Subject:      BREAKSHOT not-so-quick take
From:         sbb@panix.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Date:         1996/05/13
Message-ID:   ro4tpkfjzu.fsf@panix3.panix.com
Newsgroups:   rec.games.pinball

BREAKSHOT is the latest game from Capcom, the company that debuted in
the pinball world last year with PINBALL MAGIC.

This is going to be a quick preview of a game that's still undergoing
some fine-tuning; as the Broadway Arcade is a beta site for Capcom, we
get their games before most other people do, but we also get them
before they've been finalized.  All of which means that I'm not sure
the game I've been playing for a few weeks now is not a final,
shipping product; in fact, I'm pretty sure it's due to get upgraded
ROMs that will include new rules, perhaps new animations, sounds and
music.  So what I say here should be viewed in that light, and my
opinions about the game will likely change as the game itself changes.

OK, with caveats out of the way, here's an overview.  BREAKSHOT is
the first in a series of games called "Capcom Classics"; basically,
these are games that will evoke instant nostalgia in anyone who grew
up playing pinball in the early 70s and can remember playing, say,
BANK SHOT or EIGHT BALL when it was first released.

It's a game that screams "retro" in almost every way: the playfield is
very simple, with a definite 70s look to it.  Big, wide lanes; some
rollovers at the top center with pop bumpers underneath them; a simple
lower playfield design with a standard inlane/outlane configuration.
No ramps, habitrails, dancing Martians, wacky gorilla toys or magic
wands -- this game is simple, with a clean, uncluttered playfield that
is nonetheless not barren and wide-open.

Here's how Capcom describes the game, from the BREAKSHOT web page:

  http://capcom.ms.wwa.com/pinball/breakshot/breakshot.htm

  A Breakshot Feature in the center of the playfield simulates a pool
  table's corner and center pockets, qualifying both Trick and Combo
  shots. This feature is the industry's first ever loadable captive
  ball; it holds up to 2 balls, and when a 3rd ball is loaded, a
  3-Ball "Breakshot Frenzy" begins. BREAKSHOT also features a captive
  ball that can be hit from many angles (rather than just one), a
  wonderfully smooth full loop shot, a 3rd flipper that shoots a "Bank
  Shot" in the upper right-hand corner, a playfield that doesn't hide
  the ball from your sight, a 2-Ball "Ball-O-Rama" and a moose...  how
  could you lose with a moose!?

How indeed?  Especially when the moose is prone to moon you when the
game is over...  ;-)

BREAKSHOT plays not quite like a golden oldie, but not quite like a
standard new pinball machine, circa 1996.  Its wide lanes and lack of
ramps and habitrails make for a very different play experience -- you
get a feeling that you're very much in control of the game at all
times, just as was the case many years ago when games were much
simpler.  Sad to say, but it's almost disconcerting now to play a game
where you can see the ball at all times -- BREAKSHOT has no scoops or
tunnels to take the ball underneath the playfield, and no big toys for
it to hide behind.  Everything is out in the open and in plain sight.

So it's a little disconcerting, true, but it's also very refreshing.
(Interesting, too, that ATTACK FROM MARS is game that almost always
keeps the ball in sight, and that this is something that people seem
to have responded to.)

One way that BREAKSHOT does not differ from modern games is in its
speed of play: although it looks like a classic pin, it plays as fast
as any new release, which can lead to some very 90s-style insta-drains
as the ball ricochets off a corner of the ball lock area in the center
of the game and flies down an outlane.

The ball lock is actually a combination ball lock and captive ball.
It occupies the center of the playfield and consists of 3 saucers set
back behind a narrow entrance passage.  The entrance has an opto that
senses when a ball enters the lock area; as soon as one does, an
up-post comes up and keeps the ball from draining back out (assuming
you weren't able to shoot it directly into one of the saucers).

Things get interesting inside that ball lock -- once a ball is resting
on the up-post, it becomes in effect a captive ball.  Hitting the
up-post sends the ball up into one of the saucers; and if you have two
balls resting on the up-post, one will end up going to the far left
saucer while the other goes to the far right saucer.  It's a great
effect -- it looks and feels exactly like pool.  In effect, the game
sets up a break shot for you so you can lock two balls at once.

