I have a little over a hundred plays on my Combo LE, so I think I can provide some fair thoughts now. First, I'm still running s/w 1.4 and have installed the kit from Stern that stopped the ball launches into the glass and included good flipper rubbers. I like it and I'm playing it a lot lately and don't see it leaving my collection anytime soon. It has a lot of that "one more game" draw. I don't love it though, so let's start with my three biggest gripes before getting into the good: (1) Half the time my Ironhide playfield is running without my ball in it because so many shots only go half in, yet still activate it (2) As with most people, I'd like to see OP multiball progress save. (3) What's up with 10 or 11 shots being required for the modes? Bumblebee and Mudflap/Skids, I get, but what does such a high number of shots equate to other than repetition? Does the number mean something, like how many other robots they've fought, kind of like when Optimus rattles off all of the Decepticons he's battled?

Now the good. This is a beautiful game and extremely well lit. It's got great call outs and lots of speed. Being able to play it two different ways (Autobots or Decepticons), is very refreshing. Megatron really pumps the balls out and they don't all go SDTM, so cudos to the designer of that contraption. Yes, it's a fan layout, but nicely done and the integrated shaker makes it feel like a very substantial machine. They captured the Starscream, Blackout, and Rachet sounds nicely. I still need to upload the latest s/w, hopefully that will make it even better.

TF LE is a fun game and I'm still happy with my purchase, though I haven't yet locked the game in as a keeper (unlike Tron). Personally, I like the theme and game play. The graphics, sounds, and call outs are also great. However, I don't think it could ever be regarded as an A-list Stern like LOTR, SM, or Tron unless it receives another s/w update to take care of two major things: shot repetition and OP multi-ball progression. The biggest problem to me is the repetition. Most of the robots require 10 or 11 shots to complete their mode, but there's no reason provided why it's 10 or 11 shots. If the number of shots could be linked to something that made sense, I could understand why it takes so long to complete modes. In OP multiball there are call outs on his battles with various decepticons, "Blackout defeated," for example, so the lengthy number of shots make sense. As it stands though, I sometimes feel a bit punished because of excessive repetition. The OP multi-ball progression issue has been raised by numerous folks so I won't go into that, but suffice it to say that you can have a good game going and get stuck in a pit of despair trying to complete OP. I must be an idiot though, because I keep coming back for more.