Yes, the back glass is horrible. However, I like the cheesiness and prefer the original to the alternate.

The sounds are great! It has really familiar, sounding Arcade music and sounds, and they are very fitting to the theme.

The popup drop targets (snipers) are a great challenge and the related sounds are great. This might have been the first game to feature these (?). They are super fun. For reference, they function the same as the 'bad guys' on Cactus Canyon.

This is a fun game with fun challenges and is a great game to play with other players.

I truly don't understand why folks criticize this game so hard. I find it really captivating and enjoyable. Is it because I grew up playing NES? Maybe. Because the music absolutely slays. It's catchy and there are a bunch of different riffs based on the progress you've made in the game. The sniper music makes me want to not hit the snipers so I can keep listening.

Speaking of the snipers - super cool gameplay feature. I have my game set to "liberal" so these poor Vietnamese farmers pop up more readily. I also love that you have to earn the ramp with the lanes. That's a great feature that I haven't seen on another game.  My game in particular needed some strange tweaking to get the ball to go 50/50 down either side. But when tuned correctly it plays great. The rules are straightforward but satisfying. Do I wish it had multiball? Maybe?

Every translite I've seen for this game leaves something to be desired, but I actually like the cheesiness of the original. That being said I'm still working to create my own. The original just doesn't have the "come play me" effect I wish it had. It makes the game look way lamer than it actually is. No one has ever shot a machine gun and been so non-plussed as she.

Speaking of the appeal of the game, the attract mode - holy crap! I love it. The periodic helicopter, machine gun, and missile noises more than make up for whatever the artwork was lacking. You can't walk past that game without taking notice.

The only real criticism I have for this game pertains to moving it around. It's super heavy for a solid state, the latch in the back is completely in the way of standing the cabinet up, the cord does not retract into the cabinet, and one of the main spots to lift the cabinet has a bunch of poorly placed screws - the pointy end of them that is. Oh and there's that little thing regarding the game designer himself...

Other than that, this is a solid game. Great flipper action, rewarding shots, amazing sounds and music. Total bargain for what this game seems to sell for.

Writing a a fair review for Raven is incredibly difficult.
It’s taken over a year to do it.
I don’t like saying anything bad about any pinball machine but I have to be honest and admit that this one is not good.
If I happen to own this machine presently, or have owned it in the past, I would never add that information to my Pinside collection or admit to it on my profile. Even if I got Raven for free.
Because it’s that embarrassing.

Let’s get way off track.
On my local Craigslist, someone was trying to sell a copy of Raven for $2,800!
I know what some of you are thinking, I laughed as well.
The ad is proud to repeatedly tell you that everything is “in tact” (as opposed to “out tacked”?) and that the LED bulb upgrade makes it worth much more. (HA!) They insist their Raven is perfect, even though it’s in about average condition and…
…let’s be honest, you can’t even feel sorry for people like this.
It’s awful that I enjoy watching as they repost it with the price slightly reduced every couple weeks because nobody is interested.

What was the reason behind that story? It’s like watching a train wreck, you know you should look away but you can’t.
Unfortunately, that’s also how I feel about Raven in general.
Raven should be the eternal bargain basement machine. Mostly as a warning to others that you get what you pay for.
The current Pinside average price, ($1,500 as of this writing in 2023), is insane, and I can only blame speculators and collectibles investors for that ridiculous amount.
They really enjoyed ruining the pinball hobby didn’t they!
On the bright side, I’ve seen copies of Raven given away in buy one get one free deals, or sold for under $500 in the recent past. That’s a much more accurate fair market value that isn’t reflected here on Pinside.

It would be something if Raven was so bad that it’s good, but it’s so bad that it’s depressing, and even free might be too expensive if it needs serious repair work, like if it has a bad MPU or needs replacement displays.

Gottlieb Premier made a few good playing pinball machines during this time, but all of them have the terrible photo backbox art and theming package that make them look disturbing, and not in a good way.

Watch while I attempt to search for the right way to frame this.
Wait! I got it!
Have you ever seen those direct to video releases of low budget films that are intended to trick people into buying them because they have a similar title and box art to the real blockbuster movie? Or worse, the pornographic knock off version of a real film?

