Party Zone first impressions

[Fungi]

Got my score up to 795M, 6th place on the leaderboards. I did it by spamming the rocket ramp from the right flipper and returning the ball there via the left flipper to Robot. This is fairly safe albeit a bit boring...

Yep. This is what I was doing before I just got bored.

 

[oqvist]

Lol that is why I never really hunt high scores just try to complete modes

 

[sedated]

Ed hardy is too recent. What did douchebags wear back in the late 80s/early 90's? Maybe skidz or z cavarrici?

Skidz and Cavariccis were pretty fresh, everyone wore those, I know I tried to when I was a kid (I'm 32 now). I think guido dbags at the time were wearing Reebok tracksuits or something.

Anyhoo, I don't know anyone has nostalgia for the culture circa the early 90s. Even when I was a kid I hated after school tv and the marketing pushed at us. It was like some 40 year olds watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure mixed with Saturday morning cartoons and decided this is what the kids want, let's get kids sick from crazy colors, wacky sodas and grossing out our parents. This is what this table reminds me off. I wish TPA had an option to flush this table down the toilet.

Nothing about this table spells a party to me. Spring Break is a table I think of for a party theme. Girl covering up her boobs, Spuds McKenzie dog, a beach, and instant multiball. That's a party.

 

[Fungi]

Spring Break reminds me of a table that I forgot the name of. There was also a Spudz like dog in the art, and the game starts with mutliball. The thing I remember most are the balls launching immediately into a tight loop that fed directly to the right flipper. Ring any bells anyone?

 

[masterthes]

Am I the only one who hasn't got the Extra Ball acknowledgment for Wizard Goal? This is second game I got an Extra Ball during Wizard goal mode and it didn't recognize me getting it

 

[masterthes]

Nevermind, just got it

 

[GStep47]

Further impressions... this game is a lot less fun than I remember it being, mostly because of the brutal Captain eject-hole kickout. Maybe the real machine was like that, but it makes the game far less playable to me. You can not shoot the request hole, but you're forfeiting the 3M B. Merry score, the 5M Party Saver score, and you're depending on a random Comic award to restart Multiball (because you have to shoot the captain to relight the cottage after the first time). It's almost like the machine wants you to ignore its presented objectives, and use the WOOC and other methods people have mentioned here to get high scores. It makes a thin ruleset even thinner.

 

[kinggo]

just nudge when the ball is about to hit the green targets. For me, much bigger issue is actually hitting the captain or to be more precise, to make the ball stay there and register the hit.

 

[Slam23]

just nudge when the ball is about to hit the green targets. For me, much bigger issue is actually hitting the captain or to be more precise, to make the ball stay there and register the hit.

+1 I had more success shooting from the left flipper than the right. With a right nudge on release, you should be fine.

 

[Dedpop]

Spring Break reminds me of a table that I forgot the name of. There was also a Spudz like dog in the art, and the game starts with mutliball. The thing I remember most are the balls launching immediately into a tight loop that fed directly to the right flipper. Ring any bells anyone?

 

[DokkenRokken]

I didn't think I'd dislike this table more than "Dr. Dude", but I do.

I love the artwork, but the terrible music and the constant laugh tracks just kill it for me.

 

[Slam23]

I play with the sound off.....
Furthermore, I "got" this table a lot quicker than I ever have Dr. Dude in terms of gameplay and ball control. It's a bit of a bore because my scoring strategy is very repetitive. I can't keep any ball alive long enough on Dr. Dude to get anywhere near a decent score. Combine this with awful art, theme, sound, music and table layout and Dr. Dude is still my most hated table hands down.

 

[DokkenRokken]

I play with the sound off.....
Furthermore, I "got" this table a lot quicker than I ever have Dr. Dude in terms of gameplay and ball control. It's a bit of a bore because my scoring strategy is very repetitive. I can't keep any ball alive long enough on Dr. Dude to get anywhere near a decent score. Combine this with awful art, theme, sound, music and table layout and Dr. Dude is still my most hated table hands down.

Both tables are pretty terrible in my opinion. lol

 

[pm1109]

Let's hope that this is the dud table of season 4.

 

[DA5ID]

Gotta say I am really enjoying Party Zone. I got a chance to play TPZ IRL at Tilt Pinball (louisville, CO) and am definitely noticing a difference in flipper power in the older machines (T2 another example) where I have to hit the ball "with determination" to make shots (especially ramp shots) - every shot in TPA feels like full power no matter what. It seems like newer machines (star trek, mustang, walking dead) have much more flipper power - out of curiosity if I had been able to play these machines a couple of decades ago when they were brand new - would their action be similar to todays newer machines?

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Let's hope that this is the dud table of season 4.

I think in terms of technical implementation, TPZ is very good. A definite trend in the right direction. DJ kickouts are very nicely random. Balls drop of the ramps in a not-too-uniform way.

True there's a long way to go graphically (on the PC at least), but that's an issue that's been hashed over time and time again in other threads and doesn't bear re-opening here.

Now I understand from an aesthetics and gameplay standpoint, TPZ isn't and won't be everyone's cup of tea. Personally I like it better than POTO. Next up is Earthshaker, another table I am somewhat meh about, albeit with limited experience. So it's looking like for me, TPZ will be my #1 table of S4 after 3 tables are out.

 

[kinggo]

Both tables are pretty terrible in my opinion. lol

they disagree

The more I play it, the more I like it. This goes easily in my top 10, maybe even top 5.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

every shot in TPA feels like full power no matter what. It seems like newer machines (star trek, mustang, walking dead) have much more flipper power - out of curiosity if I had been able to play these machines a couple of decades ago when they were brand new - would their action be similar to todays newer machines?

Pretty much, yes. I used to frequent an arcade where they kept the tables in good shape, and would often clean the playfields, etc. My particular recollection is the difference between a dirty Corvette playfield, and a newly cleaned Corvette playfield. The table played faster.

You'd expect newer components, cleaner playfield, etc. to work better; flippers in particular, because they're the single most heavily worked mechanism on a table, are going to wear out the quickest. Quality new rubbers are what makes the difference - the actual mechanics are unlikely to wear down, being based on solenoids and all, and modern tables have dropped leaf switches for fly-by-wire.

 

[pm1109]

Season 3 definately had a stronger start than season 4 in my opinion

 

[dmarcoot2]

Wont be buying this table. the thought of having to see with the other duds in my game list makes me cringe. I wish there was a way to purge games from the GUI menu and not just the game files.

I am looking at you High Roller. God i hate that table and the texas accent.


Ideally I want to only see the games i want to play, and not the ones i want to forget.