I will first confess to the crime of not playing through System Shock. I will then confess to the crime of only playing through a bit of System Shock 2. I will further confess to the crime of not playing the amazing looking System Shock remake from last year. All of these are sins worthy of confession, as I love the Bioshock series and am well versed in how it essentially spun out of the System Shock series. The gameplay is phenomenal, the atmosphere for cyber-punk horror is second to none, and SHODAN is an all-time classic villain. One might ask how this all translates to a pinball table, and the answer is incredibly!
Pinball M by Zen Pinball has been an excellent wheelhouse for more adult, horror (and horror comedy) focused pinball machines. You can read my previous review on it, but as new as it is, it already has an excellent selection to sate your silver ball salivations. Now that I have used up my alliteration limit, let’s talk about System Shock Pinball! Based around Nightdive Studio’s phenomenal remake of the classic, genre-innovating game, the table tasks you, the Hacker, to stop SHODAN and shut down the mining laser of Citadel station before it can target the Earth. There are many features, and I adore the narrative. Fight your way through mutants and cyborgs who target and zap your ball around the table, hit a severed head into a scoop to scan it to enter areas, make your way through three upper playfields to hold your progress by destroying a medical bot, destroy computer terminal pop bumpers, and finally, battle SHODAN in a Breakout-styled virtual reality playfield to take her offline and save the Earth!
The atmosphere, animations, sound effects, and voice lines are all on point, and just like in the main games, hearing SHODAN mock you is both a source of horror and comic relief. Being a part of Pinball M affords the game to be as brutal and gory as it needs to be to set the tone, and it truly encapsulates the spirit of the game. My favorite shots are probably the security level spinner into the pops because it always feels satisfying to knock the ball around them and blow them up. I would say the most difficult shot for me in the time I played was trying to get the balls locked in for multiball – sometimes I got them easily, other times I just could not ricochet into it or get a smooth shot. I love the quadruple level upper playfield, as I feel it is in the spirit of Halloween and Ultraman: Kaiju Rumble from Spooky Pinball. I am not sure I would adore it in a physical table, but it works interestingly enough here. I always dig the Breakout-style minigames, and this is the first table to really do it well since The Shadow in 1994. I think it is a very fast flowing game, and I found myself draining from the right inlane numerous times just due to the speed of the game. Much like System Shock the game, System Shock Pinball will take practice and time to get sufficiently good at, so I feel it matches its source material well.
Overall, System Shock Pinball is another phenomenal entry into the Pinball M library, and Zen Studios continues to prove how they are the kings of the virtual table market, and are always ready to throw another unique table from a unique franchise into the mix. It is absolutely worth your time to pick up for your collection, and will surely sate your thirst until their next inevitable release.
Rating: 9/10
System Shock Pinball is available for PC via Steam. For more information and updates, visit zenstudios.com.
Related: Reviews by Matt O’Toole
Your local neighborhood nutjob, gamer, and teacher! I'm an avid fan of many genres such as platformers, shooters, horror, etc. I am also an avid tabletop gamer - hugely into the worlds of Warhammer and all of their spinoffs. I'm a big believer in being objective - even if something is not my cup of tea, I want to talk about it on the objective level - is it well made, crafted with love, and with care for the fans? If so, that's a good game in my book for someone and well worth their hard earned dollarydoos!
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