It's very weird and happened even back in the day, I think of JM now it had good voice work but not the real actors yet they got the cast of STTNG to come in for custom voice work. T2 only Arnold is present in that pin and once you start to think about it there are so many different examples. What the hell?

I have a question.. . how is it they can have their images all over the side, but cannot use sound bites from the show at least?? Why license something you cannot have full access to?

I thought the layout seemed too familiar. I wasn't overly impressed. The dot's were really good and the long ramps were fast.

I would really like to hear the actual answer to this "Why"? Unless I missed it I have never heard anyone directly say directly that Stern couldn't get the rights to the actors voices. Heck they don't even use the exact theme song that is VERY odd. My 2 cents on it is they chose not to do it as it probably takes a lot of time and effort to sort through 50+ hours of footage to dig out good quotes and sounds. I hate to call it lazy but obviously it's 10x easier to just have some random voice instead of trying to integrate it all in from the show. Which to me ruins it as I have stated many times, it's based off the show, use the show in the sounds!

Again I am kind of sick of speculating I would like someone at Stern to say - they wouldn't let us use them or it was too expensive or we decided just not to do it and here is why...... The no answer thing sucks to me especially when I feel a lot of people care.

I did play about 20 games on the Pro and I can say I would be buying right now if the voice actors were in that game, I am still on the fence otherwise, I honestly don't know if it does it for me(which is painful for me to say as I am HUGE Walking Dead fan both show and comic). Was fun but most new pinballs are fun to me in some sense cause they are new, I need some better code to decide if it's one I want to own.

I played the pro a lot at Expo and I wasn't in love but was ok. The right pop drain I think can be fixed with a thicker post rubber and if the prison magnet could somehow only whip the ball left-right I think the drains could mostly be fixed.

I think the pro will be a good route game with the short ball times and the audience that it will draw. That is my plan for a pro

This is really depressing me to hear all of this!

This layout looks good to me because it's different. Not a cookie fan layout that Stern has mastered. Maybe that's all anybody can ever like from Stern?

Hoping the LE is a big improvement overall but still on the fence about bailing on this one.

I guess my motto should be "when it doubt, better get out"

My TWD does not have any ghosting either. Wonder if there's a batch of bad harnesses out there again?

I played the game at Expo and definitely liked it. It set's the mood for the theme very well. I think the rules already have aspects that will be very good when finished. IMO the rules could make this an A game. It's definitely challenging, with some tight shots and can be a drain monster. The ramps are very cool, the way the ball goes behind the back panel and back on the opposite side seems cooler than on other games with a similar setup. I think it's because of the length of "disappearing" time.

I'm glad it's not a straight up fan layout (more of a modified fan), as there are getting to be too many. My one concern about TBL is that it's a 100% tried and true fan layout. It's a great layout for most people, but I've already got quite a few of those and I like something a bit different - although there is more risk for the designer that a non-fan might not play as well.

The majority of people really disliked Iron Man at first (including me) because it's tough. But now a majority like it, because of good rules and the challenge. Excellent rules, challenging shots, and a well integrated theme (voice callouts pending) = could be great. We just need to wait on the rules.

Right now a C, but with complete code it could easily be a B or A.

The voices from the cast were originally in the pin, but taken out.

It wasn't the cast that made the call to remove them or for more money.

There is a VERY good indication that either the software will include that version again or sound-alikes.

how do you know this, just curious??

It makes me wonder how long they were actually working on getting this license? Maybe it was more or less a last minute thing (relatively speaking)?

I have a friend who works at stern. He played the version .9 code on the prototype LE a while back.

He was blown away by the great immersive feeling of fighting alongside Rick grimes but is not a great player, so he only played it a little.

He was as surprised as we were at the software release of the pro.

Really wanted to like the game but for me its the Well Walker and the pops taking up the entire right side and way up front. No matter what it felt jammed and forced most of the game play to the center and right. To me its inherently flawed.
Even more painful is the theme, dots, art work and fish tank mod make me want it sooo bad. Just can't cross the bridge after playing it.

I told U so .. So N the near future , Stern may include the cast's voices back to the Software on a New Up-date .. and still that doesn't make any sense ...

B_R, who told who so?

I'm going to talk to Guy later this week, and get some info if I can.

