It’s been a while since my last review of new Pinball FX content, huh! With the arrival of Tomb Raider Pinball, it’s another videogame license that makes its way to Zen Studios’ excellent pinball simulator. With it, two new tables are added into the mix, with Adventures of Lara Croft and Secrets of Croft Manor. One is an exciting trek through the franchise’s rich history, while the other is a standout table that provides some of the best licensed pinball so far in Pinball FX.
Let’s start with Adventures of Lara Croft: as spoiled above, it’s certainly a trip through memory lane. As someone who has played a whole lot of Tomb Raider over the last three decades, as soon as the title menu from the original game started playing upon booting this table up, I was out for the count. Regardless of my geeking out, there’s a substantial amount of activities in this one, and even those who aren’t as familiar with the series as me will definitely get a kick out of it.
The basic design of the table follows the formula of your usual licensed Pinball FX affair: you activate missions by hitting a particular point on it, and those revolve around aiming and nailing increasingly trickier shots. In Adventures of Lara Croft’s case, the positioning of the rails and alleys makes it so it’s relatively easy to lose your ball if you’re not careful when shooting, making it a harder experience that might frustrate more casual players.
As for Secrets of Croft Manor, it’s a whole other story. Based on the mansion that has been a cornerstone of Tomb Raider since its inception, the constantly shifting abode to the Croft family is an incredibly fun table that’s full of secrets and lots of variety. Visually, it also stands out, since Pinball FX had yet to get a spooky manor type of table, which this one so neatly fits the bill, and the inclusion of the butler voice is a very nice addition, making it somewhat more atmospheric.
The main goal of Secrets of Croft Manor is also the activation of special missions, this time related to the training of Ms.Croft in between explorations, much like the mansion used to be treated in the games, as a training ground of sorts to Lara. As a table, this is translated surprisingly well by the developers in the way that they cheat – there’s no other way to put it, since it’d be impossible to be done in real-life pinball – by having the table shift as specific activities are taking place.
This fantastical approach to table designs is nothing new to Pinball FX, as there have been many tables that had some incredibly insane mechanics thrown in, none that would be realistically replicated if they were real physical things. That’s the main advantage of creating one of these from scratch, to be played digitally: there are no limitations, and it’s what makes Secrets of Croft Manor so special, how bananas it can get, much like Tomb Raider itself, so it’s a closed loop, eh?
Tomb Raider Pinball is a very good inclusion to the Pinball FX lineup. While Adventures of Lara Croft is sure to please old geezers like myself, who have been following along for decades, it’s still a worthwhile endeavour to those that enjoy Pinball FX, but it’s Secrets of Croft Manor that is the cherry that makes this pack a worthwhile pick-up. This is from a tilt for Zen Studios, that’s for sure.
