Did you Play at Game Exchange?

ACDC has well over a year and a half of coding into it; you need to give metallica some more time for code to be fair

I have a feeling this machine will dominate all previous sterns in the last 5 years (exception of AD/DC).

We shall soon see, ACDC sucked... But Metallica looks awesome!

Exactly why we shouldn't buy it yet. Give it some time and see where the code goes.

Lyman needs to head up all coding. No, he can't do it all himself, but he can direct it all. He's an incredibly intelligent person. At the end of the day it all simply needs to be *Lyman approved*. That should fix all the problems with *non-Lyman* offerings of the past. To me it is all vividly clear; pay the man that makes all Stern games good the $$$ it requires and give him the staff he needs to make it happen. Designers are important, and I do not mean to in any way to undersell their value, but the programmer is the key to a long term home experience (or a route experience for anyone paying attention). Just my two cents. Personally, I am having a ton of fun with what I see on Metallica so far.

I agree with all that. i've played it about 20 times but i think it's missing something ... rules maybe? Modes? and i'm not sure i like the popup post in the back of the playfield that interrupts the full orbit shots. i'd prefer a full orbit to start the combos but maybe i'm missing the point of the post.
oh, and i think the music is awesome but as soon as the music started rocking, i would drain. i was experiencing fast ball times.

Ive met about 8 new pinsiders in the last 4 days =)

Given all the recent uninspired layouts, I totally agree designers aren't keeping up (and the programmer is left with the task of making a fun game).

Lyman's a great programmer...that we know. Don't assume great programmers want to lead/manage. For those programmers that do give it a try, it doesn't always work out. I spent a career hiring/leading/managing programmers and know this from experience.

If Lyman's happy doing what he's doing, that's all that matters! Stern hopefully treats him well.

Set up my Metallica Pro last night, its definitely a clean looking cabinet and playfield. Playing it felt a little lackluster compared to other pro models of Stern's recent releases. I will say that I'm glad I changed my order from LE to pro and got an outrageous deal on the pro because of it. I wouldn't have been happy spending 8k+ on the LE as a player. Its pretty fun though, guess I was expecting more. Seemed a bit rushed and the theme at first with a lot of sparky and snake call outs and such struck me as slightly random, but hey that's the art of it. Fun themed instead of dark themed. but nobody said it would be dark, I just assumed for some reason lol.

As hyped as this game has become in the past couple months before anyone had played it, it doesn't surprise me in the least that it comes across as a bit underwhelming. Very few things, pins, movies, books, music, etc., can be hyped that much and get anywhere close to living up to that level.

Ill be playing tonight. Mine is sitting in my garage, was delivered today. I cant wait for work to end.

Probably not worth judging code until the band member modes are in. Hopefully they are in for the LE / premium shipment.

I played the pro at GEX today too. I'm not a fan on Metallica but I did think the quality was better then previous pro model. Like wire form ramps so much better then plastic ones.

JJ is a great guy if you are looking at getting a NIB stern sent anywhere in the country.

Husband and I played it today at Lanes & Games in Cambridge, MA. I had a blast! I could tell it would be even more awesome with the sound cranked up and a sub without any distractions. The Sparky light show was pretty cool.

I think music pins are my bag, baby.

The designers are in a no win position.

Design something a little bit different with a new and interesting layout ... Like Avengers ... You get slammed.

Do something traditional ... Like AC/DC ... And the layout is "boring"

There are only so many things you can do on a 20" x 46" piece of wood and make it work.

rd.

I want something completely different that is better than anything that's been done before.

And I want it NOW!

+1 - self-created problem in this community. The hype-engine has been in overdrive...

On a related story... "METLE futures dropped by more than 10% today on the news of numerous disappointed METPRO players".

We need a website that has daily closing prices on all pins...

"Blue horseshoe loves METLE"

nah they can do interesting designs and not get slammed. Avengers was just a terrible lay out. There's plenty of games out there that aren't a fan lay out that people love, especially now that the collectors make up a lot of sales they should be able to thrive on odd layouts

Despite today's setback following the disappointing Borg video promoting the Pro edition, METLE is still trading 28% higher than the IPO price of $7200.

does anyone know if the LE has a multicolored DMD? I swear I saw it on the press release video footage.

Nope. No color DMD. Just an app they use to create the dots and create shading.

It's just ok to me. Nothing really special honestly. I'm kinda disappointed.

Nope. Sorry.

"Collectors" are the worse of the lot.

CSI .... Interesting and different layout. SLAMMED

AVENGERS .... Interesting and different layout. SLAMMED

XMEN .... Interesting and different layout. SLAMMED

(I could probably name a few more ..)

However if you actually take the time to play a properly dialed in version of any of the above games, they are all very cool.

However, 80% of the populace sticks one credit in, "nah don't like it" and that's the end of that.

rd.

Agreed but CSI is still poo lol.... welllll the layout aint that bad..