Let's hope they do something with the audio..Might keep my LE on order instead of dropping down to the pro...

Why would you downgrade? Now it's my turn to be curious.

Page 1 , 7th post

I like TWD machine, but still a little unsure if the LE version will be worth the extra cash...Will need to see some play hopefully very soon to help decide...

Pinball machines are supposed to drain, that's how you make money from them. I've played it quite a bit, and I like it. It's a shooters game and I even thought the release code was pretty good. When the code matures and incorporates the modes better I think it will be one of sterns best recent machines.

I think the prison could have a different toy behind the door, like a vari-target someone in a different thread suggested. But in general, I have fun playing it, and like the challenge it provides with the harsh drains. Except the magnet drop SDTM, easily fixable with code.

I got to spend some time on several TWD's at Expo last weekend.
I gotta say I really enjoyed it. It DOES need to be set up correctly, I think. The one outside the hall next to the tournament area was very drainy. The TWD I played in Marco's booth flowed well, didn't spend too much time in the pops and seemed to punish me only on bad shots. Enjoyed the timed skill shot and what I could make out of the rules so far.

Got to play the first Pinball Refinery TWD at Pinball Life's open house. Very sweet. Hemi really outdid himself on it. Played great. I didn't think I'd be too wild about the two bash shots, but there is enough flow going on elsewhere in the game to even it out. The updated code added several new animations that I hadn't seen the day before at Expo. Pretty Fun game overall. Seek one out and try for yourself, really the only way to tell if you'll dig it.

Here's some video of Pinball Refinery's TWD:

Under lord is actually Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium He knows things!

Solid C+.

You speak the truth. Yes Confirmed

B_R, you called it bro. You called it.

Haven't played it, but looking at it, that's exactly my number 1 fear.

You have just described XMen (but in reverse). A pin that...well....I think most people know how I feel about that one.

Guy played Xmen. Said it played like a filler pin title, a thrown together in between.

Guy played TWDLE ( original version), absolutely loved it. "Strongest title I've ever played." His words, not mine.

He's been mistaken on occasion but never steered me wrong. I trust Guy.

Mystery as to why stern had to rebuild software.

When I play a game, the following 4 aspects are what I look for (listed by order of importance):

1 - Rules
2 - Layout
3 - Music/Sounds
4 - Artwork

I made up my own scale for the sake of this post, and here's how I did it.

Currently:
1 - Rules (out of 10 points): 4 --> with current code there's not much going on
2 - Layout (out of 8 points): 5 --> pop bumpers ruining the orbit shot kills me
3 - Music/Sounds (out of 6 points): 4 --> music rocks, redneck sucks
4 - Artwork (out of 6): 6

Total Score: 19/30 = 63% = D
I love the match sequence so it gets a C- (my scale, my rules )

Anticipated final score:
1 - Rules: 8 --> from what I can tell, I have high hopes once the code is done
2 - Layout: 7 --> I'm confident the pop problem will be resolved, but the walker bugs me a bit
3 - Music/Sounds: 5 --> hopefully the rumors come true that the callouts will be fixed
4 - Artwork: 6

Total Score: 26/30 = 87% = B
Match bump: B+

So, currently it's a C-, but I anticipate a B+

_{Post edited by PinballJon: My math skills suck}

You already said Guy isn't a very good player.

Fail.

We are all hoping Jon.

Jaws next year. Color display! Yay!

Don't, unless you have had a bunch of games on the pro and are sure its not for you. I was getting nervous after the initial response but after a half dozen games at my local distributor I'm in 100% for the LE. It plays fast and the shots are normal Borg greatness, tight but as you get the feel they are rewarding to hit and the call outs while crap weren't bad enough to make me opt out, they were bad enough on Xmen to make that pin a short lived affair in my collection so I'm a critic when it comes to music, sfx and call outs. I would say hold out and get your LE.

Yep. He sucks. Plain and simple. ( love ya bro! Sorry!)

But he has insight as to what collectors want. He pushed for this title. Pushed for Lyman and Borg team. Pushed for pf art to not be photoshopped with characters from show ( that one was actually my idea).

Guy also had ideas on Tron. We all see how that worked out.

Ice, if you're gonna have doubts, wait til the LE info comes out. You may be pleasantly surprised. Then again, maybe none of us will be surprised at all.

