All About Star Wars Pinball: Rogue One

Zen Studios just released a new table for its popular Star Wars Pinball series. The Rogue One table is out now for PS4, Xbox One, PC, Android and iOS. Here’s what makes it awesome.

The beginning feels like a Star Wars movie.

Before you start on the pinball table, a vehicle moves through the Rogue One universe. The scene only lasts a few seconds seconds, but the graphics, which let you see everything on the horizon in detail including the Imperial research facility, get you in a sci-fi gaming mood.

There’s a plot, too?

Yep. There’s actually a story here. Word is that tests for a the most horrible weapon are being conducted. The heroic Rebel Alliance has decided to destroy it. You have to go behind enemy lines to steal the Death Star plans and save the world.

But isn’t pinball just bumpers, balls and flippers?

It’s so much more. Each mode has a specific goal. There’s a stealth mission where you have to avoid Stormtroopers and another where you evade an AT-ACT walker. You also shoot down TIE fighters as a gunner and battle Director Krennic.

How do you win?

Aim the silver ball in the playfield’s middle – right at the letters that spell out the word “rogue.” Once you spell the letters out, you’ll get the first mission. That’s the shooting gallery mode and, to me, it was the hardest of the first five modes I was able to finish before the game ended. The goal is to finish all 10 missions or “scenes” with three balls (or more if you get one or two extra balls along the way). I couldn’t do it, not yet, anyway.

Crazy cool sounds and animations.

From movie quotes by the film’s stars to the buzzes, whirs and sirens of weapons and alarms to massive explosions, this is a July Fourth of fireworks of Star Wars sounds. So are the animations. You’ll see an impressive one when you hit the Dogfight button to the right of the Rogue letters. And you’ll see characters from the film enact short scenes during the various missions.

Is there anything “wrong” with it?

The countdown timers are off. Take that shooting gallery mode where you have to eliminate enemies by carefully flipping a pinball at them. It’s timed. Before I could complete everything, I heard the 3-2-1 countdown. But with more than one second left, I hit the target. I was awarded points, but the game said I was out of time. It was disappointing because, even though I got points, I had to start the whole mission over again.