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I'm so ready for, I love Christmas. It throws him off when he doesn't open the show. It killed all his mojo, not being able to open the show. Ain't nobody messing with my mojo, thank you. I love Christmas more so than you, because you're a Christmas hater. but I cannot wait to be done with these God forbidden sweaters that you keep wearing. Like that one's almost offensive to Jesus Christ cause he's having a party for himself. It's his birthday. Praise Jesus. Yeah, that's fine. Um, but man, they're ugly. God, where do you get these things at? Well, this one here is actually the wife's cause I ran out of sweaters. So hence the low shoulder cut. Yeah. Yeah. A little extra area right around these, right there. Something stretched it out. That's right. So what are we doing? We're reviewing Alien. We're reviewing Alien. Oh, God. It's very Christmassy. Well, keep going. Just keep talking about Alien. Who developed Alien? Yeah. Hi, what pinball? Nice job. Who don't know that? Who? Nope, don't ask me no more questions. That's my stopping point. Who did the music? I have no idea. Come on, buddy. You got it in you. Nope. Come on. I don't know any of it. The biggest music guy. I have no idea. David Thiel. Oh, yeah. Yeah, David. I don't know who designed it. Teal, tinsel, it's like Christmas. Tinsel, David, tinsel. Who did the art package? All right. Worked on some of it. Look at you. Did you do it all? I'm proud of you, for the most part. Yeah, I like it. Oh, we'll get into that, though. All right. First, what do you want to do? Are we going to go review or overview this machine? We went to IndyPens. Yes, thank you, Larry. Thank you, Larry. Much appreciated to let us bombard your house. We love you, brother. So, yeah, we went over there. Yeah, had a great time. put some games on it. We've played it before at the show. I've played it before at the show. I've played it at Larry's a few times. The unboxing. That's right. So check out that video as well. So let's go to that now, and then we'll come back to review it. Hey, what's happening, guys? We're going to do an overview for Alien Pinball Machine by Highway Pinball. So let's dive down deep into this thing. First thing you guys will notice is the modes. So when you start a game up, you have two options. You can start with the first film called Alien, and whenever you start with that, you'll have the five modes called Derelict Ship, acid burn find Bob Jonesi tunnel hunt and self-destruct you can start also it's like a game within a game you have two games here you start with aliens which is the follow-up film and those modes correspond with combat drop APC bug hunt Queen's Nest and loader battle now throughout the game you're gonna get through this you're gonna get through multi balls there's five different multi balls there's probably more than that once you get into the wizard modes but those multiball are right in that center ladder there. So you can start one game in Alien or two game into Aliens. All right, let's go from left to right as we traditionally do on the overviews here. The left, far most left shot is a scoop shot. It's the mother shot. It's responsible for a lot of different modes as well as mystery shots, and I believe you can start modes as well. Now right under it, if you see, there is that far left flipper. Now that far left flipper I always forget about when I'm playing this game, but it's going to keep you out of some tough spots whenever it's going towards that left drain. So always remember that left flipper. Left flipper is also responsible for a couple shots up top that we will discuss here in a second. From left to right, there is a left orbit. Left orbit with that xenomorph spinner head is a very satisfying shot as it should be with all wide bodies. Very smooth. It's going to whip around all the way to your right orbit. Now if it needs to, there is a magnet up top there right over the pop bumpers that's going to stop that and flow it through those pop bumpers during certain modes. I'm going to direct your attention next to the top right flipper. Now the top right flipper is a funky little thing that is in an unorthodox spot on the play field. It's not hugged up against a rail or anything. It is actually kind of by itself right here. You can go in and out of the thing. but what it's responsible for is this side ramp shot which is probably the toughest shot in the game it is pretty narrow there but it's your hypersleep so you can get extra balls up there you can lock balls up there and it is virtual lock up there very satisfying shot but very difficult to get to going even more with this flipper you're going to hit your inner orbit shot the inner orbit shot is like a shotgun it is super super fast and you got to be careful because it'll it'll catch up