Stranger things. Not deep in breadth, but has a ton of modes you have to beat to reach the end.

Jurassic Park with the custom software

I believe Hobbit and LOTR are easily the best in that category, so you are looking at quite a step down from those. How much time have you spent on AiQ? It’s a pin that takes some time to settle into. Rules are deep and complex. If you haven’t spent a lot of time in AiQ, maybe give it another shot unless you just don’t like the theme.

Code is the same on all models except for very minor differences. This game has over 25 modes that all take your through seasons 1 and 2 of the show, and the mini wizard modes are some of the final scenes from each season with the final wizard mode being the final battle from the second season.

Not a long player usually, so it can take some time to get to the end. Not Valinor hard, but no gimmie.

I think Hobbit is the only other game that is going to give you the immersion that LOTR does. But as others have mentioned, the code on JP is excellent. There are obvious modes you are going for, and then tons of different objectives to chase at the same time. Big difference between LOTR and JP is that JP is fuckin tough...if you take an uncontrolled shot you're gonna have a hell of a time getting it back under control. The game has combo flow, but not the same type of flow that LOTR has.

Hobbit all day

#heist Lexy Lightspeed - Escape From Earth

Do you mean linear?

I don't know about story wise, but I have seen games where the complaint is that the prescribed play is too linear. I had a Capcom Airborne and every game the shots had to proceed in a certain shot order (left ramp, right targets, spinner, left targets, center stand ups, left ramp, etc) so that repeated plays felt like you were just trying to learn one long combo turning it into a grind. It's too bad because the layout was cool, but the order should have been randomized.

As for story telling, I think the average player's relatively short ball times push games to be more successful following an episodic format like a Batman 66 where you can tell everything that needs to be told story-wise in 5-15 seconds, and maybe all together lead to another 15-30 second story (wizard mode). GOTG has a fun bunch of modes that tell little story bits from the movie, especially with the Cleland code using the film assets.

Hobbit

JJP POTC. The greatest and deepest pin no one has played.

Agree with everyone on the Hobbit when it comes to story immersion. The only problem is getting through the story requires actually playing the incredibly boring game.

Hobbit ended up being pretty good with the code updates IMO. I'd put that at the top of the list myself.

Hobbit for sure. Sorry to hear you don’t get into it (did you play the last couple of enormous code updates? ). There really isn’t another game even close. Someone mentioned POTC which is amazing, but it isn’t linear, nor is it as immersive as Hobbit. Possibly a better layout, but I actually think Hobbit has more creativity in terms of its modes

TSPP

WOZ is not linear, but it’s deep, challenging and fun.

Jurassic park is linear, but doesn’t have a story

STh is 27 total modes by my count:

Chapter modes 1-6
Chapter modes 7-12
3 Demodog modes
5 Demogorgon modes
TK multiball mode
Total Isolation 1
Total Isolation 2
Send it Back
Light the Fire
Final Showdown
Snow Ball

...there are also 2 Upside Down modes as well