I am looking forward to seeing one of the X Men LE's in person. The X Men Pro looks much better in person than the photos on the internet.
Things look flat on the net, but alot more shiny when at the machine. I was surprised at just how good the cabinet art on the Pro looked.
Also, having a few days off work, I have been looking at alot of the John Borg designs of the past 15 years and alot of the features he uses on his machines that really work.
I like the placement of his pop bumpers, use of scoops to catch and shoot balls from, use of fast ramp shots with quick ball returns, and the use of spinning disks etc and always a great 3rd flipper placement.
I worked out that I have alot more John Borg designed games than what I knew.
Games like ** Last Action Hero, Tales from the Crypt, Frankenstein, Lost World Jurrassic Park, Twister, and soon X Men Pro.
He also was involved in designing another dozen great games at least.
I can see all the best features of the above ** machines incorporated into X Men. I like his designs. They work very well. Anyone who has played some of the above machines will know just how much fun and how varied the gameplay can be on a Borg design.
Recent Stern offerings like Tron and Ironman were great. A game like Avatar with only 1 x ramp cant be blamed on the designer to my mind, cause budgets/lack of toys etc and time constraints are set by the company, and not the designer. Avatar etc was made during the lean cost cutting times at Stern. Things are looking alot better for Stern these days, and the cost cutting seems to have been knocked on the head. It shows with the end result for the X Men game anyway. Cant wait to see John Borgs next title.
