Spent some time with this today, pretty underwhelmed. The main toy is straight out of the pound shop. That right in lane whirlpool is soooo tedious too. Jeez, you wait 15-20 seconds each time you got a ramp shot
Based on a Fair few dozen games in a home environment
Right the negatives - don't like the translite,or the general pf art package-nuff said.Plus as allready stated the whirlpool ramp is a friggin' abomination.95% of the tiem it spins round it 9 times,but switch stops registering after 2/3 of that,and it is soooo slow to spin round.Plus you only get a few thousand points per whirlpool switch hit.My guess is,yet again,the bean counters intervened and stopped a good design from being implemented-oh well.
Plus,it's little things and just IMO,but really ****ed off they dont do the "proper"lockbar and the old awesome backbox latch.Don't get me wrong,I know some will say "who cares",but just annoys me and chips away at my general feeling towards Sterns overall bag for the buck.And this is coming from someone who has bought two NIB pins by them,and I also own a few more,and havve had many others.
Plus there are two annoying ball hangs-one where it can go under the lift ramp,tho at least ball search frees this,the other where a few times it gets stuck under the lh ramp near the sling-tho i could easily at least stop this one.
The positives
Well,I must say I do like the overall sound FX on this game,is does fit into the theme well as do the call outs,and there are a few songs in there too
The songs are:
Ace of Spades by Motorhead
Drag City by Jan & Dean
Free Ride by Edgar Winter
Frankenstein by Edgar Winter
Go, Boy, Go by Jimmy D'Anda
I Just Want To Celebrate by Rare Earth
My Own Worst Enemy by Lit
What I Like About You by The Romantics
I absolutely LOVE the song Go Boy Go by Jimmy D'Anda but struggling to find owt about it.I guess it's the BulletBoys drummer,but who knows?VERY well suited to the game-would love to hear more songs of this like that-maybe it was recorded esp for the game?
Jan and Dean,suits the modes ,drag racing well,and to most,will think its a Beach Boys song.I woulda prefered Jesus Built My hot Rod by Ministry, and would prefer an Iced Earth rather than a Rare Earth song but that's why Pinball Browser was created
The Motorhead song is a nice touch tho its not the original - it appears to be a re-recording or mebbe live,still Motorhead tho
There are also some great animations,that,like the sound FX also suit the theme well-there's even a great little animation of the designer,John Trudeau sitting in a car with "Mebel" - nice!!
Cab artwork on the pro is REALLY nice,it does look good,tho,as other Sterns don't like how they cut the decals short nowadays,and I see the beancounters struck again and the nice metal let protector is now a ****ttty plastic one.
Gameplay-Initially you get to choose one of 6 modes.Each mode is assigned to a specific car - typical pinball stylee start a mode and shoot flashing shots really.There is a nice multiball from the Drag Racing mode,where the upbeat tempo works well.If I was good enough I would know about the other two cards but I am a ****e player-will leave someone like Stormy to do that.Like the drag race,and the police pursuit(with a nod to HS and HS2).As said the main multiball building thru the gears really scores.When at 4th gear and you hit scoop you can cash in the multiball,or try and down more gears targets to get to fifth then 6th gear multiball,but with more balls-nice touch.
This game really is fun to play.It would never induce me to buy a new one,but saying that i enjoy it a lot more than WOZ - each unto his own.
I would have prefered it to have some more songs and more artwork related to the classic Mustangs.
All i can say is play it - it has its flaws,as do most games.My guess is that this was not given a high BOM,and has suffered because of it.Maybe code tweaks will make it even better,tho the resultant whirlpool ramp is poor,tho good for a beer break!
poibug
The only problem is there really will never be many chances too,as this will always be a rare pin in the uk methinks-like the Stern NBA
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