Super fast gameplay, you can't look away for a second. This was actually a LOT of fun to play (reminds me a lot of Bk2k). It's so fast in fact I often found the ball bouncing sometimes over walls (and flippers) which would get frustrating as a tournament machine. Also the right ramp is really tight (like less than 1.5") which makes it REALLY hard to nail this ramp. I found the action to be so fast that having the LCD screen embedded into the playfield made hardly any difference, you really couldn't take your eye off the ball unless you were cradling it.

Thats positive as I love fast games

Incredible news!

The display in the playfield took sometime to get used to. I kept looking up for my score.

In a league, or tournament setting, I wonder how others will watch the action on the display. The color usage in the display, and the animations were done very well. The sound was exceptional, and right on target with the theme.

The lighted side cabinet art is refreshing, and I hope to see more of these.

While road bike racing does have a following, I don't know of many pinheads that are into it. We just don't seem like the type who bike race, or watch bike racing, as a group. I'm sure there are some exceptions. As a result, the theme was not something I am interested in. Maybe Full Throttle will go nice in a line with Banzai Run, Blackwater, Devil's Rider, and Road Kings.

Here are a couple videos of FT
https://www.youtube.com/embed/gqqKIlA_IRk?autoplay=1&rel=0

At times, the blinking lights seem distracting.

The Walking Dead has similar blinking light modes that don't match up with my preferences.

"They are blinking and flashing and blinking and flashing"

Full Throttle did feel like a finished, production game. Solid, and did not rock like a toy. It sure did not feel like a Stern home model "the pin", though they have similar looking back boxes. It was delightful to play a fully working game, instead of staring into an empty cabinet box.

The key to the Full Throttle feel was the flippers. They really got them right. They performed just as good as Bly/WMS games from the 90's.

The crossing ramps were a bit of yawner. Reminded me of shooting the Fish Tales ramps, or WhoDunnit ramp. All have a lot of movement, with little feeling of acheivement. In contrast, try making the cross ramps on TAF, ST:TNG, Spiderman.

It was surprising for a modern pinball machine not to have a
'bash toy',
a moving deer/crane,
upper or lower playfield,
interactive toy,
or a talking head/fish.,
or a dancing Elvis. Did I miss seeing those?

Thanks again to the FT team for getting the game together, and bringing it to Expo.

I agree, the game was fast and furious. Gets the thunbs up, I'm defiantly interested in getting one! (Oh how I wish I was rich)

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it was a fun play, but honestly i never even noticed the PF display as I was watching the balls. When a ball would end I'd end up looking up and seeing nothing and had to remember to look back down. It played pretty cool and the split orbit in the right center that then sends the ball to the left side passage to a crossover outlane return is wicked fast. I love the non-standard bottom. The only real drawback I see is the lack of display in the head. if you are not the active player you really have no clue what is going on score wise or if there is a mode running. A backbox display keeps the other players attention.

Where is HWAWONYU (Dave)?

I know he played it and loved it. He's thinking of ordering one.

Can anyone tell us how it feels to play it? Was it solid?
Played fast I believe?
More fun, juicy details please!

the mechanics in the playfield feel like any williams or Stern game. The shots are very much loop around (whether it's an orbit, a side horsehoe or a ramp). About the only time the ball is static is when it's up by the pop bumpers, and even then it doesn't spend much time up there.

The cabinet itself (with it's hollowness of the sides removed) felt a little odd, not sure how to describe it. Even watching someone else play it (who did a lot of nudging) it didn't sound heavy. Don't think it effects gameplay (and lord knows widebodys can lose some weight), but it doesn't feel like your typical weighty pin, but I could be wrong.

Found it to be a lot of fun and would agree it was so fast I didn't look at the display even in the convenient location!

Sounds like they nailed the important aspects.

Damn: I just realized how much easier these will be to move since you can take out the playfield first.
Sweet!

Only got to play it once. Wished I it a chance to play it more. Really enjoyed playing it. The flippers felt great.

Awesome idea for those of us with limited space and/or funds.

So long as these games are fun and work well, seems to me the concept is a great one!

I was impressed. Fast action and flow. The right inner loop-around is especially fun and hitting it twice in a row feels like a reward. There are some good strategic decisions too: hit any of the 5 major shots 5 times to start a "challenge" which kicks another ball into play ... but you can start multiple challenges at once ... and the value of the shots in the challenge is multiplied by the number of challenges running and the number of balls in play. So, play them one at a time, or set up a stack?

The team said the tight right ramp would be addressed, it is definitely not finished in that sense. Overall I had a lot of fun playing the game and want to play it more.

So what is up with that lockdown bar, side rail setup? Makes it look like a virtual pin a bit. Is the glass 'built' into the entire top railing?

With as many pins are being released lately, everyone is eventually going to run out of space, and your only options are
1. sell pins you may want to hold onto
2. Monthly storage fee
3. Store them at friend's houses, hoping they don't play them into the ground
4. Buy a bigger house

Not to say playfields don't take up space, but you can probably easily fit 3 populated playfields in the space of one folded up pinball cabinet.

