Mustang (Stern 2014) *IMPRESSIONS*

[Captain B. Zarre]

Hey guys,

just wanted to let you know that Mustang arrived to Lanes & Games in Cambridge MA today. This weekend I'm going to hopefully play some games on it and provide you my opinions. I'll write back in this thread.

 

[PoSTedUP]

cool. ive been watching some gameplay on youtube. looks fun and i like the music. enjoy, and tell us all about it!

 

[Bowflex]

I plan on going to Lanes and Games this Sunday! Looking forward to playing this one!

 

[Kolchak357]

I'm hoping to play it at Pinfest next month. But I'm looking forward to hear what you both think about Mustang after playing it.

 

[Nightwing]

I gotta get back up to Lanes & Games soon...

 

[jaredmorgs]

I'm hoping I get to see one over in the US this weekend. Surely PPM or Free Gold Watch might have forked out for one of these...

 

[PC.Doctor]

Someday, I wish to play an actual pinball machine. If I want to play this pinball machine, I would have to take a 2 hour drive to Boston...

 

[shutyertrap]

Just played it yesterday at league night.

Seemed alright. I only got one game in, as everyone was wanting a chance on it. It didn't immediately grab me like Metallica did, but I'm also not a Ford nut. It seems almost like a 'lifestyle' table, much like Harley is. That kind of turned me off. The actual pinball play though seemed fast and fun, all sorts of stuff to shoot.

 

[Shaneus]

There's a PAX-like expo this weekend in Melbourne and there'll be a small number of these there for tournament play. I don't have that much of an advantage over anyone else from my visit to Texas, but it'll be good to get some solid time in on them, have a tinker.

Hopefully there's some kind of rule rundown on Pinside I can pour over.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Today's the day!

Heading to Lanes & Games today to play the new Metallica code and Mustang. Really excited!

 

[Bowflex]

Today's the day!

Heading to Lanes & Games today to play the new Metallica code and Mustang. Really excited!

You know they will be having a mustang premiere party on April 25th, right?

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

I'm heading to Washington DC that week so I won't be able to attend

 

[Bowflex]

Enjoy the cherry blossoms. I think they may be having. Party in dc that same day

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

For anyone else in LA, a Mustang has appeared at Family Amusement Corporation near Hollywood. Someone go and play on that machine.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Alright, I'm back, and I learned something important today: when in doubt always go for 3-ball Gear Shift Multiball. FTW!

So I spent some time with Mustang, of course, and I thought it was a game that was just... how do I put this... "OK". Didn't really like the rules too much (if you want a mission based ruleset play Star Trek instead), but this is v1.1 code, so that's not saying much. Did enjoy the modes though, one of the first games for a while to include some nice humorous quotes - and the music is great (Sony partnered with Stern to include 4 songs that span the years of Mustang, they picked some gnarly ones). Of course, for every good idea the game came up with, there were some bad ones as well, I noticed that the ramp was barely used besides during The Stunt Driver and when Super Jackpot is lit during Gear Shift Multiball; I never understood what the 360º Bonus Wheel was used for either. Still, Mustang is set to become a classic if the code becomes better - Metallica and Spiderman were like this and when a large code update was released people flocked to the game like it was a prime directive. I'll wait until the next code update to play again, but for now, it's simply OK.

On a sidenote I put in some time on Iron Man, Spiderman, and Addams Family today as well. Had another awesome game on IM with Jericho being achieved and a step away from the Do Or Die hurry-up, I learned a new approach to TAF (just head for multiballs and spam those triple jackpots), and I had the game of my life on Spiderman... 169 million points with Battle Royale being reached and the ultimate stack, Black Suit & Bank Bust. I'm on my way to becoming a league player... I hope

- Captain B. Zarre

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Since I had my shot with Mustang as well, I'll give my impressions here too. I played 6 games total. Most of my scores were between 9 and 13 million.

