Party Zone - Why the love????!!

[Vengeance]

Not wanting to shit on Gerards thread I figured I start this one.

What the hell?? Party Zone is terrible! I'd rather watch paint dry that play this game for any extended period of time.

There is LITERALLY 3 shots on the entire PF and you only really shoot 2 of them.

Left Ramp, cosmic cottage and the Way out of Control inner loop on the right, that's it, that's all. You are also only shooting the WOOC loop when it's lit. The rest of the time you are shooting the other two shots.

Shot the left ramp, then the cottage, then the ramp, then the cottage, then the ramp, then the cottage for multiball.

Then in multiball, shoot the left ramp and then instead of shooting the harder cottage shot just shoot the same scoop directly to raise the jackpot value, then shoot the left ramp.

Then even worse after multiball is over that center shot under captian B-Zar is such a sucker shot and drain risk, you don't even bother with multiball again and just shoot left ramp, pass ball to right flipper shoot left ramp and keep collecting the 1.5 million that you can rack up on that ramp. Then the game just boils down to shooting the left ramp and nothing else.

The worst part of it none of it is even risky, the left ramp has a nice feed to the left flipper and the cottage has a nice feed to the right flipper so as long as you don't miss you can keep doing that FOREVER.

The only risky shot is the WOOC shot and you only are ever going to shoot that 3 times, once for the 5 million, once for super pops and once to 2x PF values and you'll only ever shoot it if you missed your normal shots and accidently banged into the standup targets to lite it.

I cringe when I have to play PZ at other people's houses as I know I'm going to be bored to tears by the end of having just played that game.

It has to be one of the crappiest DMD's out there.

 

[SquidVicious]

Gasp .. I'm agreeing with a Becker review ... not a good sign

 

[REVOLUTION]

Simplistic gameplay aside, it's a "fun" game.

- Cool looking ramps that feed through the backboard AND are a neat, curvy design.
- Great, colourful artwork
- Whacky sounds
- Cool music that is also selectable
- fun toys (albeit, they don't really do anything but they're fun to watch).
- Uncommon backbox design.
- Awesome lightshow

Sure, for the pro player it's not very fun.. but for a quick pick-up game to bash the ball around, it works just fine. Also Adam, you need to remember.. not all of us can make the same shot consistently 95% of the time like yourself.

 

[Vengeance]

I get that, but even if you can't hit the same shot 95% of the time, what else are you aiming for??

I find it hard to believe that you sit and chimp away on both flippers like a moronic child so you must be trying to do SOMETHING, and whatever that something is ends up being the 2 shots that I mentioned.

Everything you mentioned below does nothing to make the game play any better, it may be pretty to look at and fun to hear, but to actually play it is a chore.

So even with the items below it's hard to argue that the gameplay is not boringly dull, hell I've played EM's that have more things to do then PZ and that is sad considering this game is a DMD.

Simplistic gameplay aside, it's a "fun" game.

- Cool looking ramps that feed through the backboard AND are a neat, curvy design.
- Great, colourful artwork
- Whacky sounds
- Cool music that is also selectable
- fun toys (albeit, they don't really do anything but they're fun to watch).
- Uncommon backbox design.
- Awesome lightshow

Sure, for the pro player it's not very fun.. but for a quick pick-up game to bash the ball around, it works just fine. Also Adam, you need to remember.. not all of us can make the same shot consistently 95% of the time like yourself.

 

[REVOLUTION]

one question though.. why does it matter if it has a DMD? That's a silly way to determine whether a game should be good or not! FWIW, it's only what.. the 3rd DMD game ever made? T2 is pretty shallow too. Those early DMD games are pretty much just System 11 games with a different display

 

[Vengeance]

F14 is a great game and I'm looking forward to getting mine, the reason it's better then PZ is because of the risk vs reward for what you need to do to get points. Everything you do on that game puts you at risk so it really rewards the player that can keep control and knows what they are doing, blindly flailing around on F14 is going to get you no where fast, and even the best of players have a hard time with F14, watch some of the best players in the world get eaten alive by F14 in the Final game at the PAPA finals:

http://pinball.org/videos/tournament/pa ... 14-tomcat/

But that is the difference, F14 is a challenge to play well, PZ is like watching paint dry because the most lucrative shots are also the safest shots on the playfield, there is no risk vs reward on the game at all, it's a game of attrition, how many times can you shoot the left ramp.

Most of my friends that play my machine only whack the ball around and could never make the same shot twice, even if multi ball counted on it. My game (f-14 tomcat) has a very simple rule set, spell t-o-m-c-a-t, shoot right ramp, repeat. That's more then enough of a challenge to make it fun for the beginner. It's not a dmd game, but the lights and sound and theme keep people playing it. I could see how a pro player would get bored of that, but for my group of friends, flashy lights are enough. Lol.

That Pz on the container looked to be in great shape, I would hate to deter anyone from buying it because its simplistic. Nostalgia might be enough for some buyers.

 

[Vengeance]

I only mention the DMD because generally DMD was a time when pinball leapt forward in rule sets.

PZ is not a good representation of what DMD games have to offer and is really low man on the totem pole. Hell it's close cousin Dr. Due is a better game.

But you bring up T2, T2 is a much better game then PZ because even though it a shallow rule set as well, there is risk vs reward and strategy involved. Going after the multiball is risky because that drop target return from the skull is a drain risk. Also the super jackpot is difficult for anyone to achieve on a fast playing T2. It rewards to player for skillfull play.

Then you add in payback time, video mode and it adds to the variety and strategy.

None of that exists in PZ.

In PZ you shoot the left ramp and cosmic cottage, and when your done with multiball, you only shoot the left ramp and that's it, over and over and over, it's awful and a terrible way to use the layout of that game.

There are LOTS of shallow games, but its how they are implemented and the challenge involved that makes them good.

one question though.. why does it matter if it has a DMD? That's a silly way to determine whether a game should be good or not! FWIW, it's only what.. the 3rd DMD game
ever made? T2 is pretty shallow too. Those early DMD games are pretty much just System 11 games with a different display

 

[TwilightZone]

It has to be one of the crappiest DMD's out there.

I have to agree. I played it at the Ohio show a couple of weeks ago and basically followed the strategy you mentioned. Just two shots over and over again to the high score list (think I was number 1 at the time). First time I had played it in years and years. I seriously don't understand why anyone would want the game. Horrible doesn't begin to describe that crap fest.

It's on my Cue Ball Wizard list.

Cheers,
Duane

 

[frolic]

So tell us how you really feel, Adam ;-).

 

[Vengeance]

Would you prefer a 2 word review Chris :lol: