Williams
Firepower Pinside Rating
This game received 265 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.847 /10
Firepower
Score breakdown
Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:
Game Design: 7.969
Artwork: 7.592
Sounds/Music: 7.088
Other Aspects: 8.022
Pinside staff rating
This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 5 of us have rated this game.
Found 153 ratings (with comment) on this game
There are 153 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 4 of 7.
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Belvidere, IL
6.703/10
7 years ago
Fun Multiball game. I like the rules and sequence. It can be frustrating drain-wise (for me, anyway) so you really have to earn multiball. A players table.
9.137/10
8 years ago
One of my favorite games, the play field is fast and the multi-ball can get very crazy at times, not hard to understand, shots require some skill, one of the best from the 80's.
9.176/10
8 years ago
I always come back to this machine. The rule set is perfect for the time. Easy to learn, and tough to master. I love the lights and countdown for getting multiball, and the voice is the greatest. I love hearing that last ball drain and then "Firepower defeated.........YOU!". I am so glad I managed to find this machine. Definitely a keeper.
Riccione
2.761/10
8 years ago
I just can't get into this game, the play field is so wide open and empty, I have no idea what does what or what purpose anything int he game has or does. Half the time the ball just drops down in the side lanes into the drain or right down the middle with no chance to recover.
The voice feature may have been innovative at the time but now it just is an annoyance and adds nothign to the game itself. It's not a bad game it's just to open and dull. there's nothign to get you excited about how your doing. There's a bunch of numbers but nothing to tell you what they do other than count up.
Overall it's just to open and to likely to go down the side lanes to the drain right away with no chance to play the ball.
The voice feature may have been innovative at the time but now it just is an annoyance and adds nothign to the game itself. It's not a bad game it's just to open and dull. there's nothign to get you excited about how your doing. There's a bunch of numbers but nothing to tell you what they do other than count up.
Overall it's just to open and to likely to go down the side lanes to the drain right away with no chance to play the ball.
7.451/10
8 years ago
one of my first favorite multi ball games b.k is the other ,but i didnt know then (1980)what i know now is that steve richey is one bad ass desighner ,he did a great job on this one,classic machine,very simple fun play!!...i jus remember playin to achieve multi ball and play with three balls as long as i could ,i dnt recall a jackpot but i didnt know then that it was about getting a jackpot it was about getting the most points and a replay ofcourse,many games played on this in my youth i would love to play one again....three,two,one,fire!!!
7.653/10
8 years ago
Update: 5 years later -- My game plays fast. The shots are not boring. I love the multiball and the clear objectives. Multiball could use some scoring benefit. I put some mild LEDs in my machine. Not too bright, but enough to bring out some more color. Excellent design from a master.
I am going to put drop targets in mine to see how it feels. I miss not having something to really hit after playing so much Black Knight. Great game, but dropping on my favorites and ratings. Right now I have Space Shuttle and Stellar Wars higher than Firepower.
I am going to put drop targets in mine to see how it feels. I miss not having something to really hit after playing so much Black Knight. Great game, but dropping on my favorites and ratings. Right now I have Space Shuttle and Stellar Wars higher than Firepower.
9.298/10
8 years ago
Coolangatta
It took me a long time, but I've finally realised that a game doesn't mean much to me unless it evokes memories of my childhood. This is the game for me that brings it all flooding back. The sounds are awesome especially the background sound and the intensity of the sounds. Gameplay is fast, flowing and smooth and I always want just one game. The cabinet's just a bit generic except for the word Firepower under the coin door but the backglass and playfield are beautiful.
8.084/10
8 years ago
Design and Rules: This game flows well, and has a great variety of shots to make. While the rules for this game are relatively shallow, it's simplicity makes it easily tangible for new players. The playfield and scoring is balanced, never unfair, and brutally fast for a game of this era. the spinner shot to the upper playfield kickout hole is infinitely satisfying. One flaw, is that once multiball is attained, there's nothing to do other than bat around the balls. It would've been nice of the designers to light a difficult to hit target only during multiball for a satisfying reward.
Art: Interesting. The artist was definitely attempting to capitalize from the success of Star Wars on this one, and it works. I like it. Early '80s at its finest. The cabinet artwork is confusing though, and doesn't relate all to well with the rest of the game.
Sounds: Hard to beat. Typical sounds from William's at the time, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Overall: This is a great pinball machine, and a surefire crowd pleaser, just as long as the game is set up properly.
Art: Interesting. The artist was definitely attempting to capitalize from the success of Star Wars on this one, and it works. I like it. Early '80s at its finest. The cabinet artwork is confusing though, and doesn't relate all to well with the rest of the game.
