Roughly a year ago, the folks at Zen Studios got the license to re-create some of the Williams pinball tables, with the bonus of being able to update some of the visuals to fit with the style of the rest of their tables. The license has either been so successful or made them so busy that no new original tables for Pinball FX3 have been released since then. The latest release, Universal Monsters Pack, doesn't buck that trend, but it gives us two more excellent tables to bump up that wizard score.

Originally released in 1992, Creature from the Black Lagoon 3-D is the first table in the pack, and it takes on a different theme from what's expected. Instead of being a pinball rendition of the movie, the conceit is that you're at a drive-in theater watching the movie. As such, the goals and bonuses reflect this, such as the audience shouting for focus when you lose a ball, trying to get a kiss during the movie, running for snacks, and preventing the film strip from snapping. The unusual take is welcome when you consider that someone else would've just emulated the events of the movie.

The table is very top-heavy as far as features go, but what you'll notice right away is how tucked away a good chunk of those elements are. There are tons of bumpers and chutes in the table's top half, but almost all of those are covered up by a web of translucent ramps that snake the area. Two of the chutes lead back to the bottom of the table, but the one on the right is more interesting due to the bowl that the ball circles around before dropping.

The bottom area of the table is sparse in scoring features, but it's interesting for a few other reasons. First, the flippers have some more space between them than usual in the late 1990s. This isn't a huge amount of space, but it's enough that you'll see the ball drop down the middle more often than you'd like. As such, players who are normally opposed to using a tilt feature might use this table as a way to get into the habit if they want a less frustrating time. Second, the bottom half contains the table's real highlight, which is a holographic image of the creature. Even if you've never seen the effect on the real-life table, the effect here is mesmerizing since it only appears during certain times.

For a table that's more difficult than most of the other Williams tables in the game, it doesn't have too many special flourishes. There's some movie-themed artwork plastered on the table interior as well as some 3D glasses sitting on the platform next to the flippers. There's also a truck hiding at the top of the table next to a few of the chutes, but the real treat is the creature, who comes up from the lagoon at the center of the table to look at you when you drop a ball and shows off other interactions outside of the gameplay. It looks neat, but this is a tamer table compared to the others that Zen has produced.

The second table in the pack is 1998's Monster Bash, and the premise is also odd but endearing. A bunch of the classic monsters from the Universal Studios library, such as the Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman have all decided to get their band back together and go on a world tour. All you have to do is find all of these monsters and gather them up so they can get to rocking.

Design-wise, the table is similar to Creature from the Black Lagoon in that this is also a top-heavy table. The difference is that the bumpers and the like are all hidden by the decorations rather than by the chutes, which are all metal rails. Another difference is in the extra targets to hit for bonus rounds, so the table isn't completely static. Thanks to its age, this is one of the tables where high scores are almost guaranteed. The gap between flippers isn't as wide as the older tables, and it's pretty easy to trigger the abundant bonuses, even accidentally. Having a few targets suddenly appear also helps rack up scores. This isn't a table where you'll easily score over 100 million points on your first try, but hitting the mid-50 million mark isn't a big deal.

As far as flourishes go, this one has more of them. All of the monsters appear on the table as animated figures, with fluid movements seen at all times. Pull Dracula from his coffin, and while he'll still be on a rail, he will move his arms around as he's waiting to get hit. Awaken Frankenstein's monster, and the electricity will arc while his bonus is active. Elsewhere, you'll still get the standard themed wallpapers for the table sides and musical instruments near the bottom of the table to further solidify the rock theme. Like many of the other tables Zen has produced, these flourishes do a good job of enhancing the table.

One final note is that this pack introduces the ability to play with the original table physics rather than the general one that Zen uses for the overall game. There's nothing wrong with the default physics, but if you're a pinball purist, you may have noticed that the tables featured here play a little differently from their real-world counterparts. That gets fixed here with an option to toggle between the original and Zen systems, so for those who miss the way the tables handled on Farsight's The Pinball Arcade, this is welcome news in case Zen ever gets around to doing those Williams tables that haven't been put into video game form yet.

By now, it should be no surprise that the latest Universal Monsters pack for Pinball FX3 is as solid as all of the previous ones. There's been great care taken to re-create the original tables, from the artwork to the physics, and the additional flourishes do a good job of making the tables look gorgeous without interfering with the gameplay at all. This is an easy recommendation for a buy.

Score: 8.0/10