Grayling, MI
UPDATE: Exit interview.
I'll be letting this one go in a week. I thought it was a keeper, but it really wasn't. This pin LOOKS like it would have everything I love, but it really suffers in some areas for me.
First, the things I liked better the longer I owned it;
1) The handles. Playing with them ended up being great. After I had it for a few weeks, I never reached for the flipper buttons again. Learning where the secret bonuses were that you score from the thumb buttons added to the fun.
2) The rules. It's a pretty exciting game that, IMO, builds to a crescendo as you get closer to the final modes and multiball. I got the updated rules, and while the creator of those rules did a fantastic job, they just never felt as exciting to play as the original code that has that extra 'something'.
What ended up making it one I could spare:
Ball flow. For a pin that is based on combos, to me, this one just had too many shots that caused the flow of the game to stop. It might be a Nordman thing, as I had to give up my EATPM for the same reason.
The left orbit ended in a sink hole, the right orbit gave a combo opportunity to the upper left flipper, but that ended in either a sink hole at the computer, or a shot around to another kicker saucer. The right ramp would end up at the crane quite often, and hitting the left ramp would quite often re-qualify the crane making the right ramp shot a dead end again. The two shots to the extreme left (car crash and retina scanner) are shots that I just tried to avoid at nearly any cost.
I still think it's a fun game, and I am glad to have owned it, but since I can't keep them all, this one had to go to make some space.
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Previous rating:
I've had this one for a week now, so I'm ready to write my review.
Thoughts:
Everything has already been said that needs to be said about the back glass. It's not great, but I don't mind it.
Table flow is why I love pinball, and this machine has a lot of it. The ramps are fun and smooth to shoot, and getting the ball flying around hitting combos is really satisfying. The left ramp is quite steep, and hitting it with a weak shot that doesn't carry it over the apex will result in a SDTM drain nearly every time. Overall, it's a fantastic layout.
It's a wide-body, but doesn't feel like one as it doesn't have that slow side-to-side action that a lot of wide-body pins seem to have.
The rules are pretty simple to understand, and the playfield lights really work well to tell you where the shots are. I'm guessing the guy who did the playfield art for DM also did Attack From Mars, as it's very reminiscent.
I'm not in love with the handles. I've played a few games with them, but I really prefer the flipper buttons.
The car crash and retina scan captive toys are pretty neat. Not so sure about them being right next to each other, though. This might be why it doesn't seem like a wide body, with these things taking up 1/5th of the table on the left side...
The claw is cool, and the mech to load it is pretty neat-o, with the ball rising out from behind the ramps.
Sound is a little thin, but great sounding. A sub-woofer will really help this game out.
Very good game, IMO.
Williams
Demolition Man Pinside Rating
This game received 420 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.806 /10
Fenton
Québec, QC
Bundaberg
