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Pure *black* magic.
Naw, that might be a little bit harsh. Ripley's isn't the end-all,
be-all worst effort that Pat's done like RCT is (RCT is the most
part-out-able Lawlor game that I can think of), but I'd still take any
of Pat's WMS stuff over it. I haven't really even had that much
experience on a Banzai Run, and I'll still say that statement, safely.
For certain, the playfield *layout* on Ripley's is pretty good. Sure,
you can bark about the bumpers/bonus lanes up top, but other than that,
the *layout* itself is pretty darned good. The major league problems
with the playfield come into play when you start taking into
consideration things like the decision to make the upper flipper more
useless than a wet noodle, or spinners that seem to have difficulty
*spinning* very much at all, or a vari-target that really doesn't serve
much of a purpose at all. I do like the concentration on the upper
flipper shots. That's certainly a good thing for a Pat game.
The biggest problems, of course, are the other things that go with it.
The software just doesn't do anything but, apparently, hand out
specials like cheese & cracker samples at the supermarket: plenty for
everyone, and they're not all that big a deal. The multiball was
improved over his past couple games, but it still pales in comparison
to, say, NGG, which was seven years before (or so). The sounds and
voices in this game (*especially* the voices) simply make me wonder if
everything that PLD produces has to annoy us to the point of
involuntary, uncontrollable bowel movements. The art, while
acceptable, is *by no means* close to John Youssi's finest hour. Of
Youssi's Stern games, I honestly think that Sharkey's Shootout and
Monopoly are still his best, and of the two, I'd probably give the nod
to Sharkey's. Granted, when you're dealing with drawing a shrunken
head, it's not the best material to go on, but sheesh...ugly is ugly.
I'm glad you like it, Terry. I'm glad that there are people out there
who like Popeye, and Shaq Attaq, and Water World...and while I'm not
condemning Ripley's into the same circle of hell that I'd sentence
those others to, it's still *inconceivable* to me that a person could
call Ripley's the best Lawlor game, ever.
Aron (who *does* know what that word means, Inigo)