This makes me think pinballs themed after musical artists aren't really themes.
There needs to somewhat of a narrative or journey.
In Fish Tales you're catching fish and lying about it.
In Black Rose you're sinking ships, finding treasure, escaping sharks..
In Road Show you're traveling the USA,collecting souvenirs, killing innocents and destroying (heh they really are terrorists?!)
HS2, police chase....
I can think of other Bally Williams games I barely know and understand the narrative or jist of them
That’s why I’ve always thought a Mamma Mia! pin would be brilliant. Has upbeat ABBA music, a great fun story and the opportunity for humorous video clips. Sadly, I suspect Stern think it wouldn’t poll well with rich middle-aged to elderly American men, which is what I expect they think are their core market.
I could go on..
However they are games I know. I'm not that familiar with modern games and I know some have similar feels.
But band or music based ones.. what are you doing? Just trying to get lots of points in efficient ways?
From playing a bit of Led Zeppelin, yeah. Start mode, shoot the lit shots, shoot the spinner X times, etc.
There’s no purpose or theme to it, really - it is, what I’d call as a board gamer, a bit of an ‘abstract’. You know, like the difference between checkers/draughts and Warhammer 40k as the representation of a battle. It’s mechanically sound, but doesn’t really create a story.
Someone else can probably confirm.
Maybe this is why I have struggled to get into Sterns and especially the music based ones (I'm getting there slowly) and why lots of people find them less approachable?
It’s not really ‘Sterns’, as such. I’ve got Lord of the Rings. You collect the fellowship, defeat the Balrog, start modes to fight Saruman or the Witchking, visit the Path of the Dead to collect undead warriors to start the Return of the King multiball, visit Aragorn’s sword three times to defend the two towers, destroy the Ring, get There and Back again and, finally, if you’re good enough, you get to the promised land.
So… you’re actually playing through a book and three films. You can’t get more narrative-based than that, really.
Godzilla is, from what I’ve seen, also moderately narrative based and probably slightly better than LoTR at representing visually, on the playfield, what you’re supposed to be shooting at. Godzilla needs to defend Earth cities against monsters. You shoot a building - it collapses. You shoot MechaGodzilla, it activates. You shoot the maser cannon and Tesla strikes to activate those things. You select cities and monsters to start a fight.
Slightly off topic but also related considering I am a bit of A Rush fan and still except to the shots and layouts looking good I don't particularly care that it plays music of Rush.
Same with IMdn, ACDC, GNR Etc. If I like an artist l can listen to them, do I really need to hear the same few songs on as pinball machine?
Yeah. I’m trying to imagine a Caro Emerald pin (I like most of her songs) and TBH, unless the track/tempo responded to the action on the playfield, I‘d be better off playing FT with headphones on.
wizard mode portal is a bitch to get to
Yes, I am Canadian. I don't know who does the market research for Stern, but they have a fetish for rock bands. Where is the Prince or the Madonna pin?