to you quick now from either of the bottom flippers or the top right flipper you can get to the airlock shot now the airlock shot is essential in this game and it's very inviting as well you can hit it pretty easily but that's going to start your modes as well as designations throughout the different throughout the different modes everybody loves that center shot yep there's a magnet there and there are two targets two stand-up targets you're going to hit that enough times and this beautiful xenomorph i'm almost afraid to touch it because it could bite me but that is going to spit out its ugly little inner head it's going to grab that ball and it's going to swallow it and that's going to start your multiball up i believe all right you got your traditional pop bumpers they're not 2d plastics but these are stop your grinning and drop your linen thank you bill paxton what these are are um back alley creations custom built pop bumpers that change colors with the RGB in the system. Love that, love that, love that. All right, as we're going down, look right in front of this right flipper up top flipper here there another little shot it a target shot that you can hit from either that left i think you can hit well no i think it only hit from that bottom left flipper and there's a target up in there as well it is nice to use that as much as you can because getting to this top right flipper can be very tough and again there's a lot of corresponding shots with that type right top right flipper so it's kind of a stopping point if you can hit it up there and hit this target then it'll stop it and it'll give you a nice clean shot to that ramp to lock balls or that inner orbit or even the mode star going back down you have your right orbit as usual and i guarantee you guys there's probably stuff that i'm missing here there's a little hideaway hole i was asking larry the owner of this indy pin what this is responsible for look how cool this little shot is so it can i guess you can almost go behind the flipper and in there you We can hit this target and bounce in there, but it is essentially the Indiana Jones shot or the full throttle shot. I believe they have that as well for highway. It'll come down here under your shooter housing, and it'll jump over that alley just like that, like the new, oh, what pen does that? There's a new one that does that. Is it Star Wars or Guardians? I'm not sure, but it'll hop over that alley there, and if you're not careful, it's going to go right past you. All right. Next thing to see are these drop targets. They're APC drop targets. These are utilized a lot in the mode, so you're going to want to make sure to pay attention to that. All right. The drops do light locks, and the APC starts rescue. So one, two, three. Those are the drop targets in the game. Now, before we leave, I would be remiss not to show you a couple features of the game. I like all the detail on these ramps. This game is just kind of chunky to me. chunky in a good way. It looks like it was built very industrial look to it, which fits the theme in the movie really well. The cabinet's built really well, as Greg and I will talk about. The LCD screen you have up top here for the airlock runs differently than the bottom playfield. Isn't that pretty? Now, the bottom playfield itself is going to display everything that's up in that big 27 inch monitor in the head, but a lot of people complain, I don't have time to look at the head. Well, you don't have to on this. It's right there for your viewing pleasure. Now, left out lane, I did forget to tell you about that. We need to talk about that before we end the video here. Just like Wizard of Oz, you do have a second chance. Whenever it comes out this left out lane, there's going to be one of these lit if you do light those up. So let's say the left is lit. If you can roll through that and through that you're going to save your ball correspondingly if you can go through the right there and stay to the right you're going to revive that ball that is what that's for a very fun game unique layout you're not going to see any other layout like it um very very fun let's go back to greg and i so that we can review this thing called alien welcome back all right so that was alien what'd you think about it i love it yeah i wish i would could do that little alien oh god that was more of a deal what the hell was it it's like hot breath in the morning it happens all right let's start with art my friend this is the most beautiful pinball machine you've ever seen no no but is it hideous no no where's it at i gave it a b minus i did too i gave it a b minus as well and i will explain my b minus go ahead uh you know art got got knocked a little bit on the heart package. He did. I absolutely see nothing wrong with it. I think the man nailed it. There's nothing