fuuuuudge....that's an insane score. I'm nowhere near that.
we've shopped and sold several IJ4 and while it looks killer with LEDs, I think the game is kinda lame. I don't see any similarities to Met myself.

I actually do agree to some extent with your thoughts, especially when you get past the 2nd CIU in one game. The amount of shots required to get anything to happen once you've had each MB a few times and need like 25+ shots for each CIU item feels really woodchoppy, and if you start and end Seen N Destroy, good lord have fun relighting everything.

I still think that the comparison is a bit extreme as I lose interest in IJ4 on location after one or two games, and Metallica keeps me coming back for more in my own home. The music, the sounds, the art, the lighting, the toys (speaking premium here for lighting and hammer toy- pro i guess would be closer and more fair a comparison?) all add up to much more than IJ4 for me, and there are alot of nuances to Metallica's rules that IJ4 has nothing like it (CIU, SnD being the obvious ones, but Fuel mode, snake lock, and the various MB rules have their own goals that distract you while progressing things)

AND one last thing to keep in mind, Metallica isn't done yet. I have no doubts that the Fuel lane lights, band member modes, and probably overall balance and challenge is still in a state where it could change in weeks, months, or maybe in a year (see: Tron).

Sorry I don't see it. One is a very fun kick ass game and the other is IJ4.

I don't see the similarity at all. IJ 4 has almost zero mode stacking, no strategy at all. Everything is stop and go. Only one ramp. Metallica has some nice stacking rules and lots of flow. The ball is not stopped often. Ij4 feels like a chore to play to me. Metallica does not.

My long story short from above is that Metallica does start to feel like a chore to me past the 2nd and especially 3rd CIU. Especially the captive ball. Ugh so many hits...

It's not nearly to the extent of IJ4 mind you but I think there is some similarity between the games if you play purely to get to the end game. The difference with Metallica is theres more strategy and variety if you want to score points and forgo the mode progression in favor of properly stacking things and shooting for points vs wizard mode progression.

IJ4 is not unique in this regard.

My experience with IJ4 has always been on well maintained machines actually, and I've actually progressed fairly far in the game but it's ultimately boring as hell after you hit Ark multiball a few times and wow onlookers.

If you play for score, progressing to EoL in Metallica isn't really the goal, and all the woodchopping kind evaporates. This is what IJ4 is missing.

My best Metallica score is 450 Million and that was with only 1 or 2 CIU modes played which is probably 30% of the game you played to reach EoL. There was little to no woodchopping to do that, just skilled (or lucky ) play.

Don't assume. Its been a very long time but I completed each of the 4 features. I don't remember if there was a wizard mode or what.

Metallica had decent stacking without the multiball stacking. You can use the mb to complete requirements and enable CIU, for example. You can stack CIU and seek and destroy, fuel and everything. I've gotten to 4 CIU in one game. I never felt it was a chore.

Uhh not even close to being the same in the fun category. I disagree.

Get mb and work on seek/destroy progression and thus CIU progression.
You can always turn down CIU hit requirements if you own the game.

I turned up my IJ4 requirements when I had the game...yuck!

I think you're reaching big time. IJ4 has typical Lonnie Ropp rules. There are only two ways to play it. For high score, the only viable strategy is to start multiballs to pound on the captive ball for bonus multiplier. Using this strategy, your bonus is often 10x more than what you earned while actually playing the ball. I think the highest I've ever gotten is 48x bonus on one ball. When bonus is the only strategy, that's not good. And if you want to reach the wiz mode, you have to chop wood for an hour or more to get close. Fatigue and/or boredom usually sets in long before that. No mini wiz modes (like CIU) along the way to keep you interested.

MET is Lyman Sheats' best game ever IMO. I thought that about AC/DC, but MET's code is even better. AC/DC is deep in a way that scares non-players. MET is also stupid deep, but far more approachable to lesser players than AC/DC. IJ4 is a casual players only game. Shallower than a kiddie pool. No disrespect to Lonnie, but MET vs IJ4 ain't even close.