For the past few years, Pinball FX 2 has been synonymous with solid and imaginative tables based on various properties. Comic book fans have a slew of Marvel-themed tables that star popular to obscure characters. Movie fans have a number of "Star Wars" tables, and video game fans have a number that range from Plants vs. Zombies to Street Fighter II and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Even sports fans have a few to choose from, with a number of European soccer teams having a few themed tables of their own. What seems underrepresented are the original tables, which make up a small portion of the collection. For its latest release, Zen Studios wants to rectify this by releasing two original tables in The Iron & Steel Pack.

The pack comes with two tables that vary in more than just theme. The first is CastleStorm, which is based on Zen Studio's fantasy strategy game. Once again, you take on the role of Sir Gareth as he travels around the kingdom and drives back hordes of Vikings while making sure his base isn't overrun by invaders. Though the table doesn't re-create all of the game events, it adapts some of the more general objectives. Here, it means your missions have goals like saving the Viking princess, driving back hordes and ghosts, and assaulting the enemy castle with your ordnance.

The table layout isn't particularly fancy. It is narrower than some of the other tables, but it feels good instead of confining. The lower half is uneventful, with standard bumpers and flippers occupying a decently open space. The upper half of the table contains all of the ramps, with a flipper on the left side to hit an otherwise hard-to-reach ramp. There are a few highlights in the form of an alleyway that's blocked by successive targets and a minitable on the upper right that features lots of targets in a very small space.

There are a few video game-specific flourishes. The most prevalent is the presence of Vikings and ghosts, with the former slowly marching down toward your flippers and constantly respawning to give you bonus points when hit. Both of these characters lack collision, oddly enough, so hitting them doesn't change the trajectory of the ball. The other flourish comes from the presence of a sheep ballista in a particular mission that gives you a better way to aim at the incoming Vikings.

The table is loads of fun despite being one of the more traditional ones in terms of layout and extras. The only area of complaint is with the minitable, where the ball entry is much quicker than expected. Depending on your camera preset, you may not have much time to react before it leaves the area. Also, the small size of the minitable and the multitude of available targets mean there will be more flipper-mashing than anything that requires skill.

As far as presentation goes, the table is both authentic and restrained. The music and sound bites come from the game and are delivered at just the right moments. Some new game-specific audio bits fit the table just perfectly. Graphically, you've got the Sir Gareth model on the right side, but he's in more of an observational role than a participatory one during some missions. With the exception of the Vikings and ghosts, the character models stay away from the action, though a dragon in the top middle of the playfield can be distracting when he spews fire on the ramp that he's overlooking.

The second table in the pack is Wild West Rampage, where you play as a bounty hunter named Cindy. She rides into the town of Rackton Point and discovers the town's Sheriff is ruling the town with an iron fist and jailing those who oppose him. To make matters worse, his old gang is coming to town soon, spelling doom for anyone who wants to be rid of his tyranny. It's up to Cindy to save the day, so she rounds up everything she needs to knock out the Sheriff.

Like the CastleStorm table, Wild West Rampage isn't particularly over the top in any way, but it still has a good layout. The table is a bit wider and taller than most of the ones in the collection, but it doesn't go for wider pits or more space between flippers to make up for that. The lower half features the expected dual flippers and bumpers and multiple return lanes, but there's also a third flipper on the left side that you can use to pass the ball to the upper half if you activate it in time. Bordering the upper half are a number of ball pits, and the upper half is littered with ramps, one of which features a wagon that acts as a small cluster of bumpers and another that has a spinner overlooking a ball pit.

There are a number of highlights on the table, though few are immediately apparent at first glance. There are two return lanes on either side that are hidden by table decorations. While the ball isn't completely invisible in these areas, it gives the illusion that the playable field is wider than what you see. The middle ramp is rather typical, but the ball gets shot out of windows instead of through a normal ramp, and the exit window changes depending on which side of the middle ramp you've lit up. There's also a smaller hidden table in a mission that involves a train. The table isn't particularly noteworthy since it follows the standard layout, where all of the targets are in the upper half while there's a wide swath of empty space in the middle area, but that disinterest fades when you learn that there are over three different layouts.

The table is loads of fun, but if you want to get more points, it requires more skill than the CastleStorm table. The lack of on-field targets helps in this regard, but many of the goals require fast reflexes and lots of luck to pull off. This is mostly because the goal ramps tend to have short timers, so one missed shot means the challenge is over and you have to put in some more work to get it back up and running again. This makes it geared toward more seasoned pinball players, but the various smaller scoring opportunities ensure that rookies can still eke out decent scores.

Presentation-wise, the table nails the theme quite well. The music is typical Wild West material, with dusty guitar twangs reminding you of great spaghetti westerns of the past and the sounds of dynamite explosions and pistol shots ringing out at every opportunity. The character models stay out of the way, and aside from one mission where you have to hit gunpowder-filled barrels, there's nothing outrageous with the presentation.

Pinball FX2: The Iron & Steel Pack is a great addition to the Pinball FX 2 collection. Both tables offer a nice balance between ambitious and traditional elements that make them pleasing to a wide range of pinball fans. Both play to their themes quite well, and while Wild West Rampage seems to be the more polished one, both are done well when compared to the overall library. Unless you need a licensed theme to go with your pinball, pick up The Iron & Steel Pack.

Score: 8.0/10