Arcade Collecting > Pinball
Batman
Level42:
--- Quote from: pinballjim on August 26, 2008, 02:18:23 pm ---Yeah, but it functions totally different than Last Action Hero's.
I think Batman is probably Stern's worst looking title, second to World Poker Tour. It's getting very obvious they're cutting costs as much as possible... each game has less on the playfield than the title before it. :/
--- End quote ---
So a busy playfield = a good pin ?
I know a lot of older pins that have very open playfields too.
I don't envy anyone at Stern these days. Whatever they do, they can't do it right.
For Christ's sake, they're the only one left ! At least there is _something_ coming out to complain about......
ChadTower:
OTOH, I'm not a big fan of some of Williams' most popular titles because I like to see the ball most of the time. Playfields with three layers of toys that require me to memorize an NFL playbook just don't do it for me. I didn't like my Twilight Zone at all and sold it off pretty quickly.
shardian:
I played this at lunch today at a local go-cart place with Wade. I'm sure he will chime in too once this gets bumped up.
Anyways, the only thing good to say about Batman was it was new and shiny. There were multiple gameplay problems that were obvious design flaws. Balls were jumping off wireform rails left and right. I tell you what, they used the absolute minimum metal in those rails they could get away with. The pop bumpers looked like something you would find in a zizzle toy machine - and I'm not exaggerating.
The new DMD did look pretty good, but the sound seemed a little busy. The music was overpowering the voices and sound effects - which is a setup issue for this pin. And what is up with the music anyways? It was kind of crappy.
And now for the oft quoted Stern complaint: the cheap feel. I swear, this pin is only a step above a zizzle in overall quality. Remember the plastic pieced together hotel on Elvis? Well this pin takes that cheap idea and goes whole hog with it. If it can be made out of a piece of plexi with inkjet quality art on the back, then it is done on this machine. The joker 'toy' is a huge waste of space. As is the completely pointless batmobile bridge thing on the left. I had to point out to Wade after his game there was even a batmobile there. The other toys look like tacked on action figures that a home user would put in there for ambiance. The Upper playfield is, you guessed it, a piece of plexi with inkjet art under it. I saw no point to this addition at all.
As to gameplay, well I would have to play it more to get a good feel for that. It was pretty simple to get joker multiball. You basically just keep hitting the right ramp and the joker area and things will happen. The right flipper return wireform was pretty notorious for dumping the ball right into the outlane. And like I said before, this was a major design flaw and not because of damage or wear. If you hit the right ramp even moderately hard, the ball would jump out, fly over batmans cape, and land somewhere randomly on the plastic playfield thing. If it did somehow make it all the way up the ramp, it would hang on that silly metal ramp that runs across the back of the game.
Over all, if it is the only pin within a 50 mile radius, it is worth playing once or twice. It is set up for 75 cents though, so you might be left stinging a little afterwards.
Unfortunately for Batman, there was also a Tales of Arabian Nights, Addams Family, and Harley Davidson - all in excellent playing shape - sitting near the Batman. The build quality, game quality, and toy quality absolutely destroy the batman. That is pretty sad for game 10-15 years older to do that.
koolmoecraig:
Agreed. I have yet to play a Stern game that doesn't look and feel like it was made in Taiwan.
Xiaou2:
I think Taiwan could do much better actually.
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