The first thing I should point out is that I am not into cars. At all. I drive one, and that's about it. I cannot recognize a Mustang on the road without that emblem. I can say, however, that drivers of Mustangs tend to be way more polite than their fellow vanity-car enthusiasts.

Gears Multiball is an interesting way to entice beginners. There is a drop target bank spelling out G-E-A-R-S right in the middle, underneath the toy car. Dropping them all once starts Gears Multiball, and Jackpots are easy to obtain, again by hitting the drop targets. Except for small children, who probably wouldn't be interested in the theme anyway, nearly anyone should be able to start Gears Multiball. Getting it again, however, is another matter: After the first time, you have to finish the drop target bank five times to restart Gears Multiball. In fact, all other multiballs seem oddly difficult to get. Mustang Multiball seems to span across games: Each time a mission is finished (see below), a letter lights, and once they're all lit, Mustang Multiball starts and is worth a lot--whereas the Gears Multiball jackpots are 300,000 to 600,000, Mustang Multiball jackpots begin at 1,500,000 and go up from there. There don't seem to be any multiballs besides Gears and Mustang.

This table is really dependent on the scoop. It's to the right of the toy car. The fact that it has a plastic card over it telling you what this scoop can do tells you that this is a central shot and probably the most important shot in the game. You upgrade the car here (which seems to be important; more on that later), obtain new cars (main missions), and two other things I was not able to reach. However, the scoop is small, barely larger than the width of the ball, and it's partially obscured by the toy car and the G-E-A-R-S drop target bank. It is roughly in the same location and is the same size as the one in Monster Bash, but having a wall to the left makes a world of difference than having a wall to the right. I will try reaching the scoop via backhanding it if I get another chance to play it. The ball will sometimes land in the scoop after finishing with the pop bumpers, but despite the toy car and the drop target bank being slanted down to the right, the ball more often emerges from the left.

The 360-degree thing, the whirlpool thing above the right inlane, works just like in Creature from the Black Lagoon, at least on the mchanical level. When not in a multiball mode, any time the ball reaches the whirlpool, it will increase the bonus multiplier. It's the usual x1 to x2, then even numbers from there on out. It's hard to get the ball in the whirlpool, honestly, because the ramp has a 3-level entrance, and the whirlpool is the end of the topmost one. The game will usually direct the ball to the lowest path.

The top rollover lanes, above the bumpers, serve a different purpose: They work your way up the upgrades, and they give out simple point rewards. There are four rollovers, each with two sets of lights: The top set has the Ford logo, and they do not move with the flipper buttons. The bottom set has the Mustang horse, and they DO move with the flipper buttons. Any time the ball goes through a switch, any lights not lit on that lane will light.

The upgrades seem to be a major part of the game. They affect point values for certain things, though I'm not sure what, and they are your only source of end-of-ball bonuses. The end-of-ball bonus begins with 125,000, with 100,000 points for each upgrade you've done. This means the end-of-ball bonuses are rather dinky, but this seems to be a pattern with recent Sterns. You make upgrades available by accomplishing certain things on the table, then collecting them at the scoop. Lighting all four of the Ford logos is one (transmission, I think), lighting all four of the Mustang horses is another (engine, I suspect), hitting the bumpers a certain number of times is yet another (handling, I believe), and hitting all of the N2O targets (N2O, of course). I don't know what you do to make the other upgrades available, but they have multiple levels. Presumably, it's 3 (the most common game number)--if so, then your end-of-ball bonus, without multipliers, tops out at 2,225,000.

The missions, the main modes, are each themed on a different Mustang, from 1965 to 2013. There are seven of them total, and it looks like you are limited up to the 2011 GT until you finish all six of them. The missions themselves are rather demanding, as most of them have timers, and you are asked to shoot some rather precise shots. I'll need more practice with this--as I had largely no idea what was going on, I'd look up at the DMD frequently during these missions and drain the ball getting distracted. But suffice to say that you shoot anything with a blinking yellow arrow-shaped light. Stunt Driver seems to be the most demanding, as you are asked to make a series of specific shots within 15 seconds.

