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I finally got down to Funland (in Russell Square, London) to play the Foo Pro that’s onsite. It’s a great value evening out because the replays on all the pins are set ludicrously low. Paying 4.8 credits per game (I think), you can play all night…
Anyway, Foo Pro was very popular on a Friday evening with the punters who were logging into Stern Insider and also photographing their scores (for Instagram?). One guy was even chortling at the cartoon graphics while playing (they aren’t that funny… shrug). Who says pinball is an old person’s game. I was probably the oldest person there.
It’s… very very good at being what it is. It’s better than Godzilla at being fast, flowy and combo-tactic, with novel geometries and a wide variety of shots. It’s extremely accessible to new and beginning players, mostly due to the colourful graphics, narrative gameplay and the fact that it’s a complete ‘noodle’-fest (as I’d describe it). By ’noodle-fest’, I mean a pin where you can flail the ball around and it will generally make shots, and cool stuff will happen. It benefits a style of play where you don’t know the rules and don’t care.
Foo has the advantage that noodling leads to lots of combos and flowy shots, which means it feels fun to play even if you don’t aim and aren’t intending to achieve anything. There was a father/daughter duo having a whale of a time making shots on Foo while not ever getting above 20 million (the daughter was averaging about 4-5 million).
It feels like there are two main ‘areas’: the top/upper playfield, and the lower playfield sections (the upper playfield is missing from the Pro, but you can still feel it’s there in the design). There’s a spinner and a ‘ball/lock/bash toy’ near the top, which generates a multiball - again, very accessible for new players. However, starting modes means shooting the little green ramp on the lower playfield, which is a much tighter shot. So, depending on how the scoring is balanced, something for more experienced players too (maybe).
Going by my experience and the punter reactions tonight, Stern have a huge hit on their hands here. It’s a very entertaining box of lights and music, which is accessible to new players and easy to shoot - but with more depth too. I would be shocked if it doesn’t rise into the league of
AFM/MM/GZ quite quickly, and stay there.
From my POV, I blasted through the replay on my first game, and self-sabotaged my second as I felt I’d seen everything I wanted to see. I subsequently ended up playing Stern Jurassic Park for about half an hour (again, paying for a single game) and then moved onto trying to make shots on TMNT, and trying to reliably make the Henchman shot on Bond (the father-daughter duo did not want my free Bond credit when I left!)
Again, from my POV, I didn’t especially gel with it, but I’m not its intended audience. I’m someone who likes games that pose a bit of a challenge, and Foo is *so* easy to shoot that it feels a bit like playing football without the goalie - there’s simply no pushback. It was pretty hard to drain on the one in Funland and, when I did, it was balls howling off down side lanes. It reminded me of the Cactus Canyon Continued in Medway Pinball Club (for anyone who’s played that one) - very few bricked shots and very very forgiving. You can basically hit the ball pretty much anywhere and it will make a shot, and the games can get very long as a result. I prefer pins that hate me. Foo Fighters does not.
P.S.
@Gonzo I think you’re going to love this one. Genuinely, if you don’t have a preorder in already with Pinball Heaven, you need to phone Phil.
I’m in if you are !
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