light sides of the force against one another, with the greatest Sith masters tackling their Jedi counterparts. Old Obi-Wan, Darth Sidious, Yoda, Count Dooku, Darth Maul, and Qui-Gon Jinn feature in gorgeously drawn artwork. Shades of dark red and bright blue make up the scene where the pinball action occurs, featuring lots of moving and changing paths as well as the most complex play mechanics of the four tables on offer, coupled with crazy physics effects with manifestations of the force realised through lightning bolts or balls levitating. It's possibly the craziest table yet in Star Wars Pinball, but also possibly the most visually stunning, not so much in terms of technical achievement, but mainly in terms of art direction.

This fourth table rounds up the package pretty well, as there seems to have been consideration put into making no two tables the same. Even if all of them are still just pinball tables, the focus and pinball action give each table their own feel, vibe, and atmosphere. Even as far as Star Wars lore goes, the four tables encompass a broad variety of classic, easily recognisable references right down to the more obscure ones which only diehard fans of the franchise will recognise.