AC/DC Rules explained by Steve Ritchie

yeah...saw those vids earlier on STERN's facebook page. pretty cool stuff.


here's a nice vid i found of gameplay:





it's gonna be a while before i can afford one, but i think i've pretty much decided to shoot for an LE sometime next year. ac/dc music just screams "pinball/arcade"....i gotta get one.
 
The game is fun, the layout is good, and the complete and total lack of a traditional "scoop" is much appreciated for me. Keeps the game moving. Some of the shots are KILLER though... the shot to the bell is a very frequent drain causer, and the way the standups are angled, you can do a strong shot to pretty much any of them and the ball is coming right back at you at mach 9.

Shots from the cannon to hit the appropriate target frequently end up in the right outlane, but can be some huge points...a guy last night made 19 million off one cannon shot. Dunno what all was going on with that, but DAMN.
 
The game is very overrated to me. The design is too similar to Terminator and it seems like a glorified AC/DC album.

Yes, it is fast, but what new pinball ISN'T fast right out of the box?

There isn't anything that keeps this game going, it's too standardized and honestly there isn't a lot to "do" except those same loops and the Terminator cannon.

I love Steve's pins, really I do, but you guys can't be serious...this game is really a glorified jukebox. Red display and all. This coming from an AC/DC fan....there is just more "pinball oriented" stuff going on with the announcer in Rolling Stones and it has a smooth transition.

I don't even think Rolling Stones is that "great" of a pinball, AC/DC certainly looks better aesthetically, but Rolling Stones plays much better with more stuff going on.

I just don't see the whole "Dr. Who/Terminator" thing AGAIN in a recycled package and to top that off this game feels like a Data East pinball straight up. Play Simpsons and Ninja Turtles and you'll see what I mean.

Love the music but this really is not a substantial pinball for players in the long run and I will stand by that....
 
Never played T3 or Dr. Who, so maybe that's part of the problem.

I mean, honestly, let's face it. Stern isn't going to let the designers go nuts. They're NOT going to have any layouts that are going to just blow your mind.. it's gonna be scoops, ramps, and loops. That's one reason I have some modicum of hope that JJP can overcome the WOZ theme and produce a great game...they're integrating the PF toys into unique features and doing a few oddball things like the pop bumper and targets in the outlane that Stern seems to be too afraid to even think about.

Totally agree that the ramp shots are extremely repetitive feeling. And the fact that there's no scoop means that all multiballs have to start off of the cannon as far as I could tell..that's the one standout thing I didn't like. It could be fixed with software, but we're talking about Stern. :|
 
Never played T3 or Dr. Who, so maybe that's part of the problem.

I mean, honestly, let's face it. Stern isn't going to let the designers go nuts. They're NOT going to have any layouts that are going to just blow your mind.. it's gonna be scoops, ramps, and loops. That's one reason I have some modicum of hope that JJP can overcome the WOZ theme and produce a great game...they're integrating the PF toys into unique features and doing a few oddball things like the pop bumper and targets in the outlane that Stern seems to be too afraid to even think about.

Totally agree that the ramp shots are extremely repetitive feeling. And the fact that there's no scoop means that all multiballs have to start off of the cannon as far as I could tell..that's the one standout thing I didn't like. It could be fixed with software, but we're talking about Stern. :|

I understand Stern limiting things with designers but Tron and even Transformers which is also a little subpar have more stuff going on as opposed to just "blasting tunes", that is kind of what I felt like was going on, less stuff on the display with voices to keep me amused as to what is going on or what is next...just "3 more loops to xxxx multiball" I mean, it's really plain....plain isn't always good....it just seems like more could have been done (at least on the standard unit)...feels like I went to Sears and played the one without the coin door, lol

One of the best "looking" machines (Cirqus Voltaire) is also another extremely overrated game that seems to only appeal to the higher end collectors who don't play pinball as much (that is what I have noticed) The Ringmaster really is it on that one, but to each his own...
 
Eh. I only looked at the DMD when other people were playing. I thought the animations were a bit sparse, but well done. I kept hoping for more to happen with the car when you move up the pop bumper levels, but no, it's the same animation over and over. The digitized album art that goes up on there though? BLAAAAARRRRRGH. :)

I'm an on-the-fly kinda person. I don't do a whole lot of trapping, ball catching stuff and have time to look at the DMD unless I'm trying to make a very specific shot to start a mode or multiball.
 
One of the best "looking" machines (Cirqus Voltaire) is also another extremely overrated game that seems to only appeal to the higher end collectors who don't play pinball as much (that is what I have noticed) The Ringmaster really is it on that one, but to each his own...

Hey now - I have a CV, play a shit ton of pinball, and there's WAY more to CV than the Ringmaster.

-Boom Balloon (Hidden pop bumper that pops up)
-Juggler magnet & juggling saucers
-Spin loop around the back of the ringmaster
-Cannon in the backbox
-Magnet on the tightrope ramp (ball goes to flipper unless lock is lit, then Magnet grabs and and locks it on the highwire)
-Left orbit sometimes diverts the ball to the sideshow
-Right orbit goes to the acrobats ramp until you collect them all, then opens up into a full orbit
-Rollover switches
-Interesting outlanes that promote nudging
-Menagerie ball
-Lots of Multiballs w/ unique rules - Highwire, Ringmaster Razz, Ringmaster Frenzy, Ringmaster Battle, Strike an Arc, Juggler ...and the super rare, super cool NEON MULTIBALL
-3 stage Wizard Mode - Join the Circus (and I just read it's 4 stage if you get to it twice!)
 
I mean, honestly, let's face it. Stern isn't going to let the designers go nuts.

Actually the whole point of bringing back Steve Ritchie WAS to let him go nuts. He had no bill of materials limit on AC/DC Premium/LE ...he could do whatever he wanted on that version, then the Pro would be scaled back to a low BOM. That's what made AC/DC a bit disappointing for me....Steve was allowed to do whatever he wanted and this was it? Granted we haven't seen the Premium/LE yet so perhaps it will be a bit cooler...I'm looking forward to seeing the "animated" band in the upper right corner and the lower playfield...but still - the gameplay doesn't look that unique and for me personally - I hate the "Jukebox" concept of gameplay. I like when music and sound is choreographed to what I'm doing. I truly imagined it would choreograph to the features, like the cannon - I imagined you'd load the cannon and it would play "For those about to rock...." ..and then when you fired it, "BOOM FIIIIRE!!!! We salute yoooou!!!" I wanted to see some "gameplay narrative" with the music/sound/features all working together....but as it stands - I feel like you're just playing any pinball with the sound off and AC/DC on the stereo.
 
well hopefully the majority of pin collectors have the same opinion of the game as y'all do....if so, there's a chance that there will still be a premium version available 12-15 months from now when i can afford one. ;)
 
There is no narrative. I guess I'm just looking at it as a "play for a few minutes and go" kinda experience versus a "stand at this machine for a half hour" LOTR type deal. What confuses me is if they had free reign, why go with the isolated mini PF for the LE? God, nothing is more annoying to me than a playfield that's completely isolated from the rest of the machine. Hopefully it's a bit more satisfying than FG/Shrek, because that tiny thing just made my hands and eyes hurt. That's gonna be a pretty damn big window on the playfield to sink in that entire head, LOL.

BTW, what's with the DMD on this thing? One of the guys said it's a LCD or LED blocks or something? It did look unusually red and bright. If it was LCD, I've gotta wonder why the heck they stayed with monochrome.
 
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