After spending some time with Star Wars Pinball VR, the best way to describe it as a form of highly-concentrated nostalgia that absolutely works. This is a pinball collection from a galaxy far, far away you won’t want to miss when it releases this April on all major VR platforms.
Star Wars Pinball VR Preview
Zen Studios gave me early access to a Quest build of Star Wars Pinball VR, which I played on a Quest 2, and overall came away impressed and hungry for more. I’d drop quarters into my headset if it’d let me.
For those unaware, Zen has been making pinball video games for years and even brought over Pinball FX2 to VR headsets. Standing over a virtual table while pressing trigger buttons on motion controllers isn’t quite the same thing as actually using a real pinball machine, but it’s a pretty close approximation.
The real value benefit with VR pinball though, in my experience, is all of the other stuff it introduces. Not only are the tables creative and fun, but you’ve got characters flying around above the table and amazing collectables to show off and display in big, nerdy rooms. Star Wars Pinball VR is just teeming with nostalgia.
Star Wars Pinball VR will have eight different tables spanning several iconic entries in the franchise of films and TV shows. This includes two brand-new never-before-released tables: The Mandalorian and Star Wars Classic Collectibles. These new tables will be joined by tables based on each film in the original trilogy of movies, a Rogue One table, Star Wars Rebels table, and Masters of the Force table.
I checked out The Mandalorian table primarily and after a few tries was able to do okay, getting over 10,000,000 points on my fourth try. It’s pretty tough, but really fun and well laid out. As with any pinball machine, half the fun is just figuring out what exactly you’re supposed to do to trigger the different events and scenes.
Arguably the best part of the whole package though is the room everything is found in. It’s bit like a Star Wars ‘fan cave’ in a way where you can display all of your unlocked posters, collectible figures, ship models, and so on. There’s even an old timey-style jukebox where you can play various songs you’ve unlocked while playing different tables.
All in all, it seems like a really solid package for Star Wars fans and pinball aficionados alike. There’s plenty of depth to the tables that I tried and there’s a lot to unlock to keep you busy for hours.
Star Wars Pinball VR is coming to the Quest platform, PSVR, and PC VR headsets on Steam this April 29.
Editor’s Note: This preview originally included gameplay footage captured on Quest 2, but the video has been removed due to a miscommunication with Zen Studios.
