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The Heist P3's 4th Game! First Impression

Cary Hardy·video·14m 55s·analyzed·Mar 20, 2020
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Cary Hardy reviews Multimorphic's Heist P3 game favorably for kinetic mechs and modularity.

Summary

Cary Hardy reviews Multimorphic's fourth P3 game, Heist, praising its three-axis moving crane mechanic, upper flipper addition, and improved kinetic satisfaction compared to previous P3 titles. He highlights the game's city-themed playfield design, production readiness, and modular pricing model that allows playfield swaps at $2,500-$2,750 for existing P3 cabinet owners. Hardy notes this represents meaningful improvement in Multimorphic's hardware integration and addresses his previous criticism that P3 games felt too virtual.

Key Claims

  • Heist is Multimorphic's fourth P3 game and is currently in production with machines ready to ship

    high confidence · Hardy states: 'It says right here that Heist is in production now and machines are ready to ship. P3s will ship in order that they are purchased'

  • The crane in Heist has three-way maneuvering capabilities (sweep, pitch, and extension) unlike Batman 66 and Last Action Hero cranes

    high confidence · Hardy states: 'it has a x y and z axis maneuvering meaning it can go left and right and up and down and extend towards the player that is something that i don't think i've seen on any other game this is able to do all of that in one go'

  • Heist includes an upper flipper as a first for Multimorphic P3 games

    high confidence · Hardy states: 'This game also gives us an upper flipper, which is going to be a first for them'

  • The Heist playfield features a city-themed design with locations like Savings and Loan, Police Department, Bigelow Galleries, Crosstown Expressway, Office Space, and Grand Central Station

    high confidence · Hardy observes: 'This does really well at putting you inside of a world, guys, because you have like Savings and Loan, the Police Department... it looks like a city'

  • Heist playfield-only cost is $2,500 with upper flipper assembly at $250 for existing P3 owners, roughly half a Stern Pro model annually

    high confidence · Hardy states: 'if you already had the multi-morphic cabinet system then this game would only cost you 2750 2500 for the playfield 250 for the upper flipper assembly'

Notable Quotes

  • “This is my first P3 Multimorphic video. And just a real quick brief history of me and their products is that I have played them every year at TPF and not one of the games so far has really grabbed me.”

    Cary Hardy@ 1:12 — Establishes Hardy's prior lukewarm reception to P3 and frames Heist as a potential turning point

  • “I think that this one is meshing them a lot better than the previous ones... I guess it still felt too much like a video game. But pinball is pinball. Video games is video games.”

    Cary Hardy@ 2:56 — Articulates the core criticism of P3 games (too virtual) and suggests Heist addresses it

  • “We don't get mechs like this in modern games anymore, guys... what we've been needing is moving parts we like little gizmos and gadgets because that's what it's all about kinetic satisfaction.”

    Cary Hardy@ 13:21 — Frames the crane mechanic as addressing a broader industry trend away from complex moving parts

  • “There's a company out there that should really take note on how to reveal a game.”

    Cary Hardy@ 0:16 — Praises Multimorphic's exclusive reveal strategy to Jeff Patterson and This Week in Pinball

  • “This game looks definitely much better than their other games. This is an improvement from what they had done in the past. That's always something that a company wants to hear is that they are learning and improving.”

    Cary Hardy@ 12:32 — Summary assessment: Heist represents marked improvement and demonstrates Multimorphic's iterative design maturity

Entities

MultimorphiccompanyCary HardypersonJeff PattersonpersonJerry (Multimorphic)personHeistgameThis Week in PinballorganizationTexas Pinball Festival (TPF)event

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Hardy acknowledges upfront P3 system cost barrier despite favorable modular playfield economics ($2,500-$2,750 per game vs. $5,000+ Stern Pro annually), suggesting price remains market friction point

    medium · Hardy: 'this is something else that I believe that probably turns a lot of people off is the pricing on this' but then frames modular advantage: 'if you already had the multi-morphic cabinet system then this game would only cost you 2750'

  • ?

    community_signal: Multimorphic's exclusive reveal strategy to Jeff Patterson and This Week in Pinball praised as exemplary game announcement approach; suggests deliberate media partnership focus

    medium · Hardy: 'There's a company out there that should really take note on how to reveal a game' and credits Jeff Patterson with exclusive HD photos/video from Multimorphic

  • $

    market_signal: Heist in production and ready to ship; P3 machines shipping in order of purchase, indicating inventory availability and manufacturing readiness

    high · Hardy states: 'It says right here that Heist is in production now and machines are ready to ship. P3s will ship in order that they are purchased'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Heist introduces three-axis crane mechanic (sweep, pitch, extension) with active ball interaction and bashable target functionality—a mechanical sophistication Hardy notes is absent in most modern pinball games

    high · Hardy states: 'it has a x y and z axis maneuvering... i don't think i've seen on any other game this is able to do all of that in one go' and praises Multimorphic for bringing back moving parts and 'kinetic satisfaction'

