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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tann" data-source="post: 260041" data-attributes="member: 2327">Warning: this will be a rant post!# My thoughts about Aliens Table pack# AliensWow, real quotes from the movie, nice touch. And well implemented in the course of a game.Hey... What's happening? OMG, a Zen table that has finally a good flow! I can play randomly, just keeping the ball alive, and things happen. Missions, multiballs, I don't aim specifically for these, but it starts. Oh boy, like a pinball table!For one f*cking simple reason that Zen Studios finally understood: it's not a chore to start a mission! The mission saucer is right in the middle of the table and only requires 3 shots to activate a mission... Wait... like a f*cking classic pinball table! Let's say Attack from Mars!Oh, and the missions are actually fun to play! No more that bullsh*t "shoot-this-same-ramp-5-times-in-a-row-and-you-have-only-10-seconds-to-do-it-s*cker"!The mission timer is generally 60 seconds, shoot different ramps, resist to an alien raid, and so on. Yeah, this table rocks!BUT... Oh no... What's the f*ck?!!! Even if you fail the mission, the mission is auto-completed! Noooooo!I can undertstand this on Force Awakens because there are 12 (TWELVE) missions to complete before the wizard mode, but hey, here, there's only 5 missions (which are doable).For god's sake, is it possible that Zen Studios does something right one time in their life? Mission auto-completion simply kills the table play value, as it's now just a matter of playing the wizard mode again and again to get a good score.F*****cccckkkkkk.# Aliens vs PredatorOK, how do I start a mission... Mmmmmh... shoot 3 times the alien with the upper right flipper. Ok, it doesn't seem like a chore and the timing is quite permissive, so it sounds ok.How do I access the upper right flipper? Only by a shot on the left orbit... and guess what?Yeah, as it is f*cking Zen Studios, shoot the left orbit on the fly is just a PITA. Like with all their other crappy table designs, you have to trap the ball on the right flipper, then flip at the tip to shoot the left orbit, then shoot the alien with the upper right flipper. Rinse and repeat 3 times just to start a goddamn mission.No need to say that if you don't do that purposely, you NEVER start a mission.Goddammit, do you know what a pinball table is, Zen Studios? A pinball table is pure Fun, just shoot wildly at things, keeping the ball alive, light & sound show, and rock'n'roll. Not a f*cking chore of chaining shots several times to just start a mission, shots that you can't even do on the fly!And Oh, who's the hell at Zen Studios has had the wonderful idea to turn off an already lit inlane if the ball rolls over a lit inlane?Guys, it just NEGATES DECADES of pinball design. A lit inlane stays lit, until all lanes are lit. And on AVP, there's 6 lanes. If I start a multiball, I'm punished, because the balls turn off the lit inlanes. What were you thinking!??!! (Same on Aliens table with NEWT)No, no, no. Just no.# Alien IsolationOk, start a mission requires only two shots, good... wait... tadaaa, Zen Studios strikes again... the Mission Hangar is buried on the far left of the table, a location that you almost never shoot randomly. Then again, you have to trap the ball on the right flipper, flip at the tip.But this time, as Zen wants their tables to be even more fun, this mandatory shot can be punitive! If you miss the hangar, there's a high chance that the ball goes straight to the left outlane or SDTM. Oh, oh, oh, how fun it is, I have to nudge each time I shoot for this f*cking hangar, and with this so good designed nudging system, I have 50% chance to tilt.Hey, wait, there's a big saucer in the middle of table, easy to shoot, and its only purpose is to start a crappy scoring multiball... after 7 (SEVEN) shots. Yay.Oh, and when you complete a mission (well... auto-complete), you have 10 seconds to lock a ball in the Emergency hole. OK, another PITA.If you miss the hole and takes the left orbit, the ball goes in the bumpers and the timer doesn't even stop! (unlike all the Pinball Tables of the Creation, on which timers pause when the ball goes in the bumpers). You're f*cked. If you miss the hole and take the left ramp, the ball goes back on your left flipper. But in Zen Pinball, Hold Pass doesn't work, Post Pass and Alley/Tip Pass are very inconsistent. So you're only choice is to use a Nudge Pass to the right flipper, but then again, with 50% chance to tilt.Oh boy.---------------------As always, Zen f*cked up, after ~100 tables, they still aren't able to design carefully a table and its rules.Too bad, because they really nailed it with table presentations and sound designs (really gorgeous).So, for me, Zen is still a "half-an-hour" game and a one-time high score. Still too much flaws to be a long term (and even short term) entertaining pinball game, as can (could) be TPA.</blockquote>

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