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Stranger Things Pinball - now with Video reveal

From a pinside member who played it

”Played Stranger Things last night. Not much to say here. I have no desire to play it again. Code really can’t help much with this one guys. Sorry. It’s just not fun. icon_realsad.gif

What some of you thought☹️
We shall see I guess.
 
If it’s a single chip then it’ll be unplayable for me as I see rainbows everywhere with those

Really want to like it as a pretty good theme and seems like they won’t be needing Cleland to sort the audio with the Hopper call outs

I’d be amazed if it was anything more sophisticated - but you never know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Finally sat down with a coffee to watch some gameplay.

Oh ...... :confused:

The dullest of playfield layouts. Artwork all round is meh. The display stuff is all over the place - different fonts, styles, wtf !?! - looks so amateurish. The whole thing smacks of ....'that'll do' . This is a big disappointment for me.

Well at least that has saved me £20 train fare up to EAG :p

 
Loving the photoshop playfield so very Austin Powers. NEXT!
 
A detailed review from someone on pinside who isn’t clearly a troll.


Here's my review of playing this game for about 2 hours today. Shout out to Helicon Brewery for being the absolute king of location pinball!

Shot summary - I was a little weary after watching the stream and hearing a lot of negative feedback but after playing it today, I'm picking up a pro tomorrow. That should get my point across fairly easily. It has brought one of my fav shows to pinball and it executes well with a fun layout, excellent music and effects, their best LCD art to date and a two tier toy. While not fully baked, I rather buy in now and enjoy it instead of waiting on the sidelines only to hold out on the fun until the inevitable code updates happen.

+Smooth shooter. Layout is very AFM so it feels familiar but not identical but I was a little worried about the ramps being plastic. Luckily they didn't detract at all to the experience. Love that left orbit shot to the right flipper (very DP prem). Right orbit was my concern but shooting it into the pops was still satisfying although I am a sucker for pops in pinball. Right inlane shot has to be my fav as you can loop it around but it's not fast enough to be impossible (ala JP2 top right flipper loop) but not slow enough that it doesn't feel fun/exciting. Just a great shot and mixes up the formula as part of the code is looping. Left inlane was fine as gives you a little time to breath which was nice to have as this game plays rather fast, as you would expect. No lock on the pro was fine as it does pause enough and when you got into Tele MB, the ball is shot right when that van comes crashing down which was a nice touch.

+LCD Screen - no question, the best stern has put out to date. I own JP2. I know it improved in that game but you can't ignore certain scenes (especially with people) where you cringe a little and go, well it's a pinball machine so what do you expect. I didn't feel any of that here with Stranger Things (ST) - the dogs, the atmosphere, the demogorgan... I feel they really played to their strengths and avoided the pitfalls (like people) so I didn't feel like I was playing Dreamcast Crazy Taxi! They did and excellent job and I found myself trying to look up at it. I make fun of stern all the time regarding this but they nailed it here. btw - extra ball animation is a complete shout out to AFMreplacing the alien getting hit in the face with the demo. Nice touch too.

+Sounds/Music- This one is BIG for me. If you're a player that doesn't need to hear well to enjoy, then you're the opposite of me and prob don't place a lot of value in this category but I do. Case in point, with Wonka, it absolutely tore me out of the gorgeous table and layout b/c the slot machine effects and the announcer and lack of good music really ****ed me off - to the point where I passed on owning the game...it drove me crazy. ST on the other hand just nails it. The sound effects, the spooky music, it really put me in the ST universe. It's hard to describe in a review but I couldn't have handpicked better myself. In the current code though, it's clear they are targeting suspense/scary vs humor which they need to balance better but I'm aware the lines are in the code already so just a matter of time. The important part is what's been coded thus far is really impressive and that's important b/c after the fact replacements is hard and often ends up disjointed. Music wise that's easier but I do a lot of add ins for games and it's always better when the original team nails it and Stern crushed it here.
+Demogorgan- I had to call this out separately b/c I've read about all the whining and complaining related to this toy and my expectations were probably lower than they should have been but I really enjoyed it. Here's the surprise for me. I might have read this somewhere on these forums but it truly feels like the hole in one shot from NGG. I love the temporary giant ramp that drops in front of you and it becomes a game of not only hitting it but timing it so it goes in the hole. I wasn't successful many times (although I'm also not very good) but when I connected, it gave me the same satisfaction from my time of NGG ownership and I loved that shot. It's much more fun to shoot than the AFM mother ship b/c of that extra element resulting in having a tiered approach to what is normally a one approach bash toy. Loved it. Hit it or sink it. It's hard but super satisfying.

+/- = code. This is def leaning towards the + category b/c the modes seemed varied (and could get to that promised "deep" code), the video assets looked very good, the tie in to the effects and music already impressed me. I just want more.....and that's the negative. I know it's early but believe me, the code foundation is set and it is solid. Really enjoyed what I played and I'm eager to see how they build. It's going to get even better and I have no issue buying in now so I can begin to enjoy what's there and then continue enjoying all the new updates that hit. It's like buying an episodic game that just continues to get better. It's the opposite of a game with broken or incomplete code that results in boredom or wasting time - I truly enjoyed each second I had with it.

