First Impressions

[Rich Lehmann]

I have never played Last Action Hero in real life... or seen the movie, but found the table sort of interesting. The high scores seem really high. I have gotten 2 extra balls and multiball twice and still not cleared the lowest score on the list. I can't figure out what that smart missile button is for and everytime I try to push it it also nudges the table.

Definitely not the worst table this season but that isn't saying much. Don't think I would get it if I didn't already pay for the season.

 

[Trackball]

Because I was waiting so long for this board to be created, I posted my detailed thoughts in another thread, so I'll just paste them here.

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Last Action Hero...wow, I am SO glad they were able to get the rights to this thing! Especially because I LOVE the movie it's based on...and not in a make-fun-of-it way, I mean I really love the movie. I even got it on Blu-Ray once I realized this was the next table.

What they did with the CRANE drop targets was nothing short of brilliant--having them all reset upon hitting the switch behind a lowered target (the "Danger Bar") is a tremendously smart move that rewards shot accuracy and punishes random flailing of the flippers. Well done, Kaminkow, Borg and team.

This is also the first game I've ever played to have the fabled Smart Missile, which awards every flashing target on the table at the time it's pressed, but not only can it ONLY be used ONCE per game (not once per ball, once per GAME), but there is NO way to get another. It forces you to use it when the time is just right.

Another thing about the Smart Missile that makes it even better? Once the ball hits an outlane switch, it deactivates the Smart Missile, so you can't just slam the button as you're draining. This simple design decision FORCES the player to use it WHILE the ball is in play, once more forcing you to think strategically.

Data East gets a lot of flack for their very average designs of most of their machines, but wow, they really hit the long ball here...but there are two things with this table that keep it from getting over the fence for a homer.

One, the repetitive, seemingly-random callouts. I can't make rhyme or reason of why many of them occur. Frankenstein had the same problem. This is something we take for granted in masterpieces like Addams Family, Twilight Zone, and Medieval Madness--the callouts always have something to do with whatever switch is hit. In LAH and MSF, it just seems random most of the time.

Though there's one callout I do love--draining by outlane sometimes makes Benedict announce "I just SHOT somebody, and I did it on PURPOSE!" A great line from a great scene in the movie--especially given what actor Charles Dance does in the very last instant of this video. (Yes, the same actor from Game of Thrones, if you watch that show.)

Second...what the heck, Farsight? You turned off the funny match sequence! Normally, I wouldn't mind, since such things are pointless on a free-play table anyway, but this one actually makes you laugh.

Yeah, you can turn it back on in the coin-door menu if you have the Pro version (it's still in the ROM), but as of this writing, the buttons are highly UNresponsive in that menu. Argh. Took me almost 20 minutes to get to the setting. I had the same problem with Frankenstein, coincidentally enough.

First, here's the scene it's taken from--part of this is used when lighting and awarding the extra ball, too.
(Won't let me embed more than one video.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z9Ismh1elM

And here's the match on the real machine. I wonder why Farsight made them skip over this here, of all tables. Was it due to the trailer guy's voice?
https://youtu.be/W7pl3zCsK30?t=12m25s

Anyway, even with those two gripes (oh, and AC/DC's "Big Guns" is barely recognizable, but that's DE's fault, not Farsight's), I give this game an 8. Thanks, Farsight.

 

[dtown8532]

I have a feeling FarSight doesn't have the rights to the licensed songs in this table which is really silly since they're just barely recognizable midi files to begin with.

 

[Fungi]

I think Farsight decided that LAH needed an invisible spinning disc in the left center of the playfield.

There are magnets in the table. It's mentioned in the rules.

 

[invitro]

There are magnets in the table. It's mentioned in the rules.

Oh! Well my face is red.

 

[relaxation]

table plays okay I guess

That wizard goal behind 13 shots with magnets active is testing my patience, it's not like we can time these magnets out when you have a ticking clock. Furthest I got so far is the second set of 4 targets before Super Jackpot can become lit.. a lot of the time magnets just dump balls SDTM.. really hate that magnet that stops your crane shot from happening.

 

[Trackball]

For the record, you CAN turn off the magnets temporarily by cradling a ball with a flipper for about five seconds, much like in Addams Family.
The game's IFPA pro tips tell you this, so I'm not surprised a lot of you don't realize it.
But the game never makes it clear that the magnets have been turned off, unlike in TAF. (Big mistake?)

Also, I can verify that the Anti-Power ball from the Addams Family ball set IS NOT IMMUNE to LAH's magnets. Darn.

 

[invitro]

I think the table is a fair bit of fun. A little blah. Thank goodness you can stack modes. The sound is god-awful but I was expecting that. The DMD is pretty good for DE. I haven't figured out advanced scoring, if there's a lot of strategy involved it will help a lot. I do like the "danger bar" behind the five drops. I hate when any game autoplunges a ball after a lock. I'm very happy Farsight put the Death Save in the wizard goals (I don't have it yet, but I haven't really tried). The flippers seem to get weaker in 6-ball, but maybe that's the magnets. The shots feel right, not too easy or too hard. I'm getting tired of being forced to nudge-catch the ball coming down the inlane to have an equal-percentage shot at something like the left scoop.