Locking the third ball starts multiball and Breakshot Frenzy, where
all scores are 3x.  (There's also a 2x 2-ball multiball frenzy, worth
going for just to hear the moose announce "Ball-O-Rama!")  Jackpots
are gotten off the center saucer and are harder to get than you might
think.  Playing multiball in BREAKSHOT is a much different experience
than playing it in AFM: you get no ball saver, just one jackpot shot
(which requires careful aim), and a playfield that encourages you
either to loop the balls around the outside orbit or bounce them off
the center ball lock area -- both of which will keep them screaming
back down to the flippers.  Needless to say, BREAKSHOT jackpots are
not gimmees, and doing well in multiball is not only very satisfying,
it's one of the things that keeps me coming back for more.

Sound and dots are much, much better than PINBALL MAGIC -- it's
obvious that Capcom is making great strides in this area.  Not quite
up to WMS standards, perhaps, but well ahead of Premier, and their
sound package is already better than anything SEGA has done recently.

The A/V package also provides for a couple of nice retro touches; my
favorite is the way the display is used TOMMY-style to simulate
scoring wheels.  The display programmers even put in scoring lag,
where the "wheels" sometimes don't turn fast enough to keep up with
your score; once it even looked like one of the wheels got "stuck" for
a while between digits.  Very nicely done.

The display also features a nicely designed game-specific font that's
exactly in keeping with the feel of the game -- it's another example
of the way all the artwork in this game comes together and presents
the game's theme in a consistent fashion.

The sound package is simple and features male and female voices
calling out the number of each ball you sink.  They also guide you
through the game, telling you which of the 3 games (8-ball, 9-ball or
Rotation) you'll be playing next.  Anyone who ever played EIGHT BALL
will feel downright nostalgic listening to the game call your shots;
fans of XENON, too, will find something to smile about in listening to
the female voice...

Artwork overall is very good -- again, very retro, EIGHT BALL-style
featuring guys, girls, and the girls' cleavage all playing pool, with
a goofy-looking moose head looking on from the wall.  There's only one
unfortunate touch: the backglass is lit with a single fluorescent
bulb, rather than some number of individual incandescent bulbs.  The
result is much less attractive than it might otherwise have been, but
I know full well why Capcom chose to compromise their design in this
way: from what I understand, BREAKSHOT sells for about $1000 less than
a typical WMS game.  If you're going to knock that much off the price
of your game, you have to cut corners somewhere, and this seems like a
reasonable compromise to make, especially since it doesn't affect game
play.

I've found only 1 nod to the r.g.p. crowd in this game; I'll list it
below, under a spoiler warning, for those who don't want to discover
it on their own.

Overall, BREAKSHOT is a very solid game, one I've had a good time
playing for several weeks now.  If you're looking or the latest in
high-tech pinball, this game will be quite a disappointment -- it's
really very straightforward, a fast-playing but somewhat old-fashioned
game.  But if you're looking for a game that you'll be able to play
and understand almost at once, one that might bring back some fond
memories of a time when all pinball was simple and accessible, then
you'll want to give BREAKSHOT a try.  In addition to being a real trip
down memory lane for those of us who grew up with pinball in the early
seventies, it's a lot of fun all on its own.

[ spoilers follow ]

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[ spoilers follow ]

Although the BREAKSHOT mascot is a moose, there *is* a cow in this
game.  Just go for the "Capcombo" shot, which you make from the upper
flipper around the mini-loop, and then backwards around the right
orbit to the rollover lanes.

Just to set this up right: when you relight the kickback, you see the
words "Kicker added" in the display, accompanied by an animation of
the moose kicking his back legs.

Well, score the Capcombo and watch as the moose kicks a cow in the
behind -- a nice shot at WMS, I thought, and a nice nod to the
cow-counters in r.g.p...

--
    Steve Baumgarten       |  "New York... when civilization falls apart,
    PANIX, New York, NY    |   remember, we were way ahead of you."
                           |
    Email: sbb@panix.com   |                            - David Letterman