Wow, what an art package!

But without the upper PF, it's not a BK and so close to GOT... I don't get why Stern doesn't just crush the market by including the UPF in the pro. Add even more for the LE and Premium. No one could compete, and they'd still pull a healthy profit. I'd be in all day on that. As is, for the price of a real BK3, I'll see what Jack has up his sleeve.

Maybe a used Premium in a year or so... *sigh*

Not to mention that ball scratches=PF damage is way overblown, especially with today's thick clearcoating and HUO.

Strange that it's called sword of Rage, and the knight is not holding a sword on 2/3 of the backglasses and not at all in the game. Mace of Rage? Flail of fury?

I enjoy the bitching. Keep it up!

That sword angle is the type of mistake I make, and I can't draw worth shit. The shield is similar, but a bit better than my abilities with perspective.

Can't wait for the game to be released so we can move onto bad shot angles, cheap mechs, cabinet cracks, and my personal favourite, DIMPLES! YES!!! YES!!!!

(I AM dead serious).

If stern would stop cutting every corner they can AND raising prices, everyone would love them to death. The cheapness of their product is often shocking. For example, my IMDNLE plumb bob threads disintegrated in my hand the first time I tried to adjust it. When I looked at it, I realized it's made of some sort of compressed composite that is worse than Chinese pot metal. It's as if they have some company in China that has children gathering metal from the hills and pressing bobs for them. Also, the power supply is absolute garbage, and the mechs are made of crap metal too.

For the record, I love playing Sterns, but they do not have to skimp on hardware like this. JJP games have their issues too, but the issues are not related to finding the absolute cheapest path to production. I'm waiting for the Stern nodes to start failing. Then we'll see how happy all the Stern customers are. Again, I want to love Stern, but their hardware often sucks. Someone else needs to compete at their price range to smarten them up.

It's natural to bring up other new games when discussing a new title. Who cares if people want to speculate about an unreleased title while speculating about an announced title. Carry on and ignore the thread police.

The monkey is a fair point, but the rest is related to a rookie mistake in prematurely revealing the game. Engineering issues are par for the course; we just don't hear about them from Stern. I'm pretty positive JJP won't be making that mistake again. The monkey is a complete head scratcher though...

Not sure about the size of the forum you run, but have you looked at how many posts are running on pinside? I'm sure they'll accept you as a volunteer if you want to police forums to be sure they stay as narrow as you feel they should be.

I'm pretty impressed!

- Lightshow on the PF is Stern's best by a country mile. Love the lightning ramp on the LE!
- Animations are Stern's best as well. The creatures are awesome, but yeah, some of the 2d/3d mixes are not up to JJP standards.
- Music sounds good to me. I think with the cool callouts, it will sit in the background nicely. Adds some intensity as well.
- Gameplay on the pro looks fast, deadly and fun. However, I see the flail and shield shot possibly getting old. That's really all you have for unique shots.
- Upper playfield honestly looks like a clunkfest. Even when they were making shots, it didn't look very fun.

Definitely a solid location player for me, but the gameplay isn't enough for a purchase.

Oh, and for those debating what Death Metal is, let Mr. Marcaille teach you:

You know what REALLY gets old? People bitching about people loving/criticizing/hating the game. Let people have their opinion. Disagree with them and debate with them if you like, but stop bitching about people debating. What else is this forum for? If you want a circle-jerk, label the thread "Circle Jerk about Stern's newest game!" and 90% of us will keep away.

Do you mean the fan or the storm call outs? I think both are great!

I generally agree with your review of BKSR. I think the game looks simple, and the upper PF looks clunky and not fun. That being said, I'm not sure how you came up with that logical review when your logic for your other reviews is completely out the window. Price and theme should not bring a great game down to a 4.8 or, worse, a 2.5. Those scores are reserved for games like Avengers and Thunderbirds. Pull yer head outta there, man.

I'd be interested in chucking $100 toward an Avengers fund so we can get Todd Tucky to eventually launch it off his roof. Great way to spend a C-note! Kickstarter anyone?

Damn. Pinside just stopped me from downvoting as it thinks I'm abusing the system. Learned something new about the forum. Thanks Frightner!

I see that you're upset. I'd like to apologise. I totally forgot that Avengers almost made the top 150. My bad.

A healthy mix is always best, but I do lean toward the ball busters. I could see placing a Hobbit next to my IM. IM would get played way more, but a nice long adventure on Hobbit would be nice now and then. Lower numbered collections should be mostly ball busters though. Ball busting for the win!

Ball busters and turds are two different types of games.

I figured I'd get those downvotes in this thread, but I can't lie. I played the crap out of Star wars, and it was a massive disappointment to me. Glad you guys like it!

The only thing that will kill the game is if Stern forces Tim to move on to another game. They seem to have stopped ignoring games after release, but who knows with Stern. They are still in the process of earning back respect. Evidence looks good for this one. Munsters, not so much.

Played about 15 games of black knight, and I must say that the game is fun! I love the crazy speed, especially with orbits. I also found it to be a good trap and shoot game. The music drives the game well, and Stern did a great job on the animations!

On the other hand, I found the shots to be quite limited, with most shots leading to the right flipper. I dialed in the key shots quickly, and they we already feeling a little redundant. I don't see the comparisons to IM at all, aside from maybe speed.

Awesome location game, but it would get old quickly in my collection.

To respond to Steve's comments on pf angle, I crank the angle on most of my games as I enjoy maximum speed. I also adjust my slings to maximum sensitivity, so I'd say they even out the difficulty when angle is considered. I also use classic rubber, so trapping is still a challenge. Myself, I find my setups more difficult to play, the opposite to cheating.

I think the only reason the upper pf is getting so much flak is purely aesthetic. If they had a nice model over top of the lock mech (helmet or castle or something with inner LEDs), people would be going nuts over it. I really do like this game and generally like Stern, but man, If they'd just throw Prem/LE owners a small bone here and there . . . .That one chunk of resin/plastic would have sold many more machines in my eyes.

And maiden

You somehow earned a downvote for a balanced and subjective post. That's gotta be more annoying than the upper playfield...