javagrind888's ratings

My wife and I played this game at the Houston Arcade Expo for the first time. Our 10th game or so that day she looks at me and says "We're getting this one". No argument here! I looked at the price tag and said "maybe we'll have to settle for the standard edition this time." You'd have thought I had cursed at her from her reaction. We now have an LE, though we waited for the second hand market.

Everything in this game is phenomenal. The toys, animations, layout (none of the shots are consistent SDTMs), art, decorations, THEME, everything in this game is crazy fun. Stacked multiballs are some of the best light shows you've ever seen. The rules are extremely deep and it takes several games to understand what you have to do even basically really, but that makes it great for the home environment. I feel I could play this game for years and still find new things, though admittedly I'm not the best player.

Cons:
Other than the insane PRICE, this game suffers tremendously by not having the original "He's a Pirate" orchestra theme song that sets the tone of the movies. I get it, licensing sucks, but it really REALLY needed that. It's like Star Wars without John Williams. We need a pin editor for this. Others may disagree, but I thought having just a couple call outs from Jack Sparrow would have been a big lift too, even if they were just sound bites.

I had three people over who had never played the games in my collection before. One preferred Pirates, another Dialed In, and the other Iron Maiden Premium. The rules were apparently too hard to figure out in a drive by setting. I get it. It lets me know though that it's not for everyone and it doesn't replace the other pins in your collection.

I'm not a fan of the new Stern games for the most part. Most of them seem to have payed little thought to originality in playfield design or whether or not the shots consistently work correctly. When I saw pictures of this one on the internet, I said "great, another two ramp band pin from Stern". Oh wow, how I was wrong. After playing a premium edition in Houston, I had to have one. It's a Stern game with FLOW! The call outs are engaging and phenomenal. I'm not a fan of Iron Maiden's music, but in a pinball machine it just works really well. The artwork is some of the best I've ever seen on a pinball machine: playfield, cabinet, and translite. There are so many ways to get multi ball and the modes stack, it keeps track of your shots and adds them up for bonuses like a JJ, you actually feel the modes when they are active. I've heard others complain about the animations, but I think they are great and give an awesome horror feel.

Cons:
-There are only 5 progressive modes. I feel there should be more, especially after playing Dialed In.
-I feel the song choice should change game play in some way to mix things up a bit.

I went into this one thinking I'd hate it. The theme looked terrible and I felt that the cell phone craze had finally hit pinball and felt like it was going to be really stupid. (You can play on your cell phone instead of the flipper buttons? Really?) However, I was absolutely blown away by everything else about it. The layout, toys, gimmicks, sound, lighting, and just overall interactivity of the machine are nearly impossible to match. After the second game I now plan on buying one by the end of the year even with it being out of my budget. I haven't been so blown away by a pinball machine since the first time I played Theatre of Magic (my all time fav). I just have to have this machine....

I wasn't expecting to like this game, but my wife and I just had to keep going back to play it over and over again at the Texas Pinball Fest. The toy interaction, the theme, the feel, all of it was just a ton of fun and we've added it to our wish list. A shaker motor and color screen are a must for us though, so we'll have to save up for the LE.

This is a beautiful game with a bunch of neat features. It just was not any fun. Some of the shots needed were simply hard to get to and all of the shot lanes were just terribly small. I felt the overall layout was uninteresting. I played at least five games on it at the Texas Pinball Fest thinking there must be something I'm missing because it's such a beautiful and interesting game, but my wife agreed with me that it is simply not fun. I was really hoping it would be one to go next to my Theatre of Magic, but it's not to be.

This is a fun game, mostly because the shots are fun to make, the crane is cool, and the batmobile shot is fun to make. The modes and mini games aren't very intuitive, the lighting is always dark, and the joker toy really has no point to it. I'd like to take one home and put some brighter lights into it though. It would be a pretty good one for home with some modifications.

This game used to be on our heavy wishlist because everything about it is amazing. The lights are the best we've ever seen and are just mesmerizing. The screen and integration of animation into the game is phenomenal. I'm not into the theme, but I can appreciate it because it's done so well. Also, the inclusion of two upper playfields with awesomely gimmicky toys is so much fun.
My criticisms are the music and the reliability. The music does NOT change seemingly at all. Wizard of Oz has so much in variety of music, so why does it constantly play "Off to See the Wizard" incessantly? The pin is also constantly broken down at our local arcade and they fix it daily. It's broken twice from playing it myself and every time it's broken it seems to be a different issue. I'd be completely afraid of investing in this machine.

After about the 50th time playing it at the arcade I just had to have it. I love the use of magnets in pinball and this one has them in spades. The trunk has alot of neat functions game wise and gimmick wise. The ramps are fun and the game modes are clear (something I've seen too many machines struggle with). After buying it, I still play it at least ten times in a weekend, usually more. It just never gets old.

After a lot more games with this, I've taken it off of my wish list. The theme is amazing, the modes are neat, the art and light colors are outstanding. The problem is that the game is just too damned HARD. I never feel like I got my $1.25 play time out of it at the arcade. The flippers are too far apart (further than any game I've played) and the ball frequently hops over the rail into the drain, and shots that say fail ramp go right down the drain. This machine is designed to quickly send players packing. It needs more gimmicks and the layout feels uninspired.

This is a fun game that I enjoy and make sure I play each time I head to the arcade. The shots are neat, the voice lines are good, and the overall feel is just an air of fun. However, the sound and music never really sound good and the colors are pretty drab for such a cartoon game. I wish I could play it in LED's to get a better feel for the colors. I would like to have one at home and fix it up.

My wife and I had to play this machine multiple times at the pinball arcade each time we went, so we just had to have it. It's simply great fun, funny, is great for beginners and is definitely a crowd pleaser. This game looks 5X better with LED's in it and it has great character with a properly working Kenny (the ones in the arcades never seem to get shopped correctly). The mystery modes and character games scream personality. The call outs are great and fit the theme perfectly. All original voice actors from the show, tons of special ones just for the pinball machine. It's loud, crude, and obnoxious just like the show, so if you hate the show you'll hate the pinball machine. We love it! Also, this game pops 100x more with Pinstadium lights.