Tag: Attack From Mars Pinball FX Review

Attack From Mars (Pinball FX Table Review)

Attack From Mars
First Released December, 1995
Zen Build Released December 4, 2018
Main Platform: Pinball FX
Switch Platform: Pinball FX 3
Coin-Op Designed by Brian Eddy
Conversion by Thomas Crofts
Set: Williams Pinball Collection 1 ($23.99)
Links: Internet Pinball Database Listing – Strategy Guide – Pinball FX Wiki
Angela on Attack from Mars: Attack from Mars is Thanksgiving dinner with my family. It’s weekends with my friends. It’s Christmas morning with the family I’ll make for myself some day. Attack from Mars will always be tied to most of my happiest memories. The table I use when I need to unwind. The table I use to organize my thoughts and find perspective when I’m feeling lost. My own little space. Just me, Attack from Mars, and my state of being. I can’t imagine any other table being all that and more. It even helped me learn math faster. I have Dyscalculia, which is kind of like dyslexia for numbers and math. Attack from Mars didn’t cure it. It didn’t even make it better. Instead, it contributed to my determination to overcome it. I loved this table so much that I wanted to be able to play it by myself and know how good my score was without asking Cathy or our father. My family tells everyone that Attack from Mars taught me how to play pinball, but they’re wrong. They taught me how to play pinball. Attack from Mars just happened to be my classroom, in more ways than one.

Shrug. It’s Attack From Mars! What can I say about it? While it’s not my personal favorite table, it’s the only pin I’ve ever considered to be perfect. Literally perfect. Perfect layout. Perfect sound effects and call-outs. Perfect scoring balance. Any player of any age or experience can walk up to Attack From Mars and enjoy a round of pinball, with no asterisk or strings attached. It’s simple and straightforward, but very challenging. The saucer is THE undisputed greatest driver in the history of the sport, and from there, it slowly eases players into the notion of greater goals and advanced modes. AFM defies any of the labels we’ve created to classify a table, yet it also matches all of them. It requires the precision aim of a Sharpshooter, but it offers gigantic flexibility to create your own strategy, like a Pick ‘n Flick. You can elegantly shoot combos and string together sequence shots, like a Finesse table, but it’s also a pinball machine where your main challenge will be taking control of the ball, like a Kinetic. Whatever your taste in pinball, and whatever era you love, you can have fun. There’s not a lot of pinball machines you can say that about.

Signature Shot – The Saucer: Attack from Mars’ iconic saucer is one of the all-time satisfying targets. The sound design played a big part of that, but I think the gate is understated. You almost breathe a sigh of relief when you lower that gate (assuming you don’t burn your Stroke of Luck on it right off the bat). It’s one of the more nail-biting shots around. Deceptively dangerous. Once the gate is lowered, nothing beats hearing the damage that each shot inflicts. Do a double or even triple shot on the saucer? Ahhh, that’s the good stuff.

If I have to think of something to not like about Attack from Mars, gosh.. okay, I guess the video mode is kind of underwhelming. Go figure that got recycled in Junk Yard, right? And everyone else disagrees with me about it anyway. I mean, even my video mode hating father likes it. I have no complaints about this interpretation from physical to digital. Zen Pinball has created a port that I feel accurately replicates the fast-rolling, frantic white-knuckle gameplay. Even the issues Pinball FX has with bounce don’t feel present here. You can tell they realized this was a table they absolutely had to get right, and they did. No, Attack From Mars isn’t my #1 table, but it’s the table I owe the most to, for it was Attack From Mars that turned Angela into a legitimate pinball player. No, change that. It turned her into a phenomenal pinball player, and it assured the Vice Family’s love of silverball didn’t end with my father and I. For that, it will always have my gratitude.
Cathy: MASTERPIECE
Angela: MASTERPIECE (#1 Rated Pinball FX Table)
Oscar: MASTERPIECE
Jordi: MASTERPIECE
Dash: MASTERPIECE
Sasha: MASTERPIECE
Dave: MASTERPIECE (Pinball FX3)
Elias: MASTERPIECE (Pinball FX3)
Overall Scoring Average: 5.0*  🏛️PANTHEON INDUCTEE🏛️
Pinball FX Scoring Average: 5.0 🏛️PANTHEON INDUCTEE🏛️
*Pinball FX3′ Williams tables run slightly different.
Some review copies were provided in this review, others were paid for.