First impressions WCS

Slam23

Active member
Jul 21, 2012
1,279
2
Hi guys,
Well it seems that the iOS crowd got their present early for a change, and...it's a mixed bag. As far as I can see they have been able to recreate the table very faithfully in regards to license, just avoiding the "World Cup" trademarked name, hence the rebranding to World Champion Soccer, the new table logo on the back glass, and there are probably more differences, but I'm not that familiar with the table to spot them on the first couple of playthroughs. I would be very interested to hear if they changed anything in the DMD animations and call-outs. Ther have been a few moments in which black screens should have maybe shown something. I leave that to the table experts here on the forum.
I must say that my major gripe is with the tuning. I can live with shallow flippers and less ball control, that's a given on a Bally or Williams and that puts the focus rightly on skill. Some deadpassing and slight nudging fixes that right quick. I do have serious problems with the inability to make stationary shots to major targets. Ramps and orbit are doable but quite tight, but shooting the TV hole is near impossible from the left flipper from a controlled ball. Same goes for the Striker bonus hole right next to the Goal. The TV target is a major shot for starting MB and right now I've only discovered a backhand from the right flipper and moving shots from the left. They feel more like luck than skill. Getting EB's is very difficult with luck also determining the shot to the Striker hole, especially in the timed mode EB reward. Luckily the Goal area has the right balance of difficulty which makes scoring there very rewarding. Maybe scoring in the Final Match "wizard mode" if you can call it like that is too tough with 5 balls that continously get fed back on the playfield and obscure shot making. But let's give that a few extra chances before a final verdict. It should be hard for 500M, right? And getting beaten by a German squad is sadly a very familiar feeling for us Dutchies.... :)
With the frequency balls drain towards the right and left outlanes, keeping the Kickback lit is paramount and that makes Unlimited Kickback as Striker reward very valuable and even a bit overpowered with this tuning I think.
So there you have it, a first impression of a table that could have been very enjoyable and overall I think Farsight has done a great job to get this often requested table on menu with some license adjustments. It's the shot tuning that puts me off too much to really enjoy it. I love to hear from people that have experience with the real table to hear if Farsight got it right with this one!
 
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gordonabrown

New member
May 3, 2016
66
0
I haven't played the TPA version yet but on the real game, in my experience, the TV hole has also been very difficult to hit from a trap. On a real machine I think my top score was 1B+ so from your description it probably plays equal in difficulty.

Looking forward to trying it tomorrow when it comes to Steam!
 

McGuirk

New member
Feb 25, 2012
299
0
I believe there was an audio edit, I heard a Callout that was something like "Welcome to World--Soccer"
 

Gorgias32

New member
Jan 14, 2016
436
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Just got it running on iOS (after listening to the stream where they told how to do it, to go in from the shopping cart menu), and my first impression is that the flippers feel underpowered and everything seems to move slower than in the actual game. Hopefully a tuning pass will be made to power up those flippers. I had trouble making the ball get around the loops and up the ramps from a trap, and that's just not how the actual table plays (at least the one I played).
 

Slam23

Active member
Jul 21, 2012
1,279
2
I haven't played the TPA version yet but on the real game, in my experience, the TV hole has also been very difficult to hit from a trap. On a real machine I think my top score was 1B+ so from your description it probably plays equal in difficulty.

Looking forward to trying it tomorrow when it comes to Steam!

Let us hear how it plays on Steam! I have yet to hit the TV hole from a controlled ball on the left, it just seems impossible to me
 

Striker

New member
May 26, 2017
138
0
Changes to DMD: I would expect to see the World Cup and USA 94 scrubbed from it. I think the World Cup only appears if you beat Germany in the Finals - Striker briefly hoists it.

Also might see some blank spaces during TV Award 4 (or 5, maybe), the "Where's Striker" mini-game. Basically you hit lit targets all over the table to find Striker, but you often encounter "special guests" from other pins before locating Striker. Rudy from Funhouse was one; that should be OK. But Raiden from Mortal Kombat was another; not sure if TPA can display him.
 

Pinballwiz45b

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2012
3,677
33
Changes to DMD: I would expect to see the World Cup and USA 94 scrubbed from it. I think the World Cup only appears if you beat Germany in the Finals - Striker briefly hoists it.

Also might see some blank spaces during TV Award 4 (or 5, maybe), the "Where's Striker" mini-game. Basically you hit lit targets all over the table to find Striker, but you often encounter "special guests" from other pins before locating Striker. Rudy from Funhouse was one; that should be OK. But Raiden from Mortal Kombat was another; not sure if TPA can display him.