Sounds: Hard to beat. Typical sounds from William's at the time, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Overall: This is a great pinball machine, and a surefire crowd pleaser, just as long as the game is set up properly.
5.126/10
8 years ago
I've played several on-location versions of Firepower and it just doesn't do anything for me. As an early solid state, it seems to hang on to so many EM type shots and features (and, as several early SS's, it has no ramps), but it seems like it could have been so much better. That is, I've played comparable EM's that blow Firepower away.
No fun, not even for free play. Also, if you are fan of Robotron 2084, you'll hear some familiar sounds... they couldn't even make an original sound board? Just falls flat...
No fun, not even for free play. Also, if you are fan of Robotron 2084, you'll hear some familiar sounds... they couldn't even make an original sound board? Just falls flat...
8.062/10
8 years ago
Firepower offers an entertaining and challenging pinball experience for casual play, though it is lacking in features or viability in competitive settings.
The space theme is well integrated and the backglass and playfield look good. Cabinet is basic and pretty boring. I think the table suffers a bit in lighting, especially in the lower middle playfield, though this can easily be addressed by converting to LEDs (I'd at least double the brightness from incandescent if you want to play this in the dark). Sounds do lack variation and the audio quality is low by today's standards but was pretty exciting for the time. The voicing suits the game and the background music helps with immersion and offers a decent 80s experience.
Firepower lacks the flow Steve Ritchie ultimately gets known for, but it plays pretty well. The playfield is pretty spartan (there are no toys to major devices to interact with), but I find the three kick-out holes (which serve as the ball locks) to be interactive and interesting. The spinner of course is fun, especially to hear it when lit, and the game does require precision to hit the center targets and nudging skills to deal with those dangerous slings.
In a casual setting, there's really a lot you can do here. The multiball is not easy, especially since you need to fully clear the center bank of shots twice to enable all the locks. Going for F-I-R-E and/or P-O-W-E-R is another option to explore, especially if you want to try to build score via the high center stand-up target.
Firepower is not a very good competitive game, however. The best scoring strategy is clearly to light the spinner and then just attack it repeatedly. There is absolutely no points bonus for being in multiball, so its only benefit is giving you insurance against draining. I think Firepower can work in tournaments where the players aren't great (the shots ARE hard, and it tends to have short ball times), but learning how to master this game competitively does not take much to figure out.
Nonetheless, I find this game a lot of fun. It is my favorite from the early 80s.
The space theme is well integrated and the backglass and playfield look good. Cabinet is basic and pretty boring. I think the table suffers a bit in lighting, especially in the lower middle playfield, though this can easily be addressed by converting to LEDs (I'd at least double the brightness from incandescent if you want to play this in the dark). Sounds do lack variation and the audio quality is low by today's standards but was pretty exciting for the time. The voicing suits the game and the background music helps with immersion and offers a decent 80s experience.
Firepower lacks the flow Steve Ritchie ultimately gets known for, but it plays pretty well. The playfield is pretty spartan (there are no toys to major devices to interact with), but I find the three kick-out holes (which serve as the ball locks) to be interactive and interesting. The spinner of course is fun, especially to hear it when lit, and the game does require precision to hit the center targets and nudging skills to deal with those dangerous slings.
In a casual setting, there's really a lot you can do here. The multiball is not easy, especially since you need to fully clear the center bank of shots twice to enable all the locks. Going for F-I-R-E and/or P-O-W-E-R is another option to explore, especially if you want to try to build score via the high center stand-up target.
Firepower is not a very good competitive game, however. The best scoring strategy is clearly to light the spinner and then just attack it repeatedly. There is absolutely no points bonus for being in multiball, so its only benefit is giving you insurance against draining. I think Firepower can work in tournaments where the players aren't great (the shots ARE hard, and it tends to have short ball times), but learning how to master this game competitively does not take much to figure out.
Nonetheless, I find this game a lot of fun. It is my favorite from the early 80s.
7.211/10
8 years ago
It's pretty "whatever." Apparently this is the first pinball machine to introduce multi-ball, so it has that going for it. It's just a machine that has a very "been there, done that" sort of vibe. In many ways it reminds me of Centaur, but it's less memorable. On this table you want to do what you should do on many tables from around this time period -- build your multiplier, and hit the flashing/lit targets to increase your score and set yourself up for a multiball. This is a fast playing table that has a familiar feel to it. It plays quite well and is reasonably fun, but I can't help but compare it to Centaur and feel like it pales in comparison. Most definitely worth a few plays, and it's quite fun, but it isn't particularly "craveable."
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