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The Hobbit - opinions ?

Sgt GrizZ

Sgt GrizZ

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Don't seem to hear that much chatter about The Hobbit ??

So would love to hear from people who actually own one or have played it a lot ..... tell me about the good, the bad and the hairy feet :) I'm genuinely interested. I played a couple of games on it at Manchester Expo , enjoyed it as far as you can in 2 games not knowing WTH is going on.

Chiz
 
Terrible IMHO. A bit harsh maybe but it's just boring. I've played it a lot when it was at Chief Coffee and the ball times are too long. That's not something you hear often. You seem to get multiballs every 3 minutes and they last for ages. You need to spend some time with it before you buy. I 'tried' to like it but just couldn't get on with it. Not as good as WOZ and I didn't like that one much either. Briefly:

Good:
Lovely looking game
Animation and screen exceptional
Solid build

Bad:
Gameplay dull
basically 2 ramps and 4 pop up bash toys
sparse playfield
Repetitive

Hairy Feet:
Needed to enjoy.

Others will offer a different opinion here but WOZ and TH feel like JJP showcases to me. Looking forward to Dialed in as it looks more like a 'players' game.
 
Honestly, I agree with @Tucks. I play the one in Tilt a lot because it's the only game I am any good at and that's purely through luck. There's way way too much going on on the screen for it to be useful, and the wide body playfiels is just a huge expanse of space with the odd troll popping up. It's slow and empty of any gameplay or feeling. not a great game IMHO
 
I quite like it.

Maybe because I nearly always get free games etc (Play it at the arcade) so I get a good few hours play for £2 investment.
The drop targets with individual resets etc are a nice (expensive) touch giving some variety to the normal hit all drop targets option you get on most games.

Still don't really know what I'm doing on it, other than going for multiball, into the fire. barrel escape etc
It might not be as entertaining in the home environment but I like it in the arcade. I have gone to the arcade (40 minute drive) to have a few games and only played The Hobbit even though there are a Wizard of Oz and an X-men there (played them loads before The Hobbit arrived though)
 
I like it, a better game than WOZ in my opinion.

Great sounds and animations, and the rules are very good. New code coming very soon (2.0) and more code updates promised in the future.

It is a long ball time game, but that doesn't seem to harm SM or LOTR's reputation.

It is easy to start multiballs but not so easy to complete them. Loads of variety with the book modes, not just a case of shoot the lit arrow like most games.

Needs to be set up fairly steep to avoid the floatiness, no way I would call my game slow.

Solid game that should get better with more code updates.
 
played it a few times at tilt, superb looking game but very clunky with all those drop targets going off, looks a deep game though, looking at the vids on you tube
 
Each to their own but I like it. Helps that I love the theme and Joe Balcer designs for some reason (someone has too!). I also love all the targets as I don't have a game with more than 1. I do think it has to be played in a home environment to be appreciated, the visual and sound package are the best I've seen/heard. It also needs to be setup steep and so plays really fast.

My one word of caution is regarding the code, it needs quite a bit more polish to be a keeper for me. It's almost like they got it far enough to then start work on DI and JJP #4. Jack has said they will come back to it but it remains to be seen what they will do. Honestly I'm done buying new games until the code reaches a certain point, owning TH has taught me that at least.
 
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Well I own one and I'm not a great player. I think you have to own one or have it at home to really appreciate it. It is surprising how quickly you seem to know what is going on and what to do. When you do know then you can start shooting for the shots to progress and get the various modes, when you achieve these ( I have only had into the fire, killed smaug and barrel escape) the machine really shines.
I can see why some don't like it and I almost feel I have to like it because I own one but that is a little unfair on the machine.
I looks stunning and the speech and music really add to the game and it draws you in, yes the drops are noisy but you kind of get used to that and it is part of its character.
I guess all I can really say is it's different and In a fair sized collection that's not a bad thing. Mine has been faultless (touch wood) unlike some, so I am a happy customer.
 
Cheers for replies.

I'd certainly like to spend a bit of time on it one day to have a proper opinion on it. looks stunning, I didn't care much for the films though I am a Tolkien/Hobbit/LOTR fan so do like the theme and could imagine getting drawn into it :)
 
Looks state of the art - different league to Stern red dmd games.

Sounds fantastic.

Gameplay. I can't remember as I fell asleep;)
 
Boring in my view, I think if they had made it a regular size it might work better, but the ball just seems to spend an age in the middle of the playfield.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Played at TILT where it was next to LOTR when I was there, had a couple of games and went back to LOTR, just didn't grab me.
The huge screen is too much and doesn't add enough if you see what I mean - it's just distracting and I'm not a fan of modern widebody games for some reason (always though FT would be better as a narrowbody)
 
I think the display adds a lot to the gameplay, it is very informative and you can see your progress at a glance once you understand the rules.

I do agree it would work better as a standard body, although they might have struggled to squeeze the 4 beast mechs in.

I own both LOTR and TH, Hobbit is deeper but with a color dmd and decent leds LOTR is the better game (top 5 stern for me).
 
Owned one from BNIB and despite initial excitement, particularly at the highly evolved art, sound and visuals, I thought the game was dull and uninspiring (I preferred LOTR). relied too heavy on multi ball, I consider myself lucky to have traded it for a TWD LE, I just didn't get on with THLE and its made me think twice about a new machine again.
 
Just to comment on the comments. I have a LOTR as well and would say they are good in their own right, TH has the potential to be deeper but at the moment isn;t as rounded from a code perspective. If Keith tweaks the code to be deeper in terms of the rune modes and to reflect mode progress as well as a final mode for completing the 3 arkenstones, it will be amazing. Also the middle of the playfield doesnt feel wide open at all when the game is set to play fast, of course this is subjective...

I would suggest test driving the pin first, and wait for the code if you are into super deepness and challenges.
 
Another BBB (Beautiful but Boring) vote.
I love WoZ and I will probably love DI too (will play it tomorrow :) ) but simply could not stand TH.
 
When I first played the Hobbit, I described it unkindly as the Scrabble of pinball machines. I've since revised my opinion, if I had the money I would buy one.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
For me it's a better game to have in the home than DI. DI is a blast to play on location but not for that money at home where the quirky stuff would get old really quickly...
 
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