Mortal Kombat was made by Midway, the same company that did WCS. Odds are, it should be fine.

...after all, games like MM and Jack*Bot referenced Mortal Kombat, too.
 

Striker

New member
May 26, 2017
138
0
I can live with shallow flippers and less ball control, that's a given on a Bally or Williams and that puts the focus rightly on skill.

Watching the Twitch replay last night, the two guys playing WCS94 had a hard time scoring goals and getting balls up the ramps. Not enough OOMPH on the flippers.
 

rehtroboi40

New member
Oct 20, 2012
1,668
0
Watching the Twitch replay last night, the two guys playing WCS94 had a hard time scoring goals and getting balls up the ramps. Not enough OOMPH on the flippers.

Over the seasons, FarSight has really toned down the flippers. While ramp shots are still very-much doable. it's a lot harder to "spam" ramp shots than it was in the first two seasons. That and fixing the "vacuum ramp" conditions.

Now if only they would fix the lower inlane/outlane vacuums as well.
 

Garycope

New member
Nov 5, 2013
344
0
Just got it running on iOS (after listening to the stream where they told how to do it, to go in from the shopping cart menu), and my first impression is that the flippers feel underpowered and everything seems to move slower than in the actual game. Hopefully a tuning pass will be made to power up those flippers. I had trouble making the ball get around the loops and up the ramps from a trap, and that's just not how the actual table plays (at least the one I played).
I feel the same way about the flippers. I've been playing this table all day on my iPad Air 2 and starting to worry about my glass screen, every time I flip I push really hard to get more power in those flippers but no help. The table is a lot of fun farsight did a nice job on this. Does anyone know what else was on this update? After I bought World Cup four of my tables needed updating. I'd like to know what was tweaked .
 

Burdette25159

New member
Nov 1, 2015
78
0
I believe there was an audio edit, I heard a Callout that was something like "Welcome to World--Soccer"

Kinda reminds me of WWE13 WWE2K14 and WWE2K16's showcase modes censoring of pre name change WWF, in the showcase modes of Wwe 13, 2K14 and 2K16, all references to WWF and World Wrestling Federation are muted on either the F or "Wrestling Federation" despite the WWE network not muting for the most part WWF or World Wrestling Federation
 

Striker

New member
May 26, 2017
138
0
I just wonder what the next table hint will be. Since I don't get the newsletter anymore, I'd normally be lurking around here to find out what it is.

Newsletter apparently dropped today:

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gordonabrown

New member
May 3, 2016
66
0
First few run-throughs on Steam and I'd agree with the flippers. They are certainly weaker than my experience with the real table. Makes shooting goals a fair bit more difficult to do, particularly in the World Cup Final v. Germany. Overall the table is great though, again in comparison to my experience, perhaps a bit floaty. Really enjoying this one a lot.
 

Striker

New member
May 26, 2017
138
0
I feel the same way about the flippers. I've been playing this table all day on my iPad Air 2 and starting to worry about my glass screen, every time I flip I push really hard to get more power in those flippers but no help. The table is a lot of fun farsight did a nice job on this. Does anyone know what else was on this update? After I bought World Cup four of my tables needed updating. I'd like to know what was tweaked .

Just Firepower II, evidently.

Version 1.64.12 (8/18/17)
- World Championship Soccer released
- Head to Head temporarily disabled while we do major updates to it. Should be back next week.
- Various fixes for Firepower II.
 

Striker

New member
May 26, 2017
138
0
Ah . . . needs work on Steam/PC, too. My game crashed after 40 minutes. A lot of fun, mixed in with a bit of frustration.

The fun and feel of the table are there, thanks to the DMD and callouts. The cosmetic changes do not bother me in the least.

Flippers are much weaker than the real game. Weak flippers = no chance to advance and "win" MB against Germany. But hey, I did beat Morocco!

Very difficult to catch balls, which is a big part of this game, since you have a lot of targets to choose from - ramps? The goal? TV Award? Striker's Hideout? Loop to advance city? The real life version was about precision and targeting your shots - except for MB. When I could catch balls, I could usually hit my intended target - except for TV Award.

TV Award: Slam23 is right. I hit the TV award dead on several times from the left flipper and the ball sproings away. Was able to target it twice from the right flipper, but most of the time I hit it by dumb luck.

Goalie: Maybe it's just the machines I played on, but he seems a little fast on this one. On the other hand, he was turned off on one of the machines I played IRL.

MagnaSave: It never worked properly in real life, either. So no hard feelings about this.

Overall, I still enjoyed seeing WCS come to life on TPA finally. Fix the flippers and TV Award and this will be a great table.
 
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