Has anyone owned both of these ?
As in Heighway and pinball brothers..
I had one of the first Heigway games for a while but didnāt get on with it and swapped it for a MMR , bloody good deal looking back now
Anyone I talk to who owns the HW of course say thatās the one to have , but I donāt know anyone thatās had time on bothā¦ theme wise it doesnāt get much better but the clunky feel of the HW and that terrible back box and awful huge cassette glass contraption just kills HW for me .. so the PB one any good ???? As it ticks all boxes for the design and now Ripley is in the game itās looking very tempting
Thinking about it myself, seen this review on pinside which might help you.
āIād like to point out a couple differences between the PB Alien LV and the previous Heighway LE (I have not played a standard alien, only LE and LV - owner of both).
With regard to pinball fun, for me personally, I would say PB LV is leaps and bounds more of a positive experience than the Heighway version. The main reason for this is the anxiety of when it breaks. I donāt have the technical capabilities like some of us on here, in order to be competent to own the heighway version, without being anxious about when something goes wrong. Even though the original version has a tremendously wonderful, and helpful community, I still worried every time the thing would shut down unexpectedly, or some part would break. With pinball brothers, an active company trying to make its way in this industry, the anxiety of playing is gone. That makes the game way more fun.
With regard to game specifics, here are some pros and cons, not in any particular orderā¦
Audio: Heighway Version was better. Not a bummer for me - easily upgradable. Will need to boost the bass to get the same sound effect as the original version. Audio is important for me so I will be upgrading. Even though itās not as good as the original version, the pinball brothers LV Audio is still better than most other new games that Iāve played.
Cabinet, back box, trim: itās toss up. They are different. I like the PB tiltable box better, but I like the heighway liftable, removable glass better. Trim: I liked the Heighway Blue best but never saw that one in person. The PB Blue is a close 2nd. I was never a fan of the green. Short versus tall flashers make no difference to me, but one of my kids liked the tall ones better.
Cabinet art: Also a toss up. I like both versions probably equally. They are different.
Back Box art: PB LV version is amazing. Aurich hit it out of the park on this one. I actually thought I would like a bigger screen better on the box, however Iāve completely changed on that one. I like the smaller screen better b/c the art is so good.
Playfield art/lights: Heighway takes the win on this one. Even though I did not use the playfield screen during gameplay, I did like the lighting effect that it had.
Ramps/toys/apron: LV is overall better. I do like how shiny the mirror ramps are in the new version here, but I think when some more time gets on them, the ball trails will stand out. The heighway version had a more industrial look. The Xenomorph toy seems to be much louder on the PB LV version which is a negative. Even though thereās not much to it, the metal apron is a huge improvement over the plastic piece of crap that came on the heighway version.
Gameplay: The updates are huge. The software improvements for the PB version make the game way better. This includes the attract animation art. I really like that scene. Incorporating the flashers more often is great. Having the extra magnet to hold prior to the upper left playfield shots was a fantastic idea.
Feel: Both the LE and LV versions are widebody tanks, heavy, and difficult to move. Luckily Iām not small. I donāt know if my previous LE got too tossed around in shipping or what, but now that Iāve got this new LV, there is a noticeable difference in the sturdiness. The LE felt rickety, felt top-heavy on swaying legs. The LV feels very solid comparatively, which I definitely like.
The win goes to PB. But I am definitely biased as that is the current version that I own! Ha!ā