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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rittless" data-source="post: 261224" data-attributes="member: 6710">I think if you acknowledge the weaknesses of The Pinball Arcade's ability to simulate real pinball, and use that knowledge of the weaknesses to inform your opinion of tables you haven't played in person but have played on Pinball Arcade, then I think you can end up with very different results.It also depends on why you like pinball.  I personally love the noise, excitement and theming a huge amount, but as I grew as a pinball fan (this really isn't an attempt at a 'snob' defense, by the way) I found myself enjoying the satisfaction of progressing goals and making shots first and foremost, and other features I used to view as of primary importance, are now just flavouring and a very welcome bonus on a good table.  My least favoured games have bad 'one shot all day long' problems or very lopsided and uninteresting scoring, with nothing to mitigate it.  Elvira And The Party Monsters is one table I especially will list as great theming and has some good options in there, but the left ramp is all you need forever because it becomes broken, fast.  Star Trek and Cue Ball Wizard have modes you literally should not attempt to play if you are looking for scoring - I only rate those higher because they have other aspects that overcome these faults.  F-14 Tomcat would be an example of a dead failure in scoring variety, but generally speaking every other target on the pinball is useful other than the lock 'ramp/channel' and the table is so fast and out of control that it turns standard pinball on its head - hence I own F-14 Tomcat for real!As you mention Firepower, I love that table because with adequate nudging there isn't really any ball you cannot save - it's harder in TPA but it's fully possible.  I ended up with an obscene score on it and perfect 'in the zone' credit on one of the tournaments, except for a tactical drain to collect the large bonus.  It's also a table that makes you use all of the machine to get the best score.El Dorado: City of Gold is a great example of a table I love greatly but is panned hard here.  It's not original in the slightest; it's an art update of a layout Gottlieb used at least twice before.  But I think it's a pretty and well-integrated art overlay on the original table, and the minimal sound effects/music mesh in a pleasing way.  And as a table layout, it's a scoring delight.  It makes clearing the green row of drop targets essential at least 3x every ball, and clearing the top three 2x on the first ball, then 1x at least every time after that.  The reason is because the first time you clear the top yellow banks, your bonus is held for the entire credit; the second time, you get a chance at the special score, and you can score an extra ball on the green targets.  You can do this indefinitely, but only once per ball - so you have a game where an ideal player can play forever, but constantly has to risk their progress because to collect the big bonus, they have to drain.  And the longer they sit on a scored extra ball and a full 3x bonus, the more time is wasted in sub-optimal scoring.  I also like how relatively controllable it is as a table - the outlanes are easy to nudge save out of.  It's a game you can easily get an 'okay' score on, but you still have to work to get high scores.'Victory' ranking so low also blows my mind.  It literally asks you to take a tour of the table to keep collecting hurry-ups - a cute way to integrate a 'race' theme - but it has a novel way of giving you an extra ball in a way that preserves your current score multiplier progress on the target bank.  Oh, and that score multiplier is only active as long as there's a hurry up shot currently active.  What an awesome way to make it critical to hit the hurry ups, while also making the score multiplier relevant!Basically, all of the games I score higher, I could just play forever - 'just one more ball' - and I feel reward your attempts at getting a high score consistently, no matter how high you go.  A lot of games start struggling to keep their features relevant all the way through, and I think that's an example of a poor score sheet.In summary, I think games that have great scoring but don't/cannot back it up with big flashy light shows or a DMD display are disliked disproportionately.  AFM and MM are essentially the same game and thrive on repetition rather than wildly unique shots and playfields, but they are beloved, despite a lot of the disliked tables having similar utility of their playfields!  So for many people, there has to be a huge amount to be said for the theme when it comes to enjoyment.  Because I have a similar confusion to you, but in a different way; I cannot understand why nearly half of the top 10 is ranked higher than some of the tables that have ended up in the bottom half!Maybe it's fair to say that, compared to others, I disproportionately dislike tables where I notice that certain shots and bonuses are essentially worthless to a high scorer.And I think that describes a lot of Gottlieb tables in a nutshell - not all of them of course... Bone Busters has some saving graces but it is very hard to like as the playfield art is actually extremely hard to see through and the rules set is not great.</blockquote>

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