A Neophyte's Take: After a hiatus of 50 years (had a 1950 Knockout in my living room as a kid), I'm just getting back to pinball. Tried the GB locally. Pros: This game is gorgeous, great layout and very pleasing to look at. And it is fun to play, to a point.

Cons: The ball moves extremely fast, and can drain very quickly. Also, the flippers are a little wider apart than expected. I did notice the game was slightly raised according to the internal level, not sure if the owner did this deliberately or not to help slow it down.

Overall, for experienced players, my take is it's a good choice. Having a 9 year old, I'd have to tone it down and program in some features to make it more player-friendly.

Disclaimer: this is my first post, so be nice to me! (I currently own a Mustang Premium and like it very much).

Got a chance to play on location last night, it's great but the previously mentioned grievances definitely applied. I had at least five airball drains in ten games, which was kind of a bummer, a couple bouncing over the flippers but the majority doing a nifty little hop over the outlane rails. The popup targets rarely registered and more often just stayed up for a while, blocking shots until the mode ended. The flipper gap is a real pain, especially when the ball just kind of dribbles out of the pops and goes clean down the middle. Sadly, the arcade had their stereo up too loud for me to hear any of the game music but I caught a bit of the theme song, which was pretty rad.

Agreeing on the awkward blend of 3D video and 2D art. Part of the charm of the DMD as a format is the low-res animation (eg, the castle wiggling around before it explodes in MM, or the add-a-ball in WH20's whirlpool challenge, or anything with the dog in WCS), and the post-converted 3D-to-2D animation looks kind of cheap in comparison, especially when they're side by side. It's too bad, too, because some of the 2D animation is terrific (the spooked librarian is great), but that's a minor nitpick.

Curious to put more games in and see where the action leads, and hopefully on a table that's properly leveled (come on, guys, it's literally right out of the box, get it together).

Still - imagine if when you played LOTR you always had to play the modes in a specific order. It would feel a little more stale than it does with randomized modes. This is still the thing I worry about with GB - most players will only see a couple of the same modes over and over - and even if you play better, to see new content you'll always have to go thru the stuff you've seen a ton in order. I don't think this is going to change - but I hope it does. With random modes there's still the challenge of starting/completing them all to get to wizard modes ...but it keeps the experience from feeling monotonous - or hopeless, if the game is as challenging and drainy as people are saying it is. A game like Ironman can be drainy since the content lends itself to it - but with GB having so much content - to lock it away from most players isn't the best approach, IMO.

Out of the right side? This shouldn't happen...the game might be unlevel.

I've had some out of the left exist of the pops, but I wouldn't describe it as "dibbling".

Agreed. TWD is very drainy, but the way Lyman coded the rules makes it totally work still. Hitting the drop targets to light the Dead Features/Mode start, then choosing which mode to start is just awesome. Combine that with the way you need to light all multi kills to get to Horde, then there's Terminus and Siege mini-wizard modes, and of course Last Man Standing. All of those modes work great in the way they play even with brutal outlanes.

Star Trek has Dwights code and it works well because the game isn't brutal at all. It just seems that the table layout and the way it is coded may not be such a great combo. I think Lyman is great with coding for difficult tables, and would have been a better fit here.

My LE won't come in for a while so I'll see when it gets here. I'll give it a few weeks to see how it plays. If it doesn't work for me I'll sell it right away and get an MMr and call it a day. This is such a perfect theme for me, but I can't stand drop targets that cause drains, non-registering bash targets like Slimer, ridiculous outlanes, and flippers purposely gapped to piss you off even further. I hope I'm wrong and I love the game, but feedback so far isn't good for those who have played it. I like hard pins, which is why TWD is my favorite, but not hard as in cheap drains that remove all skill level.

Out of the left side, yeah - out the right was fine. Not sure what was going on up there but more than once it seemed to kind of slowly roll out and go right down the middle. The machine had a slant to the right, though (which made trapping on the left flipper almost impossible) so maybe when level it's not an issue.

Is the flipper gap wider like Judge Dredd, or even wider than that?

The center post idea might be pre-mature on GB, and you're right I didn't care for it that much either when I had Spiderman. Every game lasted forever. I like a long game ever now and then, but not everyone of them.

Btw, I'm guessing you're a pretty good player(that might be an understatement). If I'm remembering right you were one of the first, if not the first to hit LMS on TWD. The advice to ricochet off Well Walker to Riot from left flipper changed my game for the better quite a bit.

I need more seat time on the game, and to try different angle of attack on the Ghost shot. The Pro's is a fun game for sure and this is just the first round of code.

The negative feed back appears to be in the minority from what I can see.

Appear to be no bigger than normal. Plus you put the those extenders on like you have on TWD, and voila! Much easier for players not as skilled.

