From krellan.spam@krellan.com Mon Aug 23 07:45:41 1999
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Quick take: STE1
From: krellan.spam@krellan.com (Krellan)
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 04:45:41 -0700

OK, here's a quick take of STE1.  The game is similar to Revenge From
Mars, in that a lot of it focuses on repeatedly banging the center
target, but it is more varied and it feels like there is more to do in
the game.

It's a lower-scoring game.  Default extra ball score is 20M and 60M,
there are no replays.  A good game is around 100M, the high scoreboards
start at around 150M.

The playfield is very nice-looking and crisp.  There's a lightsaber that
is made of neon, on the right side of the game, like Cirqus Voltaire but
straight instead of curved.  Unlike the prototype games, though, the
lightsaber does not move... it's now fixed in place.

Main points:

Skill Shot = you get a manual plunger, and the game has NO autoplunger!
Drop the ball into a hole, just before it enters the right ramp.  It's
like shooting the bottom hole in TOTAN: you have unlimited tries to get
the skill shot if you plunge too gently, but if you plunge too hard you
will miss.  This shot is VERY important, because making the skill shot is
the *only* reliable way to hit the extra ball lane!

Extra Ball = two of them for score (20M and 60M), one of them for
building C3-PO.  Haven't found any more.

Jedi lights/rankings = You get JEDI letters for doing well in modes, and for
various other things in the game.  Spell JEDI and you advance a rank
and get the Saber Battle (a multiball where you must plunge all balls
yourself as they drain, like the Final Battle in TOTAN and the Ransom in
BK2K).  Defeat Darth Maul and the flippers go *dead*, forcing you to return
to one ball in play (if you have a ball at the plunger, you use that, or the
game will give you a new ball).  Winning Saber Battle (it's very easy) gives
you a Jedi rank: Jedi Youth, Knight, Lord, or Spirit.  Each of these ranks
has its own "high score table", giving initials of the last 10 players to hit
these ranks!  The highest I was able to get was Jedi Knight.

Modes = See below for a description of the center shot.  Surprisingly, the
center shot is not that bad of a drain shot!  Balls on this game tend to
last longer than  they do on RFM.  It seems like an easier game, which
makes it more fun.  There's a TON of modes, I played a lot of the game and
did not make it through them.

Tour of the playfield:
(clockwise, left drain to right drain)

Left bank of three standup targets -- lights the left "Force" blue light.  The

two blue lights are wide and mostly useless, like the "Radar Detector"
lights in HS.  Not sure what these do.

Left orbit -- feeds the bumpers.  You build C3-PO by repeatedly shooting
this lane.  This lights Extra Ball the first time, and gives minor awards
later on.

Left saucer -- has a captive ball behind it.  It's like the left saucer
in TOTAN.  The captive ball helps slow down the ball, helping it land in
the saucer.  The saucer is a direct shot from the flippers, like on
Johnny Mneumonic.  Fill both saucers for Multiball!  Both of these
saucers hold over between players and between games?
(Watto's Junk Shop: awards a random value.)

Left ramp -- this is one of the three big things in the game that are hit
during modes.  If you're not in a mode, there is a "virtual spinner" on
the ramp!  It spins around, like a real spinner, when you hit the ball up
the ramp.  Unfortunately, it spins the same length regardless of how hard
you hit it!  Williams missed a BIG opportunity here: they could have used
two optos, like Checkpoint, to time the ball!  Then, they could have had
the spinner spin faster with harder hits, like a real spinner...

Left standup -- not used for much.  The only time you hit this is when
you miss the shot to the left ramp or the center.

Center -- the big thing in the game, of course.  The "horseshoe" in RFM
has been straightened out and squared off, to 90-degree angles.  There is
a barrier, about three inches wide, and horizontal, like the saucer force
field in AFM.  Usually, shots just bounce off of it.  When the game wants
to hold the ball, though, it will raise, like the bulldozer on Road Show.
There is a large hole behind it, that the ball is channeled into, making
it an easy shot.  ASCII diagram follows:

        (____) hole
       /      \
     /          \
   /              \
  | ============= | barrier
  |               |
  |               |
  |               |
==|               |== standup target(s)

The barrier is usually up, but it goes down to start modes and to finish
modes (like RFM, you finish a mode by hitting the center, and this
usually makes the object on the screen go "boom").  Hit the barrier three
times to light a mode.  Shoot it, and the ball goes in the hole, and you
start the mode and see its animation (a few seconds of movie footage).
The ball then kicks out to one of the ramps, and the barrier
rises again until the mode is done.

Right standup -- same as left standup.

Right saucer -- same as left saucer, but this does NOT have a captive
ball behind it.  Instead, it has two pieces of metal which form a "V"
around the back of the saucer.  It is very hard to get the ball to stay
in this saucer!  Direct shots to the saucer are rejected and bounce out,
so you have to hit it by luckily bouncing off something else.
(Mos Espa Market: also awards a random value.)

Bumpers -- fed by the left orbit.  These can be shot directly, but the
ball won't stay very long in the bumpers then.  If the ball comes around
via the left orbit, though, the ball can bounce around for a very long
time!

Right bank of three standup targets -- same as the left bank.  When both of
the blue lights are lit, they flash then disappear.  Woohoo!

Magnet -- this is under the playfield, a few inches in front of the right bank
of standup targets, and throws the ball around in a rude way.  I'm not sure
what causes it to activate.

Skill shot lane -- a twisty little lane, like the Special lane on Star Wars
Trilogy.  It winds behind the right bank of standup targets, with a top and
bottom opening.  Extra Ball is lit here.  The only reliable way to hit
this lane is via the Skill Shot, which drops the ball right into
this lane.  Unfortunately, the Skill Shot has two
big problems: the dropoff point is too far back, near the top exit from this
lane, so the ball can easily spin out of the lane and not go through the lane
(thus
denying you your Extra Ball).  And, the exit from the lane often goes SDTM!

That's really it... the bottom of the game is standard.  Very elegant game,
slickly designed.  Watch for the virtual Roto-Target(!) in one of the modes!

Josh

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