Quoted from shaub:I can't agree with this more. I've put like 1000 plays on mine (lots of ball 1 restarts though) and I play it almost every day. The ONLY thing worth going for is episodes stacked with the main multiballs. The points from any of the fun combo modes (1-2-3 foot, weapon hurry-ups, Krang Kombo) is tiny compared to playing through episodes and getting to Team Up MB. April Hurry-ups can be valuable but they aren't very unique or exciting (hit mono-target 5 times to start, shoot right ramp to collect AND THEN do that 5 times as a requirement for COWABUNGA). But there is points in it. Same with Pizza Frenzy, you can get like 3 million on the first Pizza Frenzy but like 1 million or less for a successful Max Krang Kombo.
IMO, the combo modes should be buildable in different ways and you should be able to avoid starting any of them. The game is deadly enough and the "center ramp" is hard enough to hit that completing each of them is a challenge. Also, there should also be a way to light 123 (spinner spins?) Foot so you can do it multiple times and also a way to avoid starting it when rolling over the inner left inlane (Flippers alternate light on and off?).
Weapon Hurry-up (WHU) would be cool if you could light it by Skill Shot (like currently) but then also re-light it by shooting your Turtle shot to complete an episode. This way you might actually see players collect more than 1 weapon-hurry up.
The same-ness of both Multiballs is kind of unfortunate as well. Both are essentially hit x shots to light Mondo Jackpot, collect Mondo Jackpot to Light Jackpoto Grande. Ninja Pizza MB is a cool idea with the Toppings so it should focus on that aspect and some of the toppings could be re-worked/re-purposed to make it more interesting. For example: enable add-a-ball by collecting pizza slices, Start 2X playfield, Start episode, disable or increase Mondo Jackpot Timer, etc. And then also make it easier to cycle through which toppings are available in single ball play and locking them in. Turtle Power MB should focus on shooting the Turtle Shots to get jackpots. Maybe collect enough Jackpots to light Jackpoto Grande, then collect it and add-a-ball. Then increase the number of Turtle Power jackpots required and collect a Super Jackpoto Grande and add-a-ball. Then repeat but the process with no more add-a-balls. And then Ninja Pizza MB could focus on lighting and collecting Mondo Jackpots.
Either way, the code could use some work to bring back some of the initial excitement that the community had for this machine. And with so few out there and room for Stern to build and sell a bunch more, hopefully they have the incentive to try and build this game into something great.
Thanks for taking the time to post an honest review. We are 250 ganes into our game and so far so good. Game is quite brutal and I like that as this forces you to learn different shots and a different way to play the game.
Game is a winner for us. If you enjoy wood chopping, game may not be for you. You have to think about how to play the game and centre ranp is a tough shot that you have to learn to progress through the game. AIQ and GnRS have taken the trolls and not so genuine pinsiders away from the TMNT threads so people have had time to enjoy their games. Game has a few bugs that hopefully will be sorted soon.
I think this tbread will go from "oh boy!" to "who cares?" a lot faster than the game will.