Gottlieb Premier proudly did that to pinball.
And that’s how all their games looked during this period. From Bad Girls to Genesis to Gold Wings to Rock, and everything in between. They look like the box art of a sad low budget 1980s porn knock off film, released on betamax.

That’s the main problem with Raven. She’s a gender swapped Rambo, which is something that…
I did already mention low budget 1980s porn, right?
Should I also point out that there’s a gender swapped Rambo knock off adult film that Raven looks like it’s more closely based on?
I’ll let it go.

Theming and initial visual impressions either draw in a player or push them away.
Raven does both by being so awful that it draws in the curious, to see if it gets worse.
And it does.
Camouflage can look good on anything, if it’s done right, but Raven’s poor excuse of cabinet camouflage, with its large puke colored blobs are…
I just ran out of adjectives and my head hurts.

The first time I saw Raven, I seriously thought someone sabotaged it with their very first amateur custom paint job.
Nope! That’s official factory sabotage!

Then there’s the playfield art.
It seems they hired that one guy that was told repeatedly in high school to give up drawing and consider being a third shift gas station attendant, where he won’t be able to harm himself or others. Believing he was a good artist, he didn’t listen, and Gottlieb hired him because a recently fired third shift gas station attendant is much cheaper than hiring someone who has any artistic talent.

The bottom line is, when new, drawing in paying customers was the most important factor to the profitability and success of a game, and Raven fails at that completely.
In the pinball collector hobby, a terrible artwork package can be overlooked, or even admired for its awfulness, if the gameplay is all there.
Unfortunately that’s Raven’s other major fault.
All the pieces are there, but just not in the right places.

It’s almost as if all the playfield items that could be included in this game were dropped on a board and the designer began screwing them down where they fell until he ran out of room.
Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but there’s no flow. Very few shots are thrilling or make any sense, and the ones that do are lackluster or don’t do anything special, and you come away from your first game thinking, “Wow, that was disappointing.”
In an arcade in its era, that’s where it would end. A single quarter muncher. There are better things to play, so you regret dropping in a quarter and move along.
Today, freeplay is a thing, and so I tried playing it again and again and again, and it never gets any better.
It’s the Star Wars Episode One of pinball. I kept trying to convince myself that it’s good, that it has some redeeming quality , and I was left wondering what I could say that was positive.

I just came up with something! The lighting is good and it didn’t need any major repairs during gameplay. That’s positive!
As I said at the beginning, it’s taken over a year to write this and my opinion hasn’t changed or mellowed in time. Maybe a little, but not significantly, and I’m still trying to find something positive to say.
It’s very difficult to do because pinball is a hefty investment of repair and maintenance time, and requires large sums money, it’s not something you can laugh off like a buying a cheap bad video game or watching a bad movie.
Raven is my lowest score ever and it bothers me that it is, but at the same time, it’s not unplayable or the worst thing ever, just terribly unappealing or inspiring.
I stand by my opinion that there are are no bad (official mass produced) pinball machines, just less exciting or uninteresting ones.
In a hobby as expensive as pinball is now, Raven is the equivalent of paying Starbucks prices for gas station coffee. You just don’t do it unless you’re incredibly stupid or desperate.
But if someone gives you one for free, be sure to say thank you and then cover it in a plain brown paper wrapper as you transport it.

Full Disclosure, I basically got a totally restored example for free. It was concluded in a sale and I couldn’t say no.

The sounds are excellent. The cabinet art is great. The Rambo- sorry “Raven” translite is garbage. I have the alternate, thankfully.

The real tough part:

The playfield looks fun and exciting, and has a drawbridge ramp AND 4 pop-up sniper targets! Wow!
However, it just doesn’t come together. It’s a decent game, I find it enjoyable and some people LOVE it.

Legally Distinct Rambo-knockoff is a decent player, but the ramp was a totally wasted opportunity. It’s not a total POS. It’s fun and it’s pinball. If you don’t like it sell it to someone who does!

My major complaint is the rules. They are so standup-heavy. Get the multiplier by shooting the rollover lanes and get a bunch of standups.