  • ~

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.045

0:00
Alright, so P3 Multimorphic has revealed their fourth game. And not only did they reveal the game, they gave Jeff Patterson the exclusive, so we've got high definition photos and we've got some play quality video that is definitely worth going through. There's a company out there that should really take note on how to reveal a game.
0:30
What's up guys, welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So if that sounds interesting to you, then hit that subscribe button down below. All the information that I will be stowing upon you is available at This Week in Pinball. So by all means, if you want the full detail and stories as well as the HD pictures, then check out that website now. So their fourth game is called Heist. Which already intrigues me because I actually really enjoy heist movies. It's like one of my favorite genres of film is heist movies. So your typical Ocean's Eleven, stuff like that, is what really intrigues me. This is my first P3 Multimorphic video. And just a real quick brief history of me and their products is that I have played them every year at TPF. and not one of the games so far has really grabbed me.
1:30
And that's all I can really say. I have never told anybody or even said that the product is bad and I think that's what a lot of the mindset is with people these days when it comes to Multimorphic. It's not that it's a bad system or it's not that it's a horrible product. It's just that something inside this game has not grabbed anybody to pull them in to really throw the cash at the product. Now, why is that? What is it that Multimorphic is not providing for us that we see in their new game? You can look at all their previous games, and each one of them has a really cool little thing to it, whether it be magnetism, catching the balls on Lexi Lightspeed and stuff like that. um cosmic kart racing has got its own cool little multi multiplayer aspect to it little things like that there's every single game has got some sort of little thing to it that makes it unique and the i think this one's got the little something something to make it unique as well as more kinetic satisfaction i think that's what kind of like distanced me away from the product whenever I was first introduced to it years ago is that it felt too virtual. Even though the ball goes over the screen and the screen reacts to the ball and it does a lot of cool stuff, I don't know. I guess it still felt too much like a video game. I'm not against video games, guys. Trust me, AF. Once I get finished recording this, I'm probably going to start playing some. But I digress. Pinball is pinball. Video games is video games. This is combining those two, and I think that this one is meshing them a lot better than the previous ones. So let's look at the playfield here, and this is what we got. This is basically a little GIF file that's just showing you the overspanning view of the playfield with the moving crane. Now if some of you do not know what the P3 system is typically laid out as basically the top third of the game is going to be hardware whereas the bottom two thirds is typically going to be your screen but something that i really enjoying about this game is that like i've stated it's bringing a little more kinetic satisfaction and i believe this is going to do pretty good comparison to their other titles because of that there's more let me scroll through here and see if I can find some images. So here's a look at the play field. Let me get right here so you can actually see it a little bit better. And as you can see, we've got targets on pretty much every post except for a few of them, but a good amount of them right here, as well as a good look at the moving crane. Now, something that's really good about this moving crane is that it has a x y and z axis maneuvering meaning it can go left and right and up and down and extend towards the player that is something that i don't think i've seen on any other game this is able to do all of that in one go now there's other titles out there that have cranes in them for instance you have your batman 66 and the one off the top of my head is my last action hero but there are limitations to what those cranes can do for instance i've already got some videos pre-lined up right here ready to go so here is basically a good idea of what the crane does on batman 66 basically a fixated ball and you hit the ball like so and that's essentially what the crane is capable of doing on that title and here is your typical last action hero basically this crane extends over picks up the ball and then moves the ball over to the left side of the screen to lock the ball now this crane is a shaky mofo but i have altered mine on my game to be smooth with butter but that's just my title either way those are the two games that i can think of off the top of my head that give us a crane that interacts with the ball and the player. This does really well at putting you inside of a world, guys, because you have like Savings and Loan, the Police Department, what does this say? Bigelow Galleries, Crosstown Expressway, Office Space, Grand Central Station, a news building. It looks like a city. So other games that have like a city-esque feel to it would be like you're dialed in. And we've skipped some images here.
Lexi Lightspeed
game
Cosmic Kart Racinggame
Batman 66game
Last Action Herogame
Dialed Ingame
Wizard of Ozgame
Heavy Metalsgame
Stern Pinballcompany

sentiment_shift: Hardy's prior lukewarm reception to P3 games (never grabbed him, felt too virtual) appears to shift positively with Heist; he acknowledges this as meaningful improvement and iteration

high · Hardy: 'not one of the games so far has really grabbed me' vs. 'This game looks definitely much better than their other games. This is an improvement from what they had done in the past'

  • ?

    technology_signal: P3 platform expanding mechanical capabilities beyond screen-dominant design; Heist includes upper flipper as first for P3 series, signaling shift toward traditional pinball kinetics integration

    high · Hardy: 'This game also gives us an upper flipper, which is going to be a first for them. So that's pretty exciting that they're giving us another hardware mech'