It's up to upper management now. They gotta do whatever they need to I guess.

If you bail Ice, it's cool man. We still love ya.

Hmmm, I can't stand Xmen either.

Why on earth would you originally have the actor's voices in the game only to have the initial release version remove it, without any kind of explanation, once again leaving us to wonder wtf is going on.

It's not like a whole lot of new pins were just announced or anything

And they apparently are going to be shipping by the 1st? No video, I don't get it.

It's different if you've never played Avatar, IM, X-Men or Metallica. It is the definition of a cookie cutter layout. It has the Wolverine bash toy in a flipped position. It has a central magnet activated by bashing a target.

I'm still curious to play the game, but my expectations couldn't be lower. Not from being let down by barely-there code, but by a uninspired, too-familiar layout. Shame too cause Stern picked a fantastic license.

That's good to hear. There are a few guys like you, Rick and Gweem that have played it and really like it. And then there is Lyman to go along with Borg, along with the theme, its just gotta be right!

Just remember gang, it's the Pro version. No LE vids, nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

Did just get an email from Guy though. LE may be delayed. Any guesses?? Anyone as to why??

I think the game has as much promise to be great as most other Stern machines. But as with all of them we won't know how good it is for another year or so as the code gets updated.

I played it a lot during expo between the ones set up, the tournament, and the Stern party. And the only real complaint I have at this point are the call outs. The jokey redneck voice is so off-theme it kind of kills it for me. But hey, maybe if we yell enough they will change it?

It seems like many designers like to keep certain layout features as a sort of trademark.

Ritchie has the super smooth left orbit to upper right flipper to left ramp.

Lawlor has the orbit shot through the pops.

Borg has the big bash toy that blocks off a portion of the playfield and/or a lower scoop that the ball can dribble into from the orbit.

Unfortunately, these are two things that I dislike about Borg designs.

In the end ( don't do it!) it's your call Ice. Only you can judge (don't do it) what you really want. No one will blame you ( don't do it) for moving onto bigger and better things.

I don't see myself dropping out due to theme alone. Then there is Lyman, and I like the looks of the layout.

The Well Walker isn't even close to the magnitude of the disaster that was Wolverine.

It's smaller, farther from the flippers and more centered on the play field than Wolvie.

The LE being delayed, my guess is code being woefully behind. Basing that on what I heard prior to Expo. Maybe they are doing some needed tweaks/upgrades to help these LE's sell through.

As in getting the actor's voices back in the pin. Gotta be something like that.

Yeah nothing but praise for the Well Walker, its actually really great and who knows what mods might come in time to make it even better.

If the layout sucks an extra magnet, bashtoy and the laser from Austin Powers isn't going to change much.

The Layout does not suck, IMHO.

Every shot can be made with the proper flipper. Some with a backhand.
The ramp shots are very fun.
The bash toys are bash toys.
The orbit is smoking when you hit it.

And that's just the PRO.

Eagerly awaiting my LE.

Marcus

I like the pro enough that I would buy one and I'm a LE guy or at least Pre, its been a while since the pro seemed good enough but it is. I know theme is part of it but that's a major part of pinball, its seriously cool to see those kinds of animations and the graphics on the playfield, the music is creepy and SFX are very good even the lighting seemed better than usual on a pro, the layout is unique not getting the whole cookie cutter fan lay out crap.

So with 146 votes in (146 of you have played this already?) it's a solid C+ to B- pin (with the current code).

Sounds like it has potential to be a real solid B+ maybe even A- with updates.

Let me guess you're a Teacher by trade?

Since AC/DC was introduced in 2012 , I have gotten every NIB Stern title since . But I'm Stumped w/ TWD .. If they do incorporate the casts voices back into the Pin , I might go for the Pro , but Why would they add the call outs then Yank'm Out ? Puzzling !!! and Joel , good video , but Dam it was LOUD n there .. All i heard was TFTC , and to Pin Refinery ,, Killer Light show & mods bro !!

Lol, never listen to pinside jabber when a game first comes out.

AC/DC was released. Pinside jabber = it sucks, terrible game
Tron was released. Pinside jabber = it sucks! terrible game

Everything sucks when it is first released according to pinside so best bet is to play the version you want to buy first a few times then you decide for yourself what you like, don't listen to the pinside jabber.