I got quite a few games in on both the pro and the premium over the weekend. Overall, I thought it was a pretty solid game. It's definitely lacking that new feeling that a lot of the other upcoming games have, however. Aerosmith is solid, but they really played it safe on the design. It just feels like something you've flipped before.

The right ramp is deceptively hard to hit consistently, but it's a great shot. Really smooth when you hit it. The orbits are great, and you can actually make the through the pops shot consistently. I'm still not a big fan of Borg's orbits to mid playfield pops that he does, but it's not a deal breaker.

After good time on both, I think that I prefer the pro. The upper playfield isn't AS BAD as people make it out to be, but it's still pretty weak. It does have some good rules paired with it, so it's a bummer that it's not a little more fun to flip. It's nice that it doesn't break the game's flow. But for the added cost the premium/LE demands, pro is what makes the most sense.

The only real gripes I have are the lock shot, Jacky's magnet, and the Aerosmith theme. I can look beyond the theme and enjoy the game, so that's not a big deal. I'm just no Aerosmith fan and the music gets tiresome. Jacky's magnet is a bummer. It's like Sparky, just feels less necessary. I don't know why Borg has to put a magnet in front of all his bash toys, but he needs to chill on that a bit. You get punished for making shots way too often with that noise. In fact, the only drains I really ever had were from Jacky or the pops doing something you couldn't recover from. The lock shot is just sloppy. 90% of the time when you "make" that shot, it's a ricochet off of something else, and clean shots quite often end up not sticking. It feels a little unfinished or forced.

Some of the things I really like are the skill shot, the ramps, and the basic strategy. The skill shot is great, because it allows you to avoid plunging to the pop bumpers completely, and you can get a lock out of it as well much more reliably than shooting for it. The ramps! The ramps are great. If there's one area that Borg is proving to be one of the best in, it's in how he designs his ramps. You'll never get sick of those things. They just feel so good. The basic strategy is also fun at this point. Starting songs, going to CIU, and allowing you to delay multiball (as you can in Mustang) is just great, especially since you can accidentally earn locks easily in this game (Jacky's magnet), and it gives you a chance to wait and stack. Good stuff. I'm sure code will deepen a bit with time, but Ropp has put out a good base. It has a good progression and flow to it. Understandable, but some challenge.

Aerosmith will probably do well, but there's no real big WOW factor. As said earlier, it all feels pretty familiar and it lacks any sort of risk taking or forward thinking. It does do those familiar things well, however, and that's often the most important part. I look forward to seeing what this will become with more time.