wrong with it. There's nothing at all wrong with it. I think the reason that he nailed it is it stays true to the Alien franchise. It wasn't overdone. It is a dark, creepy spaceship environment. It's literally like you're walking through the tight halls of the corridors of that ship. It's dark. It's dark. but you still see what's going on. Don't let me get wrong. It's dark but it's The only lights you have are RGB. It's not unplayable dark. It's like Waz. Yes. You know the alien head, everything is beautiful. The xenomorph on the lower play field is gorgeous. What are we in? We're in art. Not toys and innovation. You said the xenomorph head was awesome. No not the xenomorph head on the side of the cabinets. completely my god completely always looking for something to bust my balls i was i was like this son of a bitch just trying to put art out of his ass with the eggs and stuff on the head not the toys you can't it can't be great you gave it a b minus on the head i like the xenomorph in the dream no i'm just saying i mean i'm saying it's very good but it's plain and it's supposed to be plain so you can't give it you can't give it a high rating yeah i give it a b minus because it's too dark everything else is general general space alien theme nothing stands out i think it's I think it's average, B-. Yeah. Shots and layout. It's above average. On your standards. This is where I like it. Your standards above average. Shots and layout. What did you give it, Greg? I gave it an A. Because? Because I think that it is a tremendous shooter. Can you say that about any wide body? Most people watching right now are going to say. I don't like wide bodies. Everybody knows I'm not a wide body fan. I am not a wide body fan. You are. I do not like wide bodies. it plays like a wide body it does it does play like a wide body but there are it screams wide body feel but there are so many shots there and there are so many unique shots shitload of unique shots and it can have so much flow it can um there are shots that look like that they're just impossible they just look like that's a hard-ass shot like the lock shot but it's a simple shot It's one of the easiest shots in the game, but it looks like it's just weird. I'll say on this machine, for some reason, you're at an A, right? I'm at an A-. I enjoyed it a lot. It takes some getting used to more than most machines I step up to. I will agree with that. I will agree with that. It's not a one-game, two-game pin. You've got to put a little bit of time on it. The reason that I boosted it up to an A- is because, like you said, the uniqueness of shots, the orbits, It's the shots that haven't been done in pinball before. The flipper that's kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but it serves a good purpose because you can hit the stand-up. And you weren't too wild about that at first. I wasn't at first, but then it becomes really good. The reason that I went down on it a little bit, because there's nothing... It's hard for me to control what's going on. I don't like that as much, and that's a wide-body kind of thing, I think. I don't think that it's overly hard. You can break a lot of shots. What was your control aspect? I just didn't feel like I could control the ball as well as I would have liked to. Yeah, I don't know if I had much of a problem with it. Can you say hi to everybody? Don't describe! She's still saying don't describe. So yeah, with shots, I don't know. I just didn't feel like I was in control. I felt like there was a lot of like, oh shit, try to get it. Oh shit, oh no, and then drink. Oh yeah, I got it this time. I clanked one. Oh, here it goes. And I'm done. Well, I don't really feel that. I think that you pay for missed shots. Like on Sterns, I'm like, bam, bam, bam. I feel, and maybe that's just because we know these layouts. But on this, I didn't know the layout, and it was hard to get used to. It is a hard to get used to game, but I don't have a problem with it. I still think that. Well, I didn't. I have a name on it. I think you pay. Actually I was getting ready to speak out of line I guess I was going to say you actually pay for missed shots You do But at the same time you kind of don It not necessarily like if you miss a shot then bam you into the outliner Bam, you're straight down the middle. No, but you're going left and right. It's scary. You're going left and right. It's a little apprehensive. Wide body does that, yeah. But I think it's a fantastic shooter. I like the flow of it. What about rules? Rules, rules, rules. Rules, obviously, you can't get too deep into. We don't know enough about it. We don't know every single rule. It takes a lot. We've played enough games to know the basic layout. Exactly. The format of the rules. But this is what I do like about the rules. This is the one thing. It's why