A cast of characters was invented for this game. As most of the modes seem to be races, you have an ensemble like something out of Wacky Races. There seems to be a crime lord, a nerdy scientist, and what looks like Charlie Chan. The director for Stunt Driver seems to be the same one as from The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The playfield itself seems fine. There doesn't seem to be any major drain hazards (aside from slingshots, which is expected, and occasionally the G-E-A-R-S targets), and you can see everything just fine. The LED illumination makes this game bright even in the dark arcade I played it in. It's like playing it in broad daylight, or maybe one of those auto dealerships with the floodlights. I hear that some of you pinball people are rather light-sensitive, so be sure to get your eyes accustomed to this. By comparison, incandescent-lit pinball machines felt dark.

All in all, I liked this one, but not as much as Star Trek (Stern). Star Trek (Stern) has a simpler layout, but it's much easier to understand and has easy missions to begin with while giving you harder ones later on, with multiball modes that are evenly spaced out, always showing there's something interesitng to do around the corner. Mustang is fun, but it doesn't have that. Except for the mission at hand and your first Gears Multiball, there's not much to go for when you begin a game, and after you finish the first Gears, everything else requires a lot of steps to keep going. I'd put it right now at 7 out of 10.

 

[SydyneBall]

Just played this today at at a Stern release in Pittsburgh. it was set up for tournament play, so rubber removed from outlane posts, code set to no extra balls, etc.

While fun as a pinball machine (cause they all are fun..), I like Stern Star Trek way better, AC/DC much better, and Metallica better as newer games go.

My high score was 17.9 Mil. Regular between 6-15 Mil. Played about 8 times.

The GEARS targets start all the multi balls, and they throw the ball around quite a bit. Like toward the middle on poor shots.

Scoring is way to heavy biased toward multi ball. On 6 ball muti ball, saw someone get a 50 Mil Super jackpot. Yes, 50 million in one shot while I'm scoring below 20 mil a game. 4 ball muti ball gives far less, which is the highest multi ball I could reach. Almost 6 ball, but drained before I could hit scoop.

I hope code updates help with the scoring. The races (modes) are interesting, but low scoring. Better to go far the GEARS drop downs then complete modes.

I was hoping Stern was going to top Star Trek, but this machine falls short. The LED show isn't as good and the flow isn't as good.

The machine owner said the flipper gap is wider then Star Trek by 1/4" by measurement. That could be, down the middle is tough. I don't think it's 1/4" wider, but I don't have the machines to measure...

So my real question for a pinball is, if money/space was no object, would I want to own this?
Overall, I wouldn't want to own this, but I'll play it where I find it, it's pinball.

 

[Bowflex]

I have to say that while I was initially excited by the announcement, hearing john Trudeau would be doing it made me realize it could go either way. Great or a did. The gameplay vids seemed underwhelming. However getting to ply it in person and spend some time really just demonstrated how fun the game was. The multiball cancel feature is really unique and brings what I think is a great new innovation to pinball. Adds a very deep strategy as well as a risk/reward element. Good, fast playing layout and the cftbl whirlpool is always helpful to spread out shots during multiball. I hope it does get the recognition as a fun, high quality game and sells well.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

What is this multiball-cancel thing? I never knew it was there when I played it.

 

[Bowflex]

What is this multiball-cancel thing? I never knew it was there when I played it.

You can earn balls for multiball by finishing the gears drop targets. Each time you complete them you earn another ball. When you hit the target to activate multiball, there is a message that you will start x number of balls on the DMD and you can click both flippers to cancel. If you do that you can continue to add more balls to a max of 6. Normally I would say that is too many but the table has some areas that can keep your balls occupied instead of knocking each other down the outlane. I also earned additional balls while in multiball mode so if you hit 4 or 5 that might be the point to ideally start it. Plus it restarted the ball save mode when I got to add a ball. So you can have a lengthy multiball experience. There is a multiball mode or two that just starts without the cancel option as well.