It feels lacking despite being packed with features. The toys are cool and the ethnic sniper targets are hilarious. However, it’s just okay and it fills in nicely in my large collection. Some guests seem to gravitate towards it so it does its job! Hollywood Heat is loads better

When I got this pin I was wondering just how bad could it be? I suppose it's not that bad as compared to early ss games. I'm not crazy about the military theme and I cant decide if they were trying to go for pinup girl or a fight the patriarchy theme. I told people the latter when it was in my arcade. The layout is pretty much a ripoff of firepower with a really tight ramp thrown in as an after thought and also probably the worst return rail in pinball. I thought someone half-hazardly 3D printed a replacement on mine but no that's how it really is. The sniper targets at least add a little something to the game. I added red flashers where the "bombs explode" on the playfield and that added a neat touch. This pin holds the record in my arcade as the lowest amount of plays of any game, and that includes EMs. When I wanted to sell it, it took forever until someone finally picked it up even during the peak pandemic boom market.

Its a fun game! The back glass is hideous, so if you can look past that, its a great SS pin for EM money. The game is fast, there is good variety in the shots, some being rather hard, and the moving sniper targets are fun and add an element of time to the game. Good pop bumper action, ramp, helicopter gimmick. The flipper action is good, but only two flippers. They arent overyly powerful, meaning you need to be precise with the ramp shot. I see a lot of people switch the flipper coils to stronger ones, but that might make the game to easy for long term home use.

The music is catchy, in an early nintendo-style, which fits the game well. The sounds are decent for the time, and the lack of voice is good as there are no annoying callouts! The speaker system is plenty good enough, with speakers in the backbox and in the cabinet, for decent volume and bass response. The playfield art is very detailed and pretty cool. The early alpha numeric display is a bit small, but it works fine, and the light show tells you what to do with enough information.

Reliability is probably average, but once you address the general system 80 issues, its likely good. It seems easy enough to service. This is a great pin for a beginner and probably can be had on the cheap end of the scale. Plays much better than its current pinside rating would suggest.

This was my very first machine that I owned; bought it for $400 in great shape, sold it for $500 a few years later. I enjoyed it, but don't miss it. For the money, absolutely is fun, especially the targets that you "shoot". However, lack of multiball and other elements make it a fairly boring machine to play after a few months. Great starter pin though, especially for 80s action movie fans. For the right price, it is a fun game and worth it.

This game is more fun than it looks!
My uncle owned this game in the 90’s and my buddies and I played it until we wore out the flippers. Even then, I found the cabinet art lame (bordering on silly). Kind of a female Rambo theme. The playfield was really fun for the time. Sniper stand-ups, good ramp shot, a mech, and the helicopter spinner shot was fun. The sound effects were actually good.
Not sure it would last long compared to today’s games or those great late 90’s games. That said, in a larger collection or someone entering the hobby finds one cheap, it is fun “80’s pinball.”

I like the helicopter with the rotor the spin when you hit the spinner. The ramp is unique looking. The music is decent but the gameplay and art is that great

Raven is a game that oozes 80's cheez-bawls-testo-culture.

The Good:
I love shooting this game. The shots may seem to be an obvious homage to firepower, but the layout is Trudeau. So it is going to be more interesting and random. The big shots on the game are the orbits to the multiball lock, spinner and the top lanes for bonus X. High multiplier pinball bonus meltdown is a thing of beauty on this game, but you gotta earn it! Pops have good action and offer many different exits and different angles to the lower part of the playfield. The best part about Raven is? You can still find them for cheap. That makes this great beginner player/collector's game. The shots are a bit different, but well laid out and the nudging on the ramp divider is not something you see every day. When playing properly, this game will give you pinball 80's awesomeness like few others. You can play this game for hours (I know I did when I found a sweet copy). Rules balance is better than one might initially observe. When considered the risk/reward in this design is solid. Go for the bonus X and rip the spinners! Good luck controlling the ball on this game, it is full of chaos. Stay away from the standups. Those are all super fast sucker shots! Popping snipers is a hoot, but not too many points. The Giraffe skin cabinet cracks me up every single time!

The Bad:
This is one of the Gottlieb system 80b games. IF those boards don't work, I wish you luck finding a replacement. I don't know if any are being reproduced. Contact Steve Young at Pinball Resource for details. Don't get me started on the translite. Lady Rambo, You did the best job you could. If you can't stand the look, there are alternate translites to be had. PF design is frustrating when the ball should drop into the inlanes from the ball locks and it bounces into the outlanes. Removing inlane rubbers may solve this issue. However there is something even worse... when the ball falls out of the pops and hits the top of the lower right playfield drop target and it heads into the right outlane... every. single. time.