that I have found that I'm kind of a fan of The Lost World. It utilizes, the modes utilize every aspect of the game. It's not just ramps. I love that. It's not just hit the orbits. I'm with you. It's using pop bumpers. It's using the orbits. It's using the shot over here. Yes. it's avoiding these shots yes i like that hit blue shots avoid the green shots yeah that sort of thing and and so and it in even the pop bumpers for uh to kill the the the nest or whatever yeah and it's not just again it's not just the light lit shots on orbits and everything it's on some of the little obscure yeah and if we're talking about rules you get to choose what game you want to play do you You want to play Alien? Or you want to play Aliens? Yeah. I love that. Yeah, and it's fantastic. I'm going to B+. Yeah, I'm going to B+, as well. I think there's nothing that stands out that's, like, uber deep. No. But it is that mode-based game that I really enjoy. Because you don't have to complete a mode to have completed a mode. I bet I could have even went A-. Yeah, I was teetering on it. I really was. I was, too. Because it was still fun. I could have probably won that. Easy to understand. It didn't take me long to grasp it. she's telling you on the screen what to shoot that's right there's additional weapons you can get weapons and use them by hitting the yeah larry said that uh something with those those weapons um i didn't fully comprehend it but it's kind of like your walker bomb that's your stuff it'll advance you towards which it doesn't have your masher up here but you you hit your your launch button it gives you plenty to do yeah plenty oh yeah plenty of multiball easily so it's good toys and innovation now you you kind of ripped it a little bit here i didn't rip it i gave it a b It's above average. Yeah. I give it an A-. I mean, obviously, if you count the eggs on the pot bumbers, that is stellar. That is one of the most gorgeous things in the game. That's almost as pretty as a Xenomorph. I actually think that it stands out. Yeah, but Xenomorph's so nice. It is. It is nice. It has toys and innovation. The innovative part for me, Greg, is that it's designed to feel very industrial. Yes. Like I was telling Larry, I said. The ramps aren't polished up like these gorgeous, shiny ramps. I don't know whether that's just a bad manufacturing thing or not. It works. But it works. And the ramp guards and everything. I told Larry, I said, it feels chunky in a good way. Like, everything is just metal. The guards just aren't plastic, clear plastic. Like, they've got design to them. There is the Whalen Corporation printed on one of the stuff. Like, there's all that. The lock in the back, like everything. Hyper sleep chamber up top is cool. It's got two LCD screens on the play field. That's innovative. Yeah, and your little xenomorphs down by the slings. Everybody complains. They say, well, I don't have time to look at the bag box monitor. Well, the same thing is replicated right in the middle of the play field. It is. So you can see it. You can glance at it. It is very helpful. Now, whether or not that holds the test of time durability-wise, I don't know. Yeah, I'm curious. But for now, it worked. Yeah, hilarious. It's still looking spectacular. Oh, my God, those eggs. Eggs are still the best. God, Back Alley Creations making those eggs. I will agree that the eggs very much rival the xenomorph. Now, my one complaint, and this is so stupid and minor, but I've heard it a lot from people that touch it, is that there just should have been a little carved figure of the xenomorph when it comes out, not just a rod with a magnetic tip. It should have literally looked like the little xenomorph. Yes, it should have just been a little head, just an extra little figure with a magnet. Yeah, just on the end still, but just a little head so that it looked a little cooler. But that's just being picky. That's what a lot of other people say. How do we talk innovation without talking about that Xenomorph magnet lock? That's pretty damn cool. You don't see that. The magnet catches it, and the little head comes out, grabs the ball, and then takes it back in. You don't really see anything. I'm not seeing anything like that. Nothing's really called for anything like that. Jurassic Park picks up the ball, and then he swallows it. Yeah. But nothing comes out, grabs the ball, and then comes back. And that's perfect theme for the Xenomorph there. And it's a beautifully molded xenomorph. Oh, it's gorgeous. It shines just like the one on the film. Like, it's this beautiful, glossy, spectacular little thing. So, Toys Innovations, I'm an A-minus. You're at a B. I probably should have rated it higher, but I'm just, you know. Boy, oh boy, music. Tell the people how you feel about the music and call-outs on this. I'm an A-plus. We