Come on Richard! Don't be so tough

Not every game can be Addams (zzzzzzzzzz)

Hahhaha

rd.

CSI is like 10% of addams.. Hmmm didnt Pat Lawlor do CSI???

And I'm sure that's the only goal of some of these guys who didn't get a MoPLE... trash the Pro and hope the LE drops.

Played 2 different Pros at Enchanted Castle in Lombard, IL on Tuesday. Both were fairly loud and could hear sound very well.

Pros:

1. PF art/quality is awesome. Clear coat looked damn good as well.

2. Good ramps design, satisfying and even lame shots from me could still make it up and around the left ramp.

3. Translite looked nice, but semi dull under the florescent, perhaps an LED panel could give it more life

4. Had great ball action overall and was fun to play even on early code.

5. Sparky callouts were much better in person than video, however most band call outs still suck

6. Killer DMD animations and quality

Cons:

1. Pro cabinet art is lame, this does nothing for me and looks somewhat cheap. While the PF has similar style, the PF art has much more depth. I would never buy a Donny Premium because of this.

2. This is minor and easily fixable by end user, but they have the same stupid sound setup like Xmen had, where majority of sound comes thru the cabinet speaker. Who the hell designed this crap? Please put it back to the way it was in the past. I could have rocked out much more if the backbox had the music blaring more.

3. While ramps are designed well, the metal has a chincy feel to them. Reminds me of T3 ramp quality. The wire habitrails are great though.

4. Nearly pointless magnets. We are not getting much action from them. Xmen and IM blow away Metallica in this department There's not much "whip" action you can accomplish on the Sparky magnet (due to lack of space?), and DEFINITELY jack shit you can do with the grave marker magnet besides hold the ball. I suppose increasing strength/timing via software may help, but it seems unlikely due to positioning.

Conclusion: Game has great potential and seems promising, but time will tell as always. I am mostly concerned that the Sparky shot is too easy and repetitive, along with the lame magnet action. I will certainly wait to play a Premium or LE before ordering anything.

I like the magnet in the drop target bank; it's much nicer than putting a post there. Yeah, it would be nice if Sparky's magnet flung the ball around, but it looks like the game will be hard enough without that.

Does anyone know if the cross in the drop target bank activates a switch or does the magnet opto act as the top switch in that area? Hopefully that magnet will be used for more things than just holding the ball there for a second or two before Gravemarker multi-ball begins? Also, is the moving cross on the LE/Premium just for show or is there a switch built into the cross where you can only hit it when the cross is in the "up" position which makes you strategically time your shots?

What about this game looks hard? Until I get my hands on one, I won't be able to say for sure, but it looks pretty easy to shoot, possibly long ball times and currently not a tonne of stuff to do.

In their current state the rules appear to have a similar depth to other Stern games I have enjoyed (IM, Avatar) but without as much interesting stacking options.

The relatively unpunishing shot layout won't change with a code update.

Are people having much more trouble playing this in person than the videos I have seen suggested?

There's a lot of whining on the Lyman video thread about the shots being too tight. A good game to compare it to is No Fear, which has 10 shots. Metallica goes to 11.

It takes skill to play NF with lots of flow; it may take a little more skill to play Metallica with lots of flow. It will be a great game for tightening up your aim and timing.

http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2852&picno=6659

anybody else having trouble downloading the pro software update from Sterns game code library? mine shipped with 1.03

Its only videos that i have seen off course. But when i compare this pro vs the custom metallica pinball i saw on youtube..... I a not sure which one is better, i am afraid i like the custom more.

Hope to see more videos when code has advanced.

Looks like they never changed the filename so it won't work from the game code lib link.
Try this one....

http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/mtl106.zip

Amen brother.

cool thanks

Dropped the outlane posts a notch and its a lot more fun for home use. This game is pretty quick and unforgiving. I'm really getting to like it more every day, and the characters like sparky and snake are growing on me.

Hehe yep we cranked the volume up a bit more, this game Screams for a Aftermarket sound upgrade.

played at pinball jones in fort Collins thanksto Gexchange and JJ. Kim is a really nice woman and has a great love for he hobby! I loved the pro model, it didn't have the update but I see the potential. the LE models should be the bee's knee's!. from what I learned from playing the ac/dc premium next to the metallica pro, is that they are totally different gameplay. ac/dc is more easy, open flow shots. metallica has much tighter shots in the pf layout, and is much more challenging. I like all 3 of the metallica mb modes, nd can't wait for an update. I can never compare ac/dc to metallica in gameplay because they are so different. someday I will have one of each in my house though!

People have warmed to xmen now so you can cross that off, the big knocks were always software and not lay out. CSI is just dodgy. What about all the top games with different lay outs collectors do like? TZ? RBION? TSPP? CV? an odd lay out can succeed if it's fun. I like that AV tried something other than a fan lay out, but they missed the mark for me. I agree though to the general public in an arcade a more traditional lay out will probably see more play but for collectors who like depth an odd lay out works.