The Takeaway:
Find one for cheap. Play the heck out of it and keep it around, or pay it forward and give it so someone who needs their first pinball game and will play it as they should. After nearly 35 years, people are starting to realize that it isn't a bad playing game. There is quite a bit to shoot for and when you learn to shatz/to right orbit spinner (not easy to do on those wire inlanes), there are points to be had all day long! If you get bored with this design, consider putting a power ball inside of it. If you like working with a belt sander, this game is prime for a re-theming.

fun underrated game,hard ramp shot.

I picked up Raven in a trade, after a quick clean up, new rubbers and leds- this game is awesome. The sniper target music always gets me going for more. I thoroughly enjoy this game.

The theme is pretty cheesy..... but it gets EVERYONES attention. You cant not play it. Such a fun game!

The music is great, very 8 bit NES style.

If you can pick this game up, do it.

Pinside vote experiment

I like the theme , pretty fun but pretty ugly game.
If your collection is large or you can get one for cheap, this one could be nice to play for a while.

I've owned a Raven and I really liked it. The Music is great and left ramp shot is challenging. While this may not be a long time keeper in my collection, I still enjoy picking up a few games on this machine.

Sure the Translite is horrible... But that's part of the charm. It's fun to play and shots are good. Nice little pin. Give it a try before you pass judgement

I agree with the previous reviewer. People write the game off just because of the bad backglass. It can be picked up cheap and plays pretty well. Ramp shot is tough, you have to be spot on with the right amount of speed or you won’t make it. It’s not an easy game for points and like others have said, I find myself rarely breaking 1M.

Definitely do the ground mods or you will eventually have issues with this and all other 80b’s.

Raven is a classic 80’s Gottlieb in the series of horrible photographic backglasses but don’t let that steer you away, this and other Gottliebs from the same period are surprisingly fun and very inexpensive.

The crime here is that people write this game off because the translite art is not to their liking. If it bothers you that much, buy an alternate translite. Let me leave you in on a little secret- this game is a great bang for the buck machine. There are far worse playing machines out there, but you wouldn't know it by the ratings. The random sniper drops are very unique and fun. The ramp shot is a bit of a letdown, so you should be playing the spinner and the top lanes to increase your score multiplier if you are looking for points. Give this machine more of a chance...there are games out there 2x and 3x more expensive that are just not at all fun.

The back glass kills this game before you play it. I have see an alternate back glass someone had made and it changed the game by 50% for the better. There is nothing like seeing this backglass in your line up. Looks like something you bought from Sears.

Always heard this is the worst game out there...not great by any means but it is fun. The stand up “snipers” are a unique feature and I like th flow of the ramps. Not an A title but not the worst.

I had to play this game in competition at Pinburgh, and I was reminded of why it might possibly be the worst machine produced of all-time. From the horrible theme and incredibly cheaply-produced artwork to the nearly unplayable rule set to the cheesy mid 80's flippers to the dim and tiny LED scoring, and the hard to see playing field, I have tried hard to find one redeeming feature about this mess, and have failed.

I've had this game for a few months now and I still enjoy playing it. It has a lot of different features that you can shoot for and the music and sound effects compliment the gameplay. It is one of the better 80's Gottlieb machines in my opinion.

Another John Trudeau masterpiece. Dangerous stand up targets, a ramp worth nothing and a spinner worth way too much making it the only shot in the game. Does John Trudeau play pinball? Unlike the other reviews here, I like the back glass. Very 80s. Not enough strong female characters in pinball.

Raven really isn't all that bad. Obviously the art sucks but once you get past that, it's a nice Trudeau layout! To be honest, it's a brutally hard game! There's many close up shots that will send your ball SDTM. Additionally, the sniper pop-ups (yes, a la Medieval Madness!) will knock your r ball right back at you incredibly fast. While this game is not multiball, don't let that deter you (personally, I think this game is the perfect game for a returns project), this deck is a FUN one. Play on!

The backglass on this machine is OMG bad..some like it ..but cheese please.The is just Blah so that is most of the drawback, the game play is ok .The helicopter spinner is kinda neat. The sniper pop up shots are nice skill shots. A good starter pin for a cheaper machine.