Tag: Calrissian Chronicles Pinball FX

Star Wars: Calrissian Chronicles (Pinball FX Table Review)

Calrissian Chronicles
aka Lando
First Released September 12, 2018
Main Platform: Pinball FX
Switch Platform: Star Wars Pinball
Designed by Thomas Crofts
Set: Star Wars Pinball Collection 2 ($23.99)
Links: Strategy Guide – Pinball FX Wiki
It looks like it’s going to be so fun, but it’s one of the most frustrating, annoying, and polarizing pins in the Star Wars lineup.

Lando is the proud owner of some of the most lethal rails in the sport. Rails so lethal that even made shots could be killed by them if the ball drops uncleanly out of the habitrail. It turns a lot of people off the table, while others adore that it’s among the most lifelike tables Zen has ever done. At times, it almost feels like it was made by an entirely different company. No Star Wars pin has a ball that feels so heavy, and with that comes huge satisfaction watching a successful shot glide gracefully around an orbit. Of course, that doesn’t cancel-out watching the ball fall lifelessly into the drain after hitting the dead-center capture ball at the top of the screen, or the agony of seeing a successful lit-shot wobble out of the chute, dance off the rails and then drain down the left outlane. I couldn’t forgive it for that last one. It just happened too many times for me.

Persistent Problem – Rejections: Even the fans of Lando will concede that it’s frustrating to shoot a ball in a way where, by all logic and reason, it should easily clear the orbit and it doesn’t. I’m a lot more frustrated with my family than I am with the table itself, because I don’t see how they can admit it does this and still defend it. But they do. Angela especially is a big Lando fan, plays it recreationally outside of our Pinball FX review stuff, and has held records on it (and she’s still the Distance Challenge Undisputed World Champion as of this writing).

Lando is probably the most polarizing of all Zen tables. Usually, when we split our votes as a group, it’s done so in tiny degrees. For Lando, there was a big gap between us, at least until Sasha came along. I told her “you’re going to be a diplomat when you grow up.” She asked what a diplomat does, and I said “honestly I don’t have a clue but people respect them!” You either love Calrissian Chronicles or you hate it. I hated it. Jordi did. Elias really did. Too brutal. Too unfair. Too many rejections. And on top of everything wrong with how it shoots, some of the modes have the Millennium Falcon and even TIE Fighters flying all over the screen like an antsy kid waving their hands in front of the screen. It’s so distracting and just plain annoying. I think you can add characters and story to a table without distracting from the shots. All of Zen’s best pins do exactly that. Meanwhile, Dad and Angela love Lando. They love the layout. They love the elegant combo-shooting (something my love of is purely hypothetical and based on the shots actually working right), and the unique physics. It seems to have a slope angle that no other Star Wars pin has, or they have an entire different gravity setting just for it. Meanwhile, Sasha is just kicking up her feet and laughing at us for making such a to-do over such a middling pin. Say what you will about Lando, but it sure sparks interesting debate, doesn’t it?
Cathy: BAD (2 out of 5)
Angela: GREAT (4 out of 5)
Oscar: GREAT
Jordi: BAD
Sasha: GOOD (3 out of 5)
Elias: THE PITS (1 out of 5, Star Wars Pinball)
Overall Scoring Average: 2.6* – OKAY
Primary Pinball FX Scoring Average: 3.0 – GOOD
*Nintendo Switch version is, more or less, identical to all other platforms.
Some review copies were provided in this review, others were paid for.