| Game Play See the review at Pinballnews.com
for playfield details and rules.
I will give my opinions below.
First of all,
I think this is Stern's best looking pin. They have several right
there close but none of them have the cabinet, translight and the
playfield all top notch. The one BIG omission is the plastics, they
look like comic book printing, very cheap, everything is made of of
different sized dots.
Playing Spiderman
is a blast! You get two skill shots, the W-E-B lanes above the pop
bumpers or a tough shot to the side (Venom) ramp. The pop bumpers
are very active and can hold the ball for quite awhile. The right
loop lane has a gate that slows the ball down and sets it up for the
upper right flipper. The upper flipper can hit the sandman, the left
ramp and the side ramp or go low to the Green Goblin.
I installed green
lights and green flasher behind the Green Goblin toy. It shakes around
a little when you hit one of the stand-up targets but it doesn't stand
out much. The light kit brightens it up very nicely. The other villains
each have a colored flasher, now the Goblin is on even ground. The
inserts showing pumpkin bombs are good looking and bright.
The left outer
loop rewards extra balls and both outer loops can lock balls. One
of the many great features of Spiderman is the flow of the ball and
the combo shots. On some internet video's of Spiderman, I thought
that the "wooh whooo" sounds from the movie during combo
shots would get old quick. In real life it sounds real cool and urges
you to add another shot to the combo.
The side ramp
host the villain Venom. He just sits there and does nothing but the
sound effects are great. Very tough shot. Missed shots cause a lot
of air balls in front of the side and left ramps. I put a piece of
mylar there to protect the playfield.
The left and
right ramps are nice loops back to the flippers. They are not real
difficult to hit but they can be tough at times. In the middle you
have the targets that drop into the playfield to allow access to the
villain Sandman. Lots of bright flashers, sound effects and video.
Pretty cool, easy shot that is not an instant drain like some center
shots. The sandman raises and lowers to give access the kick-out behind
him.
Between the right
ramp and the right loop is Doc Ock with his eight arms. He also moves
up and down allowing access to the kick-out behind him. All three
of Doc Ock;s modes are multiball. It's a pretty tight shot, not too
hard though. He has a magnet in front of him that grabs the ball for
different effects, either holding it or slinging it up at Doc Ock
Both kick-outs
(Sandman and Doc Ock) are actually VUK's (vertical up kickers). On
Spiderman they are a little different, called web slingers, they have
a metal band with clear plastic sides forming a loop. From the Sandman,
the ball loops up and into the pop bumpers. From Doc Ock the ball
shoots up and loops to the right habit rail running to the right flipper.
These web slingers let you see the ball on its roller coaster ride
to its destination, I think they are pretty cool.
A small loop
to the right is the Spider Sense lane. It is probably the hardest
shot in the game, you have to hold the right flipper up and bounce
the ball in. Balls seem to find there way in there but if you are
trying to hit it on purpose, its tough!
Driving rock
music plays in the background and most of the sound effects are awesome.
There are a lot of sound bites from the movies and the video (straight
from the movies) for most of the animation screens is pretty neat.
The only problem comes with scenes that are hard to recognize with
the limited display. An other problem is the final image may not be
of anything when it is used as a back drop for text.
The total package
is outstanding. Play is fast and requires every shot. The loops and
combo's are fun. The right and left ramps are fun. Venom and Doc Ock
shots are cool. The Green Goblin and Sandman kind of take care of
themselves. The multiball's are exciting and well balanced with the
rest of the game. To score well you have to be able to hit the shot
that's lit. It's the sum of everything a pin needs to be to be great.
All it needs is the software to be finished.
Shaker Motor
The shaker
motor kit arrived about a week after receiving the pinball machine.
It took less than 30 minutes to install. (NOTE: If I installed another
one, I would have pre-drilled the holes with a 1/16" bit and
then drill up from the bottom about an eight of an inch. This would
have prevented the bottom of the cabinet from breaking when the bit
was almost through.) I fired up the game and it worked perfectly.
Hitting Sandman, Green Goblin and Venom gets a rumble and it continues
to make its presence known at various stages throughout the game.
Do you NEED one? It depends, what do you want from a pinball machine?
For me, I'm after feedback, I want to see the shot hit a target, I
want to hear that the target was hit, I want to see flashing lights
because I hit the target and now, with the shaker motor, I get to
FEEL that I hit the target. To me, it just adds to the experience...
more feedback.
Sub Woofer
I installed
a sub-woofer from Pinball Pro. It was easy to install and sounds good.
If I had to do it over again, I would try a volume adjuster on the
backbox speakers and see if that would be an in-expensive way to improve
sound. With factory speakers you can hear the digital stereo if you
listen by the side of the cabinet. With the Pinball Pro Sub, the only
sound out of the cabinet speaker is bass, no mid range at all, it
sounds good but it may be over-kill. I will say, that with the shaker
motor and all that bass, it sure is cool to play!!
Holding the flipper
buttons gives you your ball number and high scores. Wouldn't it be
great if you could find out where you stand in the completion of your
modes? It could list completed modes and the number of shots to complete
the current one(s). Now THAT would be some INFORMATION.
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