Quoted from Hi-Fi:I have been trying to to determine what makes Star Trek's modes all seem so similar to me. I think it's due to lack of inserts on the playfield. Most shots only have two inserts and the second light is to only identify a combo shot which doesn't add much variety. Compare that to a game like Walking Dead where most people generally agree the code is "good" or "fun". Look at all the inserts! Pinball is all about hitting the lit shots. Different inserts give the perception of shot and mode variety. This is my theory anyway.
Here's the thing about Star Trek, and I owned a Premium for a long time, and played it a lot, from early code to the latest Dwight version. I sold it because even though I think Dwight made some smart changes that made it "worth it" to keep playing, he wasn't able to change the fundamental nature of the game.
And the issue for me is that there just wasn't enough variety and interest. I hate phrases like chopping wood, I think they're nonsensical. But I think you're dead on, the inserts are all the same. The shots are all really smooth and good to hit, but sort of bland, in the sense that it's all smooth flowing. Not a diss on Steve Ritchie, but the code needed to counter the smoothness.
Combine the two aspects of flowing shots and similar inserts and you get this sense that every mode is just more of the same. The shots move, but you're just playing a game of shoot the next lit shot for the most part.
The colors were basically meaningless. Great light show on the Premium, but they had no real impact on gameplay. Green mode or red mode or blue mode, just colors, didn't change the rules, didn't interact with the ball. Sure, you could have the double point flashing one, but that could have been done with single colors too.
I totally get that some people like SKB love the way you can chain the modes together into different high scoring strategy paths. It's not that it's "shallow", it's just that all 18 modes end up feeling roughly the same to me. Whatever differences there are tend to be subtle, or so convoluted that they feel random, even if there are patterns to the way the lights shift.
Every once in a while after taking a break from it I'd remember why I bought it, it was fun! But then it would settle back into all feeling the same, and I'd tire of it again really quickly.
Take a game like Metallica, which SKB got bored of, and I still love. (Different strokes!) I love the variety of shots that Borg has in there. The metal ramps rule, the left one is really tight. Inline drops? Yes please. I have the LE so the snake is a great variable target, it's a scoop and a target, open or closed. Newton ball adds lots of randomness (block sucks, rip it out) and Sparky magnet throwing keeps you on your toes.
And ... it has lots of inserts! I love the strategy that comes from properly trying to lock them in for Seek and Destroy or just to set you up for Crank it Up. And speaking of which, Crank it Up is brilliant, more interesting stuff in those 4 mini modes that anything in Star Trek, for me personally. Risk and reward, different sequences and ways to light inserts, it's just way more engaging.
My two cents at least.