The game played fast and had tons of flow which I felt matched the theme perfectly. It had some unique feeling shots. The split orbit shot that Calvin described above is awesome. Flippers were nice and powerful.

whoah!! Get ready because this is one fun game. I am shocked because its a widebody. Why shocked? Because it's stupid fast! Felt like HS on roids. Great shots and many of them.
The screen below does take getting used to but it makes sense once you do vs looking up.
I got really sucked in with the fast pace , good shots and Manx TT type sounds.
If you like HS AFM acdc etc it has that kind of feel .
Now add new cabinet design ( backlit) easy to remove glass and future swapping platform I think we have a huge winner.
Bottom line is its just a damn fun game!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10204991778137202&id=1324279200

Yes the entire frame just lifts off with glass

I liked the gameplay. Lots of flow and the display in the playfield was nice though I kept looking up at the backbox out of habit. I do not like the backglass art. They need to get rid of those disembodied heads. The artwork is of a different style and doesn't match the rest of it. Also the face on the left is not drawn well. The eyes are way crooked, like he got dropped as a baby. Fix the backglass and they have a winner IMO.

They say 10-15 minutes!

Thanks for the review Dave!

This one has my interest, as does Alien!

Some people are commenting on the backbox. I think a really cool upgrade or even an after-market mod for the Heighway system (and the P3 for that matter) would be another LCD in the backbox paired with a camera mounted above the playfield. Then you could have the playfield (and playfield LCD) displayed on the back box LCD. This would allow spectators to watch the action similar to the setup at PAPA tournaments where vertical screens display the playfield action to the audience.

Where is the big villain guy that is supposed to be in the back of the playfield?

The lower portion of the metal frame where the lockdown bar is usually located has sharp ends that dig into your palms when playing. I was told that would be corrected in production.

The game played great but it was almost too fast (in a Data East kind of way). I had several airborne balls and one got stuck on top of a plastic near the top. Like others, I forgot all about the display being in the playfield once I started playing.

I was able to look inside the game to see how everything was laid out. Several large boards with just two quick connect wires leading to all the major components under the playfield. Each component (flippers, bumpers, etc.) could be removed entirely with just four screws. Definitely a nice design for someone who isn't used to repairing a game (although it would obviously be more expensive to replace an entire assembly rather than a single component). Great for an operator with no time to troubleshoot. I suppose you could then take the broken component you removed back to the shop for repair and then you'd have a freshly repaired part for next time.

Definitely a fun game that felt more like a late 80s/early 90's game than a DMD game. Not that it's a bad thing, just wicked fast and without the backbox DMD that's how it felt to me.

A nice first effort for sure with some interesting features!

I've been admiring Heighway's business model for a year (lack of crowdfunding, modular game design) so I've been a supporter and pre-ordered FT as soon as they came available.

Really happy to hear the feedback from expo.

THanks for posting.

I like the idea behind the modular playfield. Any photos/vids on how this will be implemented? Id be curious on the price point of separate playfields too.

I think I just bought myself another game :/

Anyone know of any prices for Australian customers?

The glass is essentially like and old bally top. lift up front edge then you can take the whole top off. all rails are a frame for the glass.

playfields will be sent crated, so you can take out the new PF and put the old PF into the crate for storage. He mentioned spoke of a wood crate, but when I mentioned wood import issues and that a composite might be easier he said they have a shipping company who will work that out but that might be the way to go.

Not yet, just what I heard them say at expo, the game is 85% done and they're hoping they've got 6 weeks left to polish it up.

Glad to read in the thread the corners of the lock down bar area will be modified for production, since not even playing it I can see they are very sharp.

I'm surprised they haven't said more about the lift off glass, have they even mentioned it? its definitely a plus, we all know you need another 3 1/2 feet to get the glass off plus the length of the machine in the first place on a normal machine.

I've gotten so used to putting my thumbs on the corner of the side rails and considering the side rails on full throttle were wider than I expected it just felt a bit strange playing it but that's just me .

Will this lift off glass arrangement be compatible w aftermarket, widebody glass ( PDI, Invisiglass)?

I did play Full throttle this week end and discussed with Andrew. Game was fun and fast!

I was wondering this too. Isn't there supposed to be an interactive villain somewhere in the game?

Yes, Valentino (I think thats his name) was absent in the EXPO game. Some issue with the mech no doubt that they have probably resolved by now. It was working in other videos I saw, so it probably didn't take the ride well from the UK to the USA. The game looks great and I enjoyed playing it and talking with Andrew and Romain. Both are great guys.

Valentino was here in Saint Etienne. More pictures later.

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4 Words:

Too Fast, Too Furious!

4 More:

I loved this game!

This sounds like a very interesting concept and I'm excited to see how it turns out for people. I'm very interested in Alien and look forward to seeing what Heighway has in the future.

Sadly, I didn't get a chance to play Full Throttle at expo, though I was able to watch someone play for a few minutes. The game definitely looks super fast. Not really my theme, but a fun looking game nonetheless.

Hate to have anything negative to say, but my experience was not nearly as positive as others. I played LATE Saturday night and had nothing but airballs. I think the layout is interesting and some of the loop shots are really fun and unique. However, practically everything I hit sent the ball airborne. The game is really fast and it almost seemed like by that point of expo everything had been pounded back enough to cause liftoff. Posts, targets, everything sent the ball flying. I lost one or two balls from it flying up and over the flippers/inlanes. On the last ball it flew somewhere over by the wheely cycle on the left and was hopelessly stuck (with nobody around to open the game up).

I'm still interested in Alien, and the layout of this game is still interesting, but I question the build quality at this point. I'm in on several pre-orders at the moment, but I can't justify pre-ordering from Heighway until I play this again and/or Alien to see if the airballs have been rectified. Cool swappable concept, but the game just didn't feel as solid as everything else.

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