Please take a second and read all my comments. I think I scored it high but very fairly.
First off, I will start with the negative.
-The theme song. Can get so repetitive. You can turn this off luckily (it's an option in Adjustments!)
-The theme itself maybe? I've never been a huge turtles fan...always thought it was a bit of a dumb concept even though I grew up at exactly the right age that I maybe should have liked it a bit more
-Scoring - a bit hard to understand, and I still don't. I don't understand how I can hit something like the 1-2-3 Foot Combo in one shot and then my 7 year old daughter plays a random button mashing turn and outscores me. This NEEDS to be worked on in my opinion, and can be, but if this is dialed in a bit better, look out. It is by far the biggest problem in my opinion with this game, and it would be nice if some of this was fixed. You should get rewarded for making hard shots and combos, and currently you don't, really.
Now, the positive:
-FUN. I have literally since being in the hobby (a little under 3 years) have not had as much FUN on a machine as I have had on this one. It is an absolute blast playing Co-op or 2v2 (or another variation, 3v1!) with some friends over some beers and laughing at the others' inability to hit shots, or whatever. I'm sure there will be more Stern's and other pins that have a good co-op aspect to it, but right now this one is the best I've played.
-Shots. I've heard some people say the shots are bad. Uhhhh.... what??? Maybe it's too hard for you lol, but the shots are smooth if you're a decent player and hitting things like the 1-2-3 foot combo or Krang combo is as good as it gets and extremely satisfying. The shots are great!
-Music, Lighting, Theming. Yes, it's all very good!!! And I'm not a turtles fan, although I'm sure some people reading this will be like ya whatever, I really am not. But I am more of one now I'll tell you. They did a really good job with the episodes, animation, integration, lighting (fantastic lighting, actually) and the music is great - not distracting - fun techno ish vibe music. Doesn't distract like I said, fits nicely in the background and is never an annoyance. Again, you CAN TURN OFF THE ANNOYING TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES SONG!!! The callouts are great and varied as well!!!!
-Depth. As of the current code (1.23 I think) there is TONS to do. Just, TONS. The Cowabunga Multi Ball is ever elusive (even with friends, although we've come oh so close!), the episodes have a great mix of shots, timed challenges, etc. It also has a mode like Jurassic's "Escape from Nublar", if you want to play the final showdown with Shredder. Fantastic! Add to the fact you have 4 Turtles with different perks, a bit of strategy can come into play especially in Co-Op, and the order you choose them. It's not Star Wars character wise, but I think this can be improved and really be something special! It would be nice too if the team up multiballs were a bit more... unique. Other than the starting animation, I'm not sure how they differ (but this is all really small things, it seriously has great depth and good friggin luck getting to the Cowabunga multiball!!!)
-Layout. I don't know, I love it. I've heard some people bitch about the layout or shots. I think it's great. Pinball is subjective.
-Speed and Difficulty. Not Walking Dead hard but harder then say, Guardians of The Galaxy would be a good example.. It's really fast.
Anyways if you've read this far I would imagine you are already interested in the game. It's great! Seriously. I bought it and after a week was like... I don't know... and had some good trade offers. After 2 weeks, the family and myself want this one to stay quite a while (my kids enjoy this game more than ANY I've ever had including Spider-Man, LOTR, Deadpool, Metallica, Game of Thrones, POTC, BM66 and a many others!!).
I don't understand the negativity some have, but I assume it's theme related or they don't like fast, challenging games.
Play it in a home setting, with FRIENDS AND BEERS(!!!) and you'll understand.
9/10. As good as any Stern I've played or owned. It's all about FUN, remember?