7.75
8
7.75
7.75
7.5
7.25
7.75
Positives
Game forces you to shoot around the playfield with the shrunken head and the two main ramps to advance to multiball, lock and to play the ‘bored’ game. Every other shot has importance during the modes/multiballs except for maybe the left orbit. You get some decent satisfaction and fanfare from collecting the Super Jackpot. There’s a little nostalgia with similar sound bites from other Lawlor games.
Negatives
Upper right flipper is a joke. Was playing
a multiball trap and looking around for the shots and watched in amazement
as it slowly fell back down. It also doesn’t offer any type of
crisp accuracy to either of the 2 side ramps. The right ramp habittrail
feed to the left flipper over the near center of the playfield has caused
many lost balls. Sucks when a ball gets a little giddy-up/bounce and
you find a ball hitting it and slamming you right back SDTM. Vari-target
serves little or no use. Idol is OK but then again serves little purpose.
Many continent modes are similar except they require different shots
to re-qualify jackpots. Occasionally the ball gets caught in a bouncing
loop from the lower left jet bumpers up the left orbit. Sounds make
me feel like I just played Surf-N-Safari II. Did I just complete all
the Super Jackpot lights? Yes I did, and I also got the same reward
as eating a buffet. Hell, I was hungry when I sat down…
Positives
two-way scoop (probably an industry 1st) is terrific
-- a ball entering the front of the scoop when lit (south w/ respect
to player) gives a helpful award for the mode (if active) or multiball
(if active) and a reward (such as a jewel) helpful in the long-term
if not active;whereas a ball entering the east side of the scoop will
give a BOZO award (a random award such as light EB) when lit,skill shot
when lit or advance BOZO when not lit. Most Williams-like feel of any
Stern game featuring great ramp flow and greater flipper consistency.
Inovative playfield design featuring a spinner on the upper side loop
(upper right flipper shot) and excellent use of pulsing magnets on Idol
and Shrunken head shots; a prize grid (like a tic-tac-toe matrix) is
also cleverly incorporated. Ruleset is deep and features stackable non-multiball
modes which can be played along with any of the multiballs such as a
multiball mode,Ripoff,or 3-lock (however multiballs are not stackable)
and so Stern finally has an offering with both good flow and a rule
depth.
Negatives
Vari-Target is somewhat inconsistent: accurate hard shots can fail to send the ball into the sink hole and yet soft shots sometimes send the ball in w/ no problem -- this could have been partially offset w/ software which includes awards for just moving the vari-target without getting the ball into the sinkhole (and hopefully future ROM revs will do this). Spinners are not very consistent and hard shots can lead to few spins.
Positives
A lot of cool PF toys including the Shrunken Head, Temple
& Reader
Board. Very good rules, nice art package, good flow, sound & Dots
round out
a solid effort from PLD & Stern. Back-handable shots possible from
lower
right flipper. Interesting prize grid-matrix feature adds to the fun.
Undoubtably has the closest "feel" to a Williams/Bally pin
to date with
minimal clunkiness. 2 way scoop is a cool design.
Negatives
Weak UR flipper & a Vari-target that desperately
needs re-designing
are the only 2 stand-out weak points on an otherwise very good pin.
Positives
A WHOLE lot! Ruleset is fairly deep (Its not LOTR deep
but you can yank out all the crappy modes from LOTR and it will still
be fun, whereas RBION doesn't really have any bad modes so it can get
away with being less deep.) First off the skill shot is great! And well
worth it I may add as it is a million plus everytime you nail it. Game
has some great flow and some combos including super-combos. A first
of its kind super jackpot system with 6 awards. Each Super you get collects
one of the awards (Determined by jet bumpers) and lights it. Right orbit
is backhandable which is HUGE since that is the setup shot for the super
(Imagine the super on flintstones which is a very similar shot) Vari-target
is back!!! err... more on that later. 2 spinners, 2 ramps and an interesting
bingo-type reward system on the center ramp. There can be alot of strategy
involved in trying to collect the EB or 2X playfield awards which are
the best, also availble is "lite" super jackpot, road trip
(which helps your bonus and Atlantis mode value) Special, big points.
Collect the center jewel last for a huge payoff. . The Idol over on
the left side is like a opto controled magna-flip yet doesn't seem to
send the ball to drainville to often. Each multiball features an add-a-ball
available from the believe it or not scoop. Complete all the continents
then shoot the vari-target to collect the continent bonus (All points
collected during each mode, stacked with 2X playfield this can be rewarding
to say the least!) Each mode has an objective to achieve a RIPLEYS letter
much like STTNG artifacts. Collect Ripleys to light "?" Shhhh...
here is a little secret... THIS GAME FEATURES A STERN FIRST! STANDUP
TARGETS THAT ACTUALLY REGISTER EVERY TIME!!! This game is not nearly
as clunky feeling as LOTR. Even the flipper buttons feel softer instead
of the garage door springs Stern used in the past.
Negatives
Top flipper is a wet noodle!!! I just couldnt find any consistancy on the top flipper from any of the games I tried. Even worse with the flipper held up and the ball hitting it it will collapse it. Very bad! There is not much for the right flipper to aim for on the left side of the playfield, at least both the right ramp and orbit are backhandable. Left orbit shot is totally worthless as is the super jackpot shot when it is not lit. In fact NOTHING from the top flipper is worth aiming for unless the jackpot, super or Million Plus is lit! I find this to be an unacceptable software flaw much like Indy 500 when the jackpot is maxed and lock is not lit. This isn't your grandfathers Vari-target! If your thinking its like Safecracker then you be wrong! A truley horrible device which is really the only mechanical achilles heel on this game. Perfect shots get rejected, sometimes SDTM. the target resets after every hit so what the point was in putting in a Vari-target is beyond me. For some reason I just get annoyed as hell from a ball that doesn't quite make the loop orbit then trickles down towards the outlane. Ball never seems to go out the right side jet exit.
Hope you don't mind the ghost from RCT re-incarnated as a shrunken head. I guess I just dont get it, what Pat and company are trying to achieve at times. While in my opinion this is his best game at Stern, certain things just seem to be omitted on purpose. Atlantis mode is a confusing mess, jets are pretty much useless, some of the bozo awards are so lame you scratch your head. 100K for a super combo? woohoo! No reward for completing all supers? woohoo! Enough specials already!
Positives
Return of the vari-target.
Shruken Head.
Back-flipable right ramp.
Add-a-ball multiballs!
2x scoring can real add to score.
Matrix awards can be set-up nicely (collect 3 at one-time).
Hard to drain down the middle.
Most-WMS feel of the PLD games.
Negatives
Left side of the playfield is too empty
(loop just feeds around to
flipper?).
Pops always feed to the left?
Too many shots from the left flipper (i.e. center ramp is hard to hit
from the right, scoop on the left why bother, etc.).
Continent modes are too similar.
To many lenses, too confusing.
Positives
One of the better Lawlor games we have seen in a while....good
rules too.
Lots of multiballs, good combo shots. Great Super jackpot shot and rules....similar
to earthshaker with holdover. The matrix rules are interesting....fun
to go for 2 or 3 awards( 3 in a row) at the same time. 2 spinners...cool!
Good skill shot and level scoring.
Negatives
Not a lot to shoot for from the right flipper. A ball
through the bumper area should score something.
Some of the speech is a little annoying(Shrunken head)
Vari-target is neat, but not used to its full potential. The feed from
the top bumpers is very slow....
I would have liked to seen more of a chance for the ball to feed to
the upper flipper (from the upper bumpers).
Overall: A pretty solid game........nice to see a Lawlor game with deep rules, along with good novice rules.
TPS: Introducing the worlds first electronic paperweight. Robocop sets
new standards in the crappy art department. If you want this pin as a
home game stuff it in the basement or garage to keep it out of sight.
Better yet stuff it back into the box and apply a Monster Bash front cabinet
decal to it. That way when friends come over they'll be in awe of your
NIB MB that you dont dare take out for them. Rule depth is nonexistant
and sound/speech is dull even though it's pre-BSMT. Can't recommend it
as a good home pin because of the lack of rule depth and non challenging
gameplay. The patented WWWT(TM) (what were we thinking) scoring that rolls
to zero at 10,000,000 points (about 5 minutes of game play) when they
just introduced a new 16 digit score display! Middle yellow targets often
broken off making multiball a challenge. Playfield is usually mylared
and has very little wear. If you can find one cheap buy it for parts,
use the backglass for skeet practice. **Click 
Doomed red-shirt