had to discuss this a little bit, didn't we? Because this is the jackhole that ranked Tron under an A-plus. No. but you give this an A+. Yeah. Hate mail it coming. You already got plenty for that Tron, didn't you? Yeah. He felt that one. This poor guy doesn't ever get hate mail. I like some Daft Punk stuff. At least listen to you. Back stepping. I'm just saying. You're stepping back now. I'm just saying. But so this is what this does is you've got fantastic call outs. You've got scene clips from the movie and stuff, which is fantastic and adds stuff to it. But the score, the score, and this is where you sort of had a problem. I'm an A-, so I love it too. But am I right about this? You were like, yeah, but the music. Nothing stands out. But it's so subtle. It's very subtle. And it's so creepy that it sets the tone and the ambiance for your gameplay. Okay. Do you feel that? Yeah, but the reason I went A- is because I don't remember as it's going through different modes. Nothing tells me, hey, that was different. It all feels the same. Maybe that's good integration. I will agree with that. Maybe that's good integration. But nothing stuck in my head. I didn't think, ooh, I love that beat or that tone or, ooh, I love that call. I like the Bill Paxton call-outs. Well, I will agree. Those are worth an A alone. When you're in certain modes, a little bit more ramped up. Something. Give me a little something. A little louder and a little more ramped up would maybe be a little better. But I think it's fantastic. I think the spaceship computer telling you things to do and what's going on is fantastic yeah and then the alien shrills oh my god they're fantastic especially when you start like popping that nest and they're creepy too oh yes it is so awesome so i wouldn't want to playing this thing in the dark by yourself yeah it puts off the way there's not many creepy pins no this one's kind of creepy and this thing is it's again it's like the art I think the art could have went creepier the art could have went a little creepier but I'm just saying the subtleness of it that you would knock it for is what creates the pin and stays true to the theme ok really got some combo going on oh yeah that's fair all right theme what the hell was theme that's not singing i don't know sorry i'm in an a every once in a while greg does this i like alien franchise i'm gonna be minus the the minus um do you want to explain why you there you just love it i just think yeah i thought it was again and you thought So it integrated well Integrated well The side blades that light up are freaking fantastic I just think it integrated well I like the franchise. I will not give you an A because you don't have Ripley. Sigourney Weaver needs to be in there. Without it, saying it's an A is horse shit. That's a Southern thing, isn't it? Horse shit. It's horse shit. But it's ludicrous to not have Ripley in it. Now, I don't know. What was the story? would Sigourney Weaver literally not sign on to do Rehear? Yeah, but they didn't want to pay for it or something. But either way, it was stated like, well, and I can't remember, Highway didn't officially state this, did they or did somebody else, about how that it was like, well, you're playing as... I think Andrew Highway said something. I don't give a shit. Whoever said it, put it in my head. And it worked? And it worked. Because it does make me feel like, I do not miss... You feel like a woman when you play? No. I do not miss Sigourney Weaver in it at all. What are you talking about? I hate that. Oh, my God. I just don't. I don't. This is the stupidest shit I've ever heard in my life. I don't even think about missing her because it makes me feel so in that world and so entrapped in there. At least you have on Pirates of the Caribbean, you have freaking Jack Sparrow's face. I know you don't get his video or his audio, but damn, at least you get his face. This does not kill it for me. This kills it for me. You guys know why it kills it for me? Because alien theme is Sigourney Weaver. Oh, she is. She's a big part. B minus. I do not think it's missing. B minus. You're lucky it wasn't a C. Get Sigourney Weaver or don't take that title on. All right. I'm big with themes, man. Like, if you can't get a full, complete theme, piss off from it. don't mess with that theme anymore if you can get the theme I'd rather have an under and under popular or less popular theme where I get full balls IP then I would a great theme and not the main character I don't think it's that bad you got Bill Paxton saving grace isn't it well he always says rest in peace Bill Paxton. All right. Enjoyability. Freaking A-. Freaking B+. That's fair. I think we're right there. I enjoy the shit out of this game. And as soon as I feel secure enough and highway being a company, it'll be one of the top pins