I went down to Zax Amusements today and had a few games on Full Throttle. A few initial thoughts:
Its a big, wide game and looks even wider because of the thick bezel around the playfield glass. You really feel like you are standing in front of something substantial. It dwarfs the Kiss machine next to it and after I played a few games and moved over to the Kiss it felt kind of cramped in comparison.
It has a very open, modern feel. Partly because of the layout and partly because there are no switches in areas such as the outlanes. The game is very fast however, it didn't feel like there was too much space. There are heaps of shots.
Everything is super smooth. The ramps feel satisfying and solid when you hit them. The flippers are strong and seemed very light, almost effortless to flip. I played Judge Dredd afterwards which felt much heavier and almost clunky in comparison. The flippers have superbands on them.
One thing I liked was that a ball coming down the inlane could be cradled easily, even when it was going very fast.
The LCD in the playfield was cool. It gave plenty of information, especially when you were in a 'race'. This particular model did not have the LCD in the backbox which I actually felt was OK, but the backbox LCD would be a nice addition.
There was heaps of code. I started several modes and different multiballs but I felt that I had only scratched the surface. The game was a lot of fun, not really a theme I am interested in but I would like to play it more on location. I can't remember the exact price, but it is about 10 grand, a similar price to the premium Sterns which they sell there as well. The staff were very friendly and enthusiastic and seemed to be happy for me to stay and play this and the other machines as long as I liked. I'd encourage people to go down and have a look.