This table feels a lot like a warm-up for Tommy.

I'm sorta hoping that Farsight looks at Lazer War and the other unlicensed DE's if they feel the urge to scratch the DE itch for Season 6. Many of the DE tables really are extremely similar... for example, there is no need at all for Lethal Weapon 3 now that LAH is here. It's heresy, but I don't see a need for TFTC either, as I remember it being very similar mode mania stuff.

 

[invitro]

The game's IFPA pro tips tell you this, so I'm not surprised a lot of you don't realize it.
But the game never makes it clear that the magnets have been turned off, unlike in TAF. (Big mistake?)

I don't read the "pro tips" until well after I understand a table. The tips on this website are a lot better, anyway.

The table apparently didn't make it clear to me that the magnets were even turned on.

 

[kinggo]

meh........ better than average DE table but still nothing I'm excited about. Add stupid magnets to that which are even worse than in TAF where at least perfect shot could get through.

 

[Slam23]

I'm liking this table after a couple of games. Best score up until now has been 1.7B. I'm not that impressed with "World Premiere" as a scoring mode, or I'm missing something. I think milking LAH for all it's worth is probably where the points are, just keep extending that mode by getting those balls in the bumper area. LAH also adds to World Premiere base value as I understand it. Haven't had much success with locking balls at the Crane, and that's primarily because shooting directly for the Crane targets is quite dangerous. Nice feature that the bank resets itself if you miss and hit the "danger bar", haven't seen that a lot (or actually never). I like that better than targets that time out quickly, for example in Jack*Bot. I'm wondering if you can stack EB's. I'm pretty sure I had two of them through the mode Light Extra Ball, and decided to Smart Missile them (as I have still trouble shooting the "Wild Card" hole directly), I only got awarded one. Have to get another few games under the belt to have a final feel for the table but for now I'm having fun with it.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

I've only ever used the Smart Missile to nail the final set of 5 million badges during 6-Balls, which lights the Super and Double Super Jackpots. Those Jackpots score a ton of points.

 

[dtown8532]

Well I can confirm that MegaDeth's Angry Again is in the game at least. It's a random tune that's played sometimes during multiball. But, the main gameplay music is AC/DC's Big Gun which has definitely been changed. I'm guessing that, even though it just barely sounds like the real song IRL, FarSight's deal with Sony did not include AC/DC. Now only a crazy person like me would notice this but LAH's just not the same without that tune.

 

[Extork]

I can dig it

 

[MWink]

Data East gets a lot of flack for their very average designs of most of their machines, but wow, they really hit the long ball here...but there are two things with this table that keep it from getting over the fence for a homer.

One, the repetitive, seemingly-random callouts. I can't make rhyme or reason of why many of them occur. Frankenstein had the same problem. This is something we take for granted in masterpieces like Addams Family, Twilight Zone, and Medieval Madness--the callouts always have something to do with whatever switch is hit. In LAH and MSF, it just seems random most of the time.

I agree. The callouts just get painfully repetitive on both tables. Also, the audio in general is just awful on Last Action Hero. I'm not a big fan of the magnet in the middle of the playfield either, though it's not annoying me quite as much as in The Addams Family (at least, not yet). Also, for some reason the tips of the flippers feels weird on this table. Other than those gripes, I think this is a very solid table.

 

[Dizzer2012]

Is it me, or can't the wizard goal "Collect Second Cousin Frank's" be completed? Everytime i shoot in the so called "center scoop" just nothing happens. No points nothing... ? Am i the only one?

 

[HotHamBoy]

I was just playing this thinking "holy crap, this sound package is awful!" Guess I didn't notice over the noise of the arcade. Fun enough table, though. I like it, maybe more than R911. Definitely more than Frankenstein.

 

[DanBradford]

I like it so far. I think they may need to tweak the buttons for putting your initials in though, as they're a bit broken. I'm using an IPad Air if that's relevant.

 

[invitro]

I like it so far. I think they may need to tweak the buttons for putting your initials in though, as they're a bit broken. I'm using an IPad Air if that's relevant.

They're fine on PC.

 

[relaxation]

Is it me, or can't the wizard goal "Collect Second Cousin Frank's" be completed? Everytime i shoot in the so called "center scoop" just nothing happens. No points nothing... ? Am i the only one?

ramp->ramp->blue lit scoop, you can't have it pass and hit that roll over then fall into the scoop and it activated for me on my first straight shot to the blue lit scoop.

You could probably try to smart missile that in a throwaway game, I used a smart missile as CptBZ suggested to get that double super jackpot goal.