Star Wars Battle Pod

[Master Phruby]

Has anyone gotten to play this yet?

 

 

[[d2f]Iggy*SJB]

Not yet, but our (semi)local Dave & Buster's has one. Gameplay aside, I can only imagine that thing being a real bitch to maintain.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

I just got this into my arcade on Thursday, here's an 'unboxing' of it:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzsggKDaP4

[+wongojack]

There are several now in and around Dallas. I played it tonight for the first time at a Dave and Busters in Arlington but it is also at the Cinemark IMAX on 635. At D&B it cost 15 credits to play which is equates to like $3 per play. you get to choose from 5 different on-rails "scenes" which are exactly what you'd expect - Yavin, Hoth, Endor, RotJ Death Star, and then something called Vader's revenge. Each level has a difficulty associated Easy, Medium, Hard, etc.

 

The On-Rails action is pretty intense, but rarely is there anything to do but shoot whatever appears in front of you. You can score higher by being more accurate with your shots, but you are constantly having to adjust with the movement of the ship/speeder etc. Every enemy requires more than one hit to destroy.

 

The most impressive thing about it is the pod itself. The screen really is projected on the inside of a sphere and there is an added effect of wind blowing on your feet that augments the sense of speed. You have a two control stick scheme with throttle on the left hand and flight stick on the right. There is an alternate fire on the flight stick with a more powerful shot that sometimes locks on for you. You have the option to hold down the trigger, but your main laser weapon will do the equivalent of overheating if you do this too long. Note - the wife says she never even found the trigger and fumbled through the game using the alternate fire the entire time. She adds that it fills up a "lock" meter for you and when ready you can fire the equivalent of a missile at whatever target is currently in front of you. She also noted that it uses flight directions meaning Y is reversed (up is down).

 

If the control scheme sounds like After Burner - it is. In fact, they have another "pod" game that is fighter jet themed (but I didn't play it). Something tells me that one may be collectible someday.

 

Overall, I'd say, I liked the battle pod, but I would have preferred to play the original 1983 game instead (or the ESB upgrade). For one thing, the Battle Pod game ends when you complete one of the scenes and you must put more credits in to even continue your game. Mostly, I think the original game presents its gameplay elements in a much more fair and logical way. You only have to watch someone play SWA once to know what to do and how to improve your score and avoid damage. The Battle Pod's rewards seem more elusive in that most of your targets are chosen for you, and it is hard to decipher the code to improvement here. After 4 plays, I'm still unclear on when my ship would take damage, and I had only a surface understanding of the success criteria of the individual scenes. I also think that '98s Star Wars Trilogy did a better job of helping the player understand the mission objectives and keeping the best elements of the 1983 original.

 

Verdict: Don't drive 100 miles to play this. Instead, spend your time getting emulators running to play the games that have come before. However, if they have one at the same movie theatre where you are seeing Jurassic World then any Star Wars fan should give this a few plays.

[Cynicaster]

After 4 plays, I'm still unclear on when my ship would take damage, and I had only a surface understanding of the success criteria of the individual scenes.

This is what makes me sad about modern arcade games. The classics seem simple on the surface, but when you really look at it, the gameplay in most classic arcade games is actually richer than what you see nowadays. Modern arcade games--with all of their whiz-bang technology--are hardly even games anymore.

[Syzygy1]

I played that today at Dave & Busters. SOME GAME!