Once the machine gets broken in, these will work better. Metallica's drops were much the same.

lol, I actually do try and play them in a specific order to advance in the game. Still has not gotten monotonous - or hopeless.

after reading here and in some other threads people complaining about the repetitive song I was wondering did anyone change the code on a Spike game yet. Any game : WWE, Kiss, GOT. I don't recall reading anywhere someone changing callouts or songs with pinball browser on a Spike game.

Please tell me i'm wrong lol

I played about 10 games on a GB pro two nights ago at a local barcade. My experience lines up with what is being reported here. The game is extremely fast and ball times are quick for beginning players like myself. I probably watched a dozen other people play the game and their ball times appeared similar. None of us were able to progress very far into the game at all. The ball save feature was being used constantly. The barcade also had some classic games: BoP, Whirlwind, BK2K, Fishtales and they seemed noticeably slower by comparison. I was thinking of getting a GB Premium as my first pin. Now I wonder if I'm not a good enough player for this game and might find it too frustrating. On the other hand if I learned to play GB well that would definitely improve my skills for almost all other games. GB looks absolutely beautiful in person and sounds great also. It will be interesting to see if the Magnaslings make the game a little easier.

I was just watching the Johns arcade video - and man ...those drains are brutal. It just sucks the ball down the sides. Lots of stdm from the pops exit, too. If Spidey had a center post, this game certainly could benefit from one. I wonder why they didn't. I'm thinking the LE/Prem might be less side drainy if the magnet slings aren't as strong as traditional ones.

I can see a lot of owners trying to mod the game to make it more "fair" ...someone already posted their longer flippers...I can see inland/outlane mods coming.

I still am. Disagreeing with your complaint doesn't change that. You're not interested in me repeating it, I'm done with it. I'm not interested in your personal attacks, so let it go.

If you don't want to hear from me, ignore me. It's very simple.

Oh boy do we need gameplay video/review of a premium? Running circles on the pro reviews has got me going crazy wondering how different the premium/LE will be. This is going to be one game where the pro/premium gameplay could be very different. Perhaps the Magnaslings will save the game from the bad outlane drains?

My Half A$$ review.....

So I setup ghostbusters Friday.
Out of the box I played a couple games and noticed some small issues.

I adjusted the lanes. Adjusted the Scolari Bros drops. And opened up the slimer mech to adjust the switch.
And adjusted the ball save timers.

Now the game is super fun, not frustrating like it was when some of the targets and slimer didn't register 100%.

To anyone that says the music is annoying. They have probably not got to some of the modes like spook central, or the ball room.

Some of the best music I have ever heard in a Pinball machine. And totally 80's. With a bit of techno and bass thrown in.

If you are just flailing around in early stages of the game all you will hear is the GB theme accompanied by some other "spooky"sound fx and music here and there.
But each mode has its own specific music callouts etc. 80's nostalgic vibe 100%.

While GB in its current state is missing JACKPOT callouts. And other callouts that lets you know that you are in mass hysteria mode or that it's ending. Overall I feel it's one of the most compete code releases to date.
It needs work but not a ton of work like some past titles.

I was not initially impressed with GB playing it on location. In my home and set up/adjusted correctly it's an amazing fun game with really good music and code.

Haha ok you two, break it up. Take it to pm or let's just let it go.

45 minute games on location maybe? When I put my Spidey out on location, I removed the post and opened the out lanes. Otherwise games went on forever, especially in tournament play.

At least Spidey had a normal flipper gap. Not saying this game needs 45 min games ...but it looks like it just drains you often within a few seconds of play...either from the unconventional outlane guides or from the pops exit which is always frustrating....it happened on Avatar & Stern issued a special spring to prevent it. Lots of complaints about it from TWD as well. I know the ball is wild, but if the design flips you the middle finger, that's no fun.

That and the left bumper exit were where all mine were coming from, and they went right down the middle.

Wait! Why?

These two are the perfect adversarial match! Pinside GOLD, I tell you!

STTNG has notorious drainy outlanes due to how the ball bounces off the non-traditionally shaped/placed slings. Once you learn how to nudge right when it hits that top sling corner and bounce the ball higher, you're less likely to drain. I wonder if that's a trick that can work on GB.

hi can you tell us how did you adjust the lanes and the drops ?
Thanks

Moved the lanes all the way in.
Did the typical Stern drop target fix. It's been in their service bulletin on how to fix drops that dont drop 100%. It just seems they have never done it in house for the last 15 years. Even though it's a known issue.

Fixed the slimer bash toy. It now registers 100% of the time with a hit. And won't register by shaking the machine.

Now the game is fun, less frustrating. Seems less clunky. And plays great.

