Decals. meh.

Finally saw and played this myself for the first time this week. Distinctly unimpressed. Honestly, the playfield is so stripped down and devoid of things that interact with the ball, it looks like The Pin with a DMD. Really, a single plastic ship that shakes with one magnet underneath it? Put it next to Tron (a game with a generally similar look) and it looks pretty bare-bones. Put it next to any typical feature-filled game of the mid-late 90's and it looks like a junior home version. And no, sticking in a bunch of super-bright white LEDs doesn't make up for what's lacking on the pf. My main impression was that Stern is REALLY cutting back on what they put in a game with this title. And raised prices to boot? Wow.

Gameplay impressions: Same old, same old. Same twitchy flippers, fast, cheap/flimsy feel to everything, similar clear-plastic/blue-white-light/lightweight look that we've seen in Avatar and Tron. Except with much less to shoot at or interact with the ball. Ball moved fast (like on any new or well-kept game) and the side ramp loop shots came around fast. Nothing grabbed my interest--saw no depth or interesting shots. Changing the color of inserts on the very few main shots for different modes does not make things interesting. The Pin with a DMD and bright white LEDs. Sad.

OTOH, I also got to play MET and liked it. Far more interesting playfield and the artwork and lighting were appealing. The flippers seem to have more 'feel' to them--not sure if that was a physical difference or just based on the layout and appearance, but it felt more connected and fun. Seeing these 2 games side-by-side, my takeaway is they really stripped down the actual pinball elements in ST and try to hide it with lots of bright, shiny LEDs...

Vengeance interacts? Ah, no. Never comes near the ball. Just a plastic toy connected to a solenoid that bounces occasionally. Nothing else there. A spinner and a 3rd flipper. Tron is pretty basic but it has the arcade scoop by the right inlanes, and the spinning disc with lowering standups. That one little device is more than you see in the whole ST pf, sadly. I would hypothesize that Stern is cutting the BOM of every new game by an additional 10%, except MET actually has interactive stuff on the pf. Not a ton, but some.