Review: Zen's Tomb Raider Pinball on Pinball FX
Bias incoming: I’m a massive fan of the Tomb Raider series, though my starting point was a little different than I think a lot of people had. The first game I played in the series was the first game of Crystal Dynamics’ survivor trilogy and I was pleasantly surprised with the gameplay & how it mixed platformer and action-adventure sensibilities, with some collectathon tendencies thrown in for good measure. I finally played the original games when the remasters released last year and they didn’t disappoint either; the controls took a bit of time to adjust to but once I figured them out, the games very quickly won me over.
So, I was pleasantly surprised when I first learned that Zen was pursuing the Tomb Raider license (a sensible pick considering the games are owned under one of Saber Interactive’s subsidiaries). The tables released on June 19th across all Pinball FX platforms and I’m here to say that this pack is worth looking into, though one of the two tables in the pack has some functionality issues and doesn’t quite live up to what its strong layout presents.
Note: I picked up these tables for $10 when they released, with no review codes. I am not being paid by Zen to review these tables.
Tomb Raider Pinball: Adventures of Lara Croft
Cutting to the chase – this table is great and more than justifies the purchase of this pack. I was very happy to see Thomas Crofts took to making this table based on an explorer with a very similar last name, as his tables for Pinball FX have been some of my absolute favorites in the game. Excluding the animated figure of Lara, a lot of this table feels like it could be done in real life, and the layout is a lot of fun with shots that encourage learning how to drop or live catch the ball using the flippers.
Adventures of Lara Croft is a mission-based table done to near perfection. There are six modes, each started by shooting the globe 3 times, and each one is based on a different game in the series (the four Eidos games and two Crystal Dynamics games), with a wizard mode that covers the entirety of the survivor trilogy. Hitting the globe during any mission, or completing objectives, increases the mission timer. There are minor ways of scoring points on the side including chronicles hurry-ups that start by completing the top rollover lanes, and a multiball whose locks need to be qualified as an option from the globe, but the missions are where the bulk of points in the table come from. During missions, the player must also be careful to time their shots, as there are trap doors in front of the orbits and left ramp that can negate those shots!
Arguably the game’s biggest gimmick is the “tiltfield” at the bottom right. This mini-playfield resembles the path of adventure from Williams’ Indiana Jones or Gottlieb’s Wipe Out; the player uses the flippers to tilt the playfield left and right. The tiltfield is used in various modes and can be leveled up at any time by spelling RAID at the left ramp, then completing the tiltfield. Levelling up the tiltfield results in closing two of the three random holes on the mini-playfield, making it easier to complete when missions require it to be passed through.
Also worth noting is that the scoring in this table is incredibly linear. The side modes are just what the name implies, with the main goal of them being to add to end-of-ball bonus or light an extra ball after completing them enough. The biggest points come from the 20M bonus awarded for completing each mission. The multiballs also try to cap out the points that can be earned from them to prevent abusing the table’s scoring; this can seem somewhat weird to players expecting multiballs to be where the biggest points in the game are scored, but given that this is a digital table I understand why Thomas Crofts opted to go in this direction.
Overall, Adventures of Lara Croft is a great table, another excellent entry in Thomas Crofts’ catalog of incredible digital tables. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it never feels too unfair and the difficulty preventing players from hitting certain shots repeatedly helps add to the enjoyment to me. Even if you haven’t played any game in the Tomb Raider series, this table is worth looking into if you want another adventure-themed table in the vein of Williams’ Indiana Jones with similar atmosphere.
Tomb Raider Pinball: Secrets of Croft Manor
The theme and layout do a lot of the heavy lifting for this table I otherwise just find to be alright. Croft Manor appears in nearly every entry of the Tomb Raider series being the mansion where Lara and her butler Winston reside, and this table does a spectacular job at capturing the vibes and atmosphere of the location in a pinball setting. Unfortunately, this table designed by Daniel “Dolby” Vigh loses a bit of steam when it comes to its modes, which are inventive but not quite in the way you’d expect given the table layout.
Croft Manor is home to many different rooms for Lara to test her strength and navigation skills. The rooms are represented by a turntable mech in the center of the game that has six sides; a fireplace used to start the main modes and five other sides that are used during the main modes and the wizard mode respectively. The manor is also home to a clock with a secret behind it, a knight whose shield raises to reveal hidden treasures behind it, and a ray of sunlight that could help unveil the secret of the White Queen.
This game’s layout is great, with a special mention going to the turntable mech. We’ve seen turntables in pinball machines before, like the rotating playfield in Gottlieb’s Lights, Camera, Action! or the bat-phone turntable in Stern’s Batman ’66, but this game brings it to a whole new level with all four sides of the turntable being dedicated to different modes. My absolute favorite side is easily the combat training side, a “roto-target” with three different layers challenging the player to hit the flashing targets while avoiding the ones that aren’t lit. The ramps on the sides are addictive to hit as well and lend themselves well to combos, and the orbits send the ball to the flippers on the opposite sides allowing for the player to control shots to them easier than normal.
Unfortunately, I feel that the layout isn’t used nearly as well as it could be. The one mode that uses a lot of the shots effectively is the renovation rush side mode, which simply lights one shot at a time and resets the timer each time one is made; Where is Winston is mostly a pop-up target mode, and The Mansion’s Melody is a pop bumper mode, while the entirety of the main modes revolve around shooting nothing but the turntable mech. I understand that Daniel Vigh wanted the mansion rooms to be the priority, but I feel they come at the cost of making the game dangerously close to a “one-trick pony” with the fireplace dominating the playfield and the player’s attention when it comes to score.
Secrets of Croft Manor is the weaker table of the two but still has its moments. The audio is “cozy” for the lack of a better word, befitting of the environment that the table takes place in, and there is a charm to having a table where most of its content is relegated to one easy-to-hit shot. Unfortunately, this style of table just isn’t for me, though I can see people new to pinball who want a table they can sink their teeth into without getting upset really enjoying this one, compared to the more advanced Adventures of Lara Croft. Nice effort by Daniel Vigh but not my favorite table he’s done.
My final ratings for the two tables in this pack are:
- Adventures of Lara Croft: 8/10
- Secrets of Croft Manor: 6/10