It's not an easy game. But doing these fixes at least gives you a fighting chance.

I had an epic game Friday night. Mass hysteria multiball is worth huge... I mean HUGE points with your multipliers. And I completed a bunch of modes. Ghostbusters is great!

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ok i will do that when mine will be at home

When he's talking about pinball, sure. Too often he drifts off into petty flaming and thumbwars..

Oh man, I'd love to see you, Rarehero and CrazyLevi in a three way cage match right now. Especially after that let down of a tickle fight they just had.

Say something bad about his mother...

Can you comment on what you did to fix Slimer? Ive got my game coming in tomorrow and might need to make a similar adjustment

Remove the black plastic (two nuts) over the slimer toy.

There is a plug for the leds and one side of the normally closed switch. The cable that slimer is hanging from is the other side of the switch.

There is a white plastic ball inside with the cable running through it.

Basically the slimer cable touches a piece of metal on the other side and of the plastic ball.
When slimer is hit, it moves the cable and opens the switch.

Go into slimer test. Drop him down in test.
Then go to switch test. And test how hard you have to hit slimer for the switch to register.

The more vertical you can get the cable to sit in the plastic ball the better the switch will work.

I used a tie wrap to hold the cable more straight in the ball. It took less pressure to activate the switch. And shook the hell ot of the machine to be sure it didn't phantom register.

Tried a few games with the glass off. It was all good. Put the plastic cover back on and done.

A forward bash registers every time.

Before it seemed it almost needed a super strong air ball to register.
And most forward hits to slimer did nothing.

I got a chance to play. I was kinda peeved that out of four or five games I lost at least two balls jumping over the left inlanes totally and draining. Same thing happened on the right side but landed in the shooter lane. Fast is fun and fine but losing balls due to that sucks.

I will when mine arrives...but in the meantime I only have received, talkback and videos to go by.

I'm here for the pinball, not reality show drama. I cannot fight with those who don't exist.

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I found that too, playing one in a showroom. More than likely the machine is not at the right angle. Because the one I have, is set up @ 6.5 deg and I have only had it happen once or twice every 50 games or so. Usually after a super hard dead on shot to one of the drops.

Me and my buddies call it. "It shadowed me"
After the stand ups on shadows ramps that send the ball flying to a drain.

I agree. I put 10+ games on the pro at the Ohio show and it only happened 1 time. Maybe you're stronger than me!

I think a lot of people worried about the difficulty of Ghostbusters, need to put some more time into the game before making a final call. I remember recently when GOT launched, I thought it was the quickest most brutal game out. A month later and I can have games at least 10 minutes plus in length. Getting a feel for a table and learning to dial in shots makes a big difference, to the difficulty level. There are always some games that are designed to play hard and fast, I.e Ironman, and some that have never ending ball times LOTR. The only issue I might have with Ghostbusters difficulty at this point is unlike Ironman which is linear and not to deep on rules, Ghostbusters is going to have a lot more depth. If ball times are to short it might not allow even average players to access all the table has to offer, particularly if the progression through modes is linear.

Re: LOTR ball times. Depends on who is playing and how it is set up.

There has to be a balance between design and rules. It can vary from game to game. Sure you can set up LOTR to destroy you in a minute - but the game wasn't designed to play that way. It was designed as an adventure and you need the time to ever experience that adventure. Ironman was clearly designed to be quick and dirty. GB looks to have a lot of content in it - so, it seems works against the design and the player to be an unapologetic drain monster....and that's why a few people seem to be a little worried about it.

Good to see you back.

I don't think LOTR was designed with the expectation of an adventure to Valinor each time you play.

Even set up "normal" the other mini wizard modes like TABA or destroy the ring don't take long to achieve if you are a good player.

Novice players don't experience long ball times and still have fun playing bash Balrog or FOTR.

Players who crave a deep game, shouldn't complain if it takes long to achieve deeper objectives. That's expected, and not a weakness. This complaint always baffles me.

LOTR is pretty much perfect for each type of player.

I think brutal games need a clever rule set that are non-linear, or allow you to select modes, otherwise most players will never get to see most of the game. "Deep" games with stories to tell should be a little easier.
TWD, Metallica for example can be brutal (TWD more so) but the rule set is non linear, so it's possible to see a lot early in the game without having to slug away at modes. On ACDC, which can also be brutal, the player can select all the modes from the beginning.
LOTR, Hobbit, Tspp need to be less brutal so you can progress through the game and see the story.
Not sure where GB fits in rules wise, but hopefully the rules allow for its difficulty.

Unless the rules change substantially, the average pinsider is going to be playing A LOT of the Scared librarian and Who Bought the Dog modes.

rd.

Dwight? Thoughts ?