The game is very solid.

I am a day one Magneto owner, and initially it did stink in a bad way and for a long time.

Patience paid off for me. I am enjoying playing this game, but I can see where some players don't find the game "fun".

The shot patterns are some of the most unique around in the modern Stern era. They are difficult and yet allow many interesting combinations. ( To an earlier poster, that is how you engage Deadpool. He helps you automatically. )

X-men requires a lot of setup to score decently and requires use of the whole playfield. There is no exploit on the game.

Contrary to what some might believe, the hit Wolverine all day long strategy is not the best option. If a player is a good multiball player, then it does make sense to go after the first Weapon X multiball, (assuming it is not on extra hard start) and it would be smart to bring in a villain along the way.

The rewards for completing other heroes and many other villains often surpasses the cumulative jackpot and SJP awards for Weapon X. The major benefit of Weapon X is to use it to complete the Villain modes.

There are benefits to playing as many heroes as possible before engaging Magneto multiball. In addition to earning an extra ball for completion (points in tourney mode), the Magneto multiball is worth much more as more heroes are played. Also completing all the heroes allows for playing Danger Room which is worth a lot of points.

There have been some complaints about the wizard modes. I am curious how often those issues are really a factor for players on factory settings. I know in competitive play reaching those modes is highly unlikely, particularly with no extra balls.

The art and light show is very good. The game suffers from a lack of exciting Jackpot call outs and has some mediocre sound bites (waiting for the sh/tty Beast comment in 3 2 1) which understandably bothers collectors. And some collectors think the toys are out of scale, and others dislike the effect and use of the Iceman ramp.

I am a bigger fan of rules and strategies and thinking how to play a game competitively. (The Iceman ramp will probably be off especially after watching that drain KME had, but adds for fun in a home setting). I like what the game offers and am looking forward to seeing it more in competitive play.

As with any other game, it has pros and cons, and as the kids say YMMV.

The tight shots at weird angles I think are what turn many players off. There are all sorts of geometric oddities in the game. I, however, like the quirkiness of it, since it does not feel like many other games. There are certainly times when there is a lot of combination flow, if the shots are spot on. Missed shots will feel clunky in X-men.

In contrast, a game like Stern's Star Trek is game I like that flows very nicely and is a pleasure to shoot, but the shot patterns do not feel unique. There is less of a clunky feel when missing shots. Steve is the master of flow

My Magneto still has the factory Wolverine setup. I don't have any issue with making the Beast shot or Xavier shot. My issue is the rules of the Weapon X mode itself; specifically it becomes tedious to restart it the SJP is not completed within the first 2 attempts. The captive ball mod is not going to solve that. It prevents stumbling into Weapon X multiball more often from stray shots.