Pinball FX3: Aliens vs. Pinball (Nintendo Switch) Review

Due to how beloved and critically and commercially successful the movie this is based on was, Aliens vs. Pinball is probably the highlight of this pack. It is based on James Cameron's massively successful film and, as a result, features missions taken straight out from the plot of the film to plod through, either in the order of the film or by selecting them manually whenever a mission is ready to be launched. This pack isn't exactly new since it came out over a year ago, but seeing it remade in the new engine, complete with more visual and lighting effects is truly amazing.

It is a relatively classic table in design, with middle lanes easy enough to roll up, and the far left and right being a bit more difficult to aim at; not too dissimilar, for comparison sake, to the Empire Strikes Back table from Star Wars Pinball, in terms of feel. A massive Alien queen takes up much of the upper table, drooling and snarling as the ball passes by and, whenever it is relevant to whichever part of the plot a current mission or action is played, a mini-game plays where the M577 APC vehicle from the film is controller, having to dodge piles of wreckage and keep the vehicle from taking too much damage for as long as possible to rack up points. It is not so much a big scoring table, in that regard, much like, again, the Empire Strikes Back table. The multiplayer is moderately hard to increase and extra balls don't drop all too often, but like a lot of other licensed Pinball FX tables, this one is amazing and exploits its source material brilliantly.

Perhaps more, than anything else, hearing voice clips from the film from such high class actors as Sigourney Weaver, Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn, or the sadly now deceased Bill Paxton, feels incredibly good and shall tickle any long time fan's nostalgia bone. The latter's now classic line "That's it man, it's game over man, it's game over!" whenever all balls have been lost, is absolutely priceless, and never gets old... although, to be fair, it was an expected use of the line, before even playing it. Naturally, non-fans will be missing out on those, but one must assume that if anyone is even looking into how good this table pack is to begin with, out of all those available in Pinball FX 3, then there must be some fan connection with the franchise, drawing them to this pack in the first place. Of all three tables, being based on a mainstream cult film, it is, accordingly, a medium difficulty table that offers a moderate challenge even enjoyable by those drawn in to the title and the table itself by the franchise it is based on. That's a smart move, and arguably the best way to go about it, but then again Zen Studios has experience handling these things by now.

The Aliens vs. Predator table is, expectedly, also based on a movie, but probably not everyone's favourite in the series. In all fairness, though, it could have been much worse and been an Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem table.

Aliens vs. Predator was still a decent action packed film, though, and, as it happens, these tend to translate well to pinball action, because there are so many key scenes to draw from for all kinds of missions and objectives to put into the table, and that's exactly what has happened here. A Predator model can be seen on the side of the table, and arming it with its weapons to have to be collected around the table will make it attack the Xenomorph standing on the other side of the table, while puzzle elements involving the pyramid found in Antarctica under the ice will test most players' reflexes.

While still a perfectly enjoyable table in its own right, maybe the appeal of the source material is what makes this feel the least interesting of the three. If buying all three in a pack, however, you won't be robbed by its inclusion as it is still fun to play. It may not be based on every fan's favourite movie but still it manages to take good advantage of the scenario to give a good representation of its universe and, short of having a proper Predators pack, fans get here a crossover pinball machine that features both universes in the process, which can't be a bad thing at all, especially if the pinball table is a lot of fun in its own right, regardless of its source of inspiration.

Alien Isolation Pinball is a bit more special since it is not based on any of the films but rather on the game of the same name, which itself was derived from the franchise and, as far as it is known, is considered canon, which is not without recalling the The Walking Dead table, which itself was based on Telltale's game, which in turn was derived from the comic and, as it happens, Aliens Isolation Pinball attempts, too, to recreate the interactive experience of the actual game it is based on, rather than simply relying on porting a movie plot into videogame form. Accordingly, this table features a lot of peculiar gameplay ideas, such as watching out for Amanda Ripley's health bar and ammo displayed at the bottom right of the table, among other things.

Amanda cannot die, but her health level, and how much ammo she has, affects the scores earned for performing certain actions on the table. Indeed, just like the game it is based on, which itself took a lot of cues from the first film, a single Xenomorph is onboard, and Amanda must survive its occasional assaults. It is a relatively smaller table, not unlike the previously reviewed Son of Zeus table, so the ball tends to come back down having still conserved much of the momentum that sent it up there, making it possibly the most challenging of the three when combined with the other aforementioned elements to look out for. It is also the table where scores will tend to be the lowest, not just due to how score is affected by health and ammo but because it's a tougher table, not unlike the Bobba Fett table from Star Wars Pinball. However, gameplay-wise, it's arguably the most engrossing of the three, although content wise the most memorable remains the Aliens table.