on my radar. I'd like to own one. Honestly, and that's being very truthful. It's not the greatest shooter. It's not anything, but the way that it pulls you in and the screenshots and the cuts. It is. It very much is. It's very intriguing. It's very much a story. It is? Very much a story. I'll give you that. Is it the story that I want to play, though? I've never been. I like Alien. I like Aliens. I actually prefer Aliens to Alien film-wise. I can agree with that. Call me weird. I agree with that. But it's not been a theme that I'm like, oh, my God, I've got to have it. No. So it doesn't pull me in. The enjoyability. I had fun playing. I could play it all night long and enjoy it. But it's nothing that I could say. I don't know. Maybe I'd keep it for a while. I'd like to have one. B plus. You're A minus? That's fair. Okay. So when we composite these bad boys, Gregory, we both came out to B pluses. And you know what? But mine was a little higher B. Yours is a 3.53. Mine's a 3.3. Mine was barely a B plus. It almost fell into the B. I think it's fair. I think this is a very fair score for this machine. Definitely a B plus. I agree. all the way around. It is a fun game. So we talked about all the pros. The cons of this, I think, are price. Price. $8,000. But, again, it is a solid machine. We have not talked about that. That machine... It's got good parts in it. It's got good parts in it, yes. But the damn cabinet is built like a tank. It literally has a full, hardened plastic armor, like an exoskeleton on this damn pen. Like a phone case. Yeah, the sound package is great. The subwoofer, the amplifier in it is fantastic. The LCD screens are nice from what I can see. Okay. The light-up side blades are freaking fantastic. I like the glass bezel. It's a pain in the ass to take on and off. The bezel is heavy as hell. It looks kind of cool. It kind of looks cool. But it looks cool. It fits. It works well. I do agree. I kind of like just kind of be able to pluck that off. It's a little heavy. But $8,000 for a standard? It's a little rough. But I'm just saying, though, it's not. How much do you want to pay for that pen? I want to pay. You know what I mean. How much do you want to pay? $6,500. I'm with you. $6,500. I want to pay $6,500. I feel like I'm getting a deal at $6,500 for that game. I do too. I feel like it would be adequately priced. But it does seem like a solid built machine other than the problems with mechs and things. I agree with that. And that's another con is, again, some of the issues that are coming out of it. Durability. Larry opened his up. He had a couple out-of-box things. Yeah, very small. Very small. It's nothing that would keep me from buying at all. That's the thing that I can live with. It's nothing that hinders gameplay tremendously. So you heard it here. Alien is a B-plus pin. Yeah. And you should go out and play one. It's a lot of fun. It is a lot of fun. I want to own one. I want one bad. Bad? Bad. I actually do bad. Yeah. Just not until Howie's proven. Pirates of the Caribbean. Or Alien. I guess I'll go Pirates. Okay, so C is not in. But Alien is still. Let's put it in perspective here. Alien still? Guardians of the Galaxy or Alien? Alien. That's not... Give me some Ooga Chocka all day long. With no rules. Okay. So, until next week, Greg, these fine people can still... I don't know if we're still having our holiday. We are having our... Yeah, we're still having our holiday. Holiday. Happy giveaway. Make sure you get all those codes from our stream. Get you some prizes. From videos. Free prizes. free brad good prize and from our facebook page check out our sponsors flipping out pinball for all of your pinball needs uh check out pin stadium lights pin stadium lights to light up and customize your machine and check out pin graphics the coolest place for side blades and different mods that you can find on the market and also if you guys want news in between listening to us give you news go to this week in pinball because they have the damn greatest website for up-to-date news. Sign up to the website. That way you can get reminders and different things like that. Cool stuff that Jeff's doing over there. Agreed. Until next week, guys. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Happy Kwanzaa. Love you. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Festivus. I don't know them all. Happy... This is where you get offensive because you leave somebody out. I shouldn't have started, should I? Bastard. Goodbye. You're rolling out the alley again. And you're so far behind. So far behind. Invincible ability. Invincible ability. What? I'm cut off. So how do we cut off? We fucked that other one up really bad then. you just can't move it mid camera I'm like this this week on SDTM up in Norfolk see she's just going to pan I know every time somebody talks