Appreciate the review VeeWith that out of the way, let us move to Galactic Tank Force.
View attachment 242230
I’ll admit to coming in with REALLY low expectations of this one. I love the theme, concept and idea, but I’d read about the shoddy 3D printed plastics. Also, I disliked both of American Pinball’s titles (Houdini and Oktoberfest) I‘ve played in the past.
I’ve got to admit to being pleasantly surprised by Galactic Tank Force. It’s the best of the American Pinball titles I’ve played so far (sadly, I’ve not had the chance to play Hot Wheels). The machine looks good with great lighting, an attractive backglass, cabinet and solid retro-feel artwork on the playfield.
View attachment 242232
View attachment 242234
I didn’t notice the models looking horrible on my play, and I quite liked the illuminated plunger that looked slightly like a gun turret.
View attachment 242231
The dubstep doesn’t seem out of place as a sound track either.
View attachment 242236
Play-wise, it’s not quite right, but in a subtle way. It has the feel of a pin where, if it was released in a year without X-thousand other new pins, it would have been a contender. Sadly, it was, and it isn’t.
I played it straight after Labyrinth and the problems, in comparison, were obvious (to me, anyway). First, the tank is - as others have said - not a sane shot to make. It is really close to the flippers. I tried pressing the extra button on the right-hand side of the cab to see if I could activate the defence save bumper (Atomic Shield) between the flippers, but that only seems to activate in response to something else (it popped up at one point - after I’d destroyed a tank?).
As such, if you want to shoot the tank deliberately, you need to rely on nudging out of the EM-style rubbers/lanes between the flippers to save your ball. Clue, they don’t work so well.
View attachment 242233
Second, shooting the tank wouldn’t be a problem if there was something else obvious to shoot for. After all, everyone who plays AFM knows that the saucer is a risky shot and, if you’re an accurate shooter, it’s easier to safely build up a score via the ramps and orbits. The problem is, as explained on the rules card, the missions are activated at the right-hand saucer by rolling through the inlanes. Thus, you need to be shooting for something else before the ball can roll down the inlanes…So, what do you shoot for straight off the plunge?
The tank, presumably, while the ball save is on. And then, well, everything that isn’t the tank in a game called ‘Galactic Tank Force’.
Third, the team who programmed this evidently *loved* the video clips. Because they are constantly interrupting the gameplay and they go on for about three seconds longer than you wanted to hear them. Yes, it’s fun hearing Plotnik or Captain Kyan for the first time, but do you really want a long spiel greeting a new cadet or explaining Empress Annoya’s evil scheme each time you start the game or start a feature? I’ll stand corrected if these are skippable, but - if not - I found they interrupted play.
Fourth, after playing Labyrinth, which had very informative inserts for new players, the lack of information communicated by the inserts on GTF was subtly noticeable. It wasn‘t as bad as JJP’s Guns and Roses, but I had to read the rules card - the game just didn’t help me out as a new player.
Fifth, the playfield layout feels remarkably standard. It’s not really innovating. Not a problem, but it needs to be doing something else exceptionally well. The pops were also very tepid. So, the best shot in the game was probably an orbit into the inlanes…
Sixth, the rules just feel slightly subtly ‘off’. The lower playfield is murderous - you just don’t want to be there. The tank creates SDTMs and the slingshots are really vigorous. So, you’d expect the rules to give you lots of points for staying in the lower playfield, right? But, I seemed to get a lot more points shooting the super-repeatable left ramp during a Plotnik mode than going for the tank. So, why go for the tank? Worse still, central bash toys are usually designed for newbie players. A new player flails around, hits the bash toy a few times and - hey presto - something fun happens! With GTF, if you shoot the bash toy, you insta-drain. Not fun
Anyway, in conclusion, a bit of a weird one. Not sure who the audience is, TBH. It’s not playfield/shot/layout fans. It doesn’t have a compelling theme. And the gameplay isn’t targeted at a particular group of players (e.g. families), either.
How did you find the magnets ? Given we both have TNA experience with its central keypad and also brutal SDTM scenario I figured this wouldn’t be as much of a negative for you ?
Was anyone able to get a feel for the sound quality? Are we looking at another speaker upgrade to deal with the sound quality given the nature of the music ?
. Apart from that I thought both the Prem and the Pro were really fun and different enough to be called different models.