    • 6:26
    Okay, so here we go. Another higher view portion. Let me get to this viewpoint right here where you can see what's going on with the city.
    6:35
    And this game also gives us an upper flipper, which is going to be a first for them. So that's pretty exciting that they're giving us another hardware mech as well as a different way to play this title. Now the question is, oh yes, I think it is. So in order to utilize this shot, you have to use that third flipper. So that's good that the flipper is not just an extra little feature on there because why not? You actually need that third flipper to loop around. These are just some close-up images to what the game looks like. the plastic portions of it.
    7:12
    And then you have, this reminds me a little bit of the Wizard of Oz in the very bottom left hand corner where the ball gets down here on a pop bumper and bounces the hell out of these targets So that a cool feature that gonna be up here in a higher portion of the game though looks like you got a spinner down here and your big savings and loan now i don't know the shot layout for this game guys uh but uh it does look interesting i don't know what happens when you go inside the police department if it loops around this way if it loops around that way does it go into some sort of subway system i do not know all that so the game comes with rgb lights throughout which is basically going to have to be the standardization for all pinball machines these days is if you don't have rgb then okay it's a little weird because everything else is doing it here's a down low screen shot of what the third flipper shots would be i don't know the third flipper is going to be going in here though but it's definitely going to need to be going here more than likely your opto sensor is right through this little peek hole then we have a close shot right here jail door open so evidently this door opens and closes i guess according to this and yeah raising a lower in the jail door in the police station that is a bash target when closed and when open you can shoot into the jail so there you go uh it turns out you can get a lot of information from this website if You actually read it. So here we go. The crane, the most interesting physical feature in the game. It has three-way controls, sweep, pitch, and extension. It can pick up and hold balls and allow the player to knock them off. It is also a wide area of the playfield, thereby presenting a bashable target which is closer to the player than targets on the upper playfield. This extremely versatile mech is integrated into unique ways throughout the game. That's a nice little feature. I like that. But like I've stated, this is pretty cool. I'm liking this. This is a very good kinetic satisfaction when it comes to what they're able to provide for us. And we'll give you a little video right here of what this looks like in action.
    9:37
    So here the magnet goes. goes out to work and it's going to hover above this one area extends out pretty quick too not like you know a little rinky dink little mech system this thing's got some oomph to it and it moves around pretty damn smoothly too not too damn bad now on the website you're going to go through all your different types of multi balls your wizard modes and then you have your pricings now this is something else that I believe that probably turns a lot of people off is the pricing on this. And basically the way I'm looking at it is that yes, your upfront cost is going to be more than your standard like Stern LE cost. But what they do is give you the ability to swap out games at any moment. You can switch to whatever game, new play fields and all that kind of stuff, pick them up put them in into the same cabinet so if you already had the multi-morphic cabinet system then this game would only cost you 2750 2500 for the playfield 250 for the upper flipper assembly so if you wanted the new game every year or every new launch that they come out with you would be paying half the typical price of a pro model stern but up front it's going to cost you a little bit And it says right here that Heist is in production now and machines are ready to ship. P3s will ship in order that they are purchased So in the video they go through basically the story of the beginning of it and I just gonna skip you to Basically the gameplay which is right around here to give you an idea of what the game looks like in full
    11:19
    Action now once again the full video is available on YouTube So if you want to see it there by all means, please check it out on their channel. It looks pretty damn cool guys I really wish again for another reason that tpf would not have been canceled because this would have been pretty cool to play i believe this this looks like it is definitely something that is going to surpass the other games that they have made which is good because that is what a company is supposed to do they're supposed to continuously improve so i'm glad that the promises that jerry has made to us when it comes to innovations and different things and improvements are actually showing that hey he's not denying that this is actually this is good so uh that's my first thoughts on what i'm seeing so far from this from this game i really don't know when i'm gonna be able to play this title because like i said i typically only get a chance to play these at texas pinball festival but p3 is texas native so by all means jerry if you're watching this uh hit me up i would like to travel down south to get a shot of playing this game for a while so my quick first thoughts is the game looks definitely much better than their other games. This is an improvement from what they had done in the past. That's always something that a company wants to hear is that they are learning and improving. We don't get mechs like this in modern games anymore, guys. We don't get this because of a couple of reasons. One, moving parts equals wear and tear, which means repair. And a lot of the typical people these days do not want to have to worry or deal with repairs as well as even the companies that are producing them don't want to have to deal with the repairs either so what's the safest way about not having to worry about repairs is make the game more simple but this is what us pinball people love we like the mechanical portion of the game we like moving parts we like little gizmos and gadgets because that's what it's all about kinetic satisfaction. I love watching the reactions to people playing the older games for the first time which is typically those that have never played pinball before, I digress, but the reactions when they see these moving portions of a game interact with you it's always, oh that's cool! So I'm glad to see that P3 is bringing in a mech that is gonna be fully motioned and interactive with us and how the game works and is definitely what we've been needing. So that's my first impressions and thoughts of this game. Let me know what you think about Multimorphic as well as their new game heist in the comments section down below. I planned on doing a video for Heavy Metals Reveal today but that has also been postponed so I'm not sure what I'm gonna be able to dig further into that or even if I really even want to. I don't know it it really depends on what they show us but more than likely from what I've seen so far I'm gonna have to do another video on the full reveal just to get a good laugh i guess because i'm pretty sure it's gonna be pretty funny that's all guys until next time peace out
    14:53
    you