Quoted from PinballRockDude:At a crossroads so I am close to purchasing a Star Wars pro but there are a few things getting in the way. I am a Star Wars fan and a Kiss fan Kiss is my other pin so theme is important if I am going to own a pin it does need to play well. Here is what I struggle with. Star Wars has a bit of a bad rap. I have only played it with early code. Everyone I know has sold theirs. So when I consider that it’s hard to just pull the trigger. I have room for at most three pins Kiss is going no where. I want a space for an older solid state so that leaves one open space for Star Wars or something else. I have played most modern Sterns and keep coming back to Star Wars even with what I look at as a few negatives. So opinions what is it that pushes Star Wars into the own category?
Star Wars is definitely a mixed bag here on Pinside. I believe this comes down to a few things:
1. Sparse play field. People still cant accept the fact that this was designed by Steve Ritchie and the intent of this design was to make it his fastest pin ever, and he achieved that. The game can be overly brutal and the vocal minority speak up any chance they get to hammer this game because of it. But, IMO that’s what makes it a great HUO game.
2. Unorthodox ruleset. The rules are not intuitive, plain and simple. And while it’s cool to look at, The display is not used very well from a players perspective. A lot of people don’t give this game the necessary time of day because of what i said above in item 1, the brutality of the pin. So a lot of people just don’t want to learn the game on their dime. Once i understood all the missions, the game took off in a big way, and i love the ruleset on this beast.
3. This is probably the biggie; Mission Stacking is defaulted ON. With mission stacking on, people are even more confused as to what’s going on; and not only that, the theme integration is horrible with stacking on. However, now that i understand and ‘get’ the game and the objectives, it makes all the sense in the world to have stacking on from a players perspective.
That all said; i turned stacking off tonight on my SW which i do from time to time and i absolutely love it! With stacking off, the theme immersion really comes to life and i feel like I’m apart of the Star Wars universe battling Vader, the empower, stormtroopers, Boba Fett, etc...
All in all. SW isn’t a ‘total package’ game like IMDN, BM66, or DP. But man, what it offers is a blast, and a great addition to my lineup. Despite the love/hate relationship i have with SW - i’d Put it in my top 5 sterns.