-/+ Art. Tough one as well. It's not clipart stern bad. Yes it might appear to favor that style more than what we've seen recently but the PF art especially along with the purple really has it's own look. It stands out from the rest of the games and it does surface that 80s touch, especially with the fonts used. Too many inserts no question but looking over it and seeing how they represented the scenes from the seasons in interesting ways, from the poisioned grounds, to the vans to billy and steve's face over to something else - it's a lot to look at but satisfying, especially as a fan. It's a negative b/c it could have been SO much more. So much - hello season 3??. I'm happy that it's not terrible though but I'm looking forward to some sick side blades (we need more Billy and Steve) and a better translite. Speaking of, it's not great but not terrible - in fact that summarizes it well for art and for that alone, with this type of powerhouse, it's leaning negative which is a shame but they gave us enough to enjoy.
 
Finally sat down with a coffee to watch some gameplay.

Oh ...... :confused:

The dullest of playfield layouts. Artwork all round is meh. The display stuff is all over the place - different fonts, styles, wtf !?! - looks so amateurish. The whole thing smacks of ....'that'll do' . This is a big disappointment for me.

Well at least that has saved me £20 train fare up to EAG :p



Why not wait to pass judgement on the game until you’ve actually played it and seen it in the flesh?



Before ****ting all over a new game, perhaps show some respect for the design team who worked hard to put this together by playing the game they created first.



Jack dangers steams are cool, though a top down view of the playfield and the direct video feed into twitch do not give a true players perspective of the game.



Stern have kept pinball alive, help grow its popularity over recent years and deserve some respect from the community, the arm chair art critics and people slating extremely early code based on watching a YouTube video need to chill out.



Forget about EAG anyway it’s probably the worst place to judge a pinball machine in a noisy exhibition hall with crap lighting conditions.



Support a local arcade who has one. Play it, see it with your own eyes and then give your educated critique on the game? If you still think it’s **** then that’s fair enough!



Just an idea.



Happy new year pinheads 🎊
 
Why not wait to pass judgement on the game until you’ve actually played it and seen it in the flesh?



Before ****ting all over a new game, perhaps show some respect for the design team who worked hard to put this together by playing the game they created first.



Jack dangers steams are cool, though a top down view of the playfield and the direct video feed into twitch do not give a true players perspective of the game.



Stern have kept pinball alive, help grow its popularity over recent years and deserve some respect from the community, the arm chair art critics and people slating extremely early code based on watching a YouTube video need to chill out.



Forget about EAG anyway it’s probably the worst place to judge a pinball machine in a noisy exhibition hall with crap lighting conditions.



Support a local arcade who has one. Play it, see it with your own eyes and then give your educated critique on the game? If you still think it’s **** then that’s fair enough!



Just an idea.



Happy new year pinheads [emoji323]
Relax. Just my opinion based on what I see. After 20 years in this hobby I trust my gut feeling.

I'm disappointed with what I see and I'm saying that. Of course maybe I'll change my opinion when I play it yes but right now I'm voicing this. Apologies if that irks you.

Always remember I rate Popeye and The Rolling Stones so nobody gives a f#ck what I think anyway [emoji3]
 
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Why not wait to pass judgement on the game until you’ve actually played it and seen it in the flesh?
Stern Lets JD stream to sell games. In this case they fell short of the mark by streaming pro only with early code. Whilst I'm sure it'll do well for operators I know the stream put off 2 of us here. Stern will still get my money in the form of a JP but they could've held off till new year, they already have a code update out.
 
Agree Lee.

Stern released the game info a bit early because of the leak but not massively early. I'll be honest I've been having second thoughts since I played Elvira again but I think I'm going to hold my nerve.

Stranger things is at enough places in Callifornia should play it by the weekend.
 
I guess Stern trying to get the pin out for crimbo unseen.
Your always gonna get lovers and haters.....The Pro is early code and they haven’t showcased the Premium? Ghostbusters code, Kiss code unfinished etc.....for god knows how long.
The die hard Stranger Things fans aren’t keen on the Pro - Sinead O’Connor art package either. Especially when they had the epic offerings to choose from.
Isn’t always about gameplay, to some the full package has to be right.
 
im getting confused why we seem to be going backwards with the code efforts at stern... I thought the days of rushing things out the door and not giving teams proper time to complete things were behind us. Slapping a v1.0 on games when there’s shots that do nothing has reappeared on bksor, Eliva seems to be on a bm66 journey, and sth is well gotg++

I hope to be proved wrong in 2020! Please

Maybe this new operating system has sent them all down a rabbit hole..
 
Seems to me they do care about other manufacturers and are flooding the market with pins.....incomplete. Think it's going to backfire.

Although that was said with the pooling and flaking but people just keep buying.
 
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