Daz,   a few questions.

How long are ball times with everything set to hard versus standard (moderate) ?   OR are the ball times the same-ish, but the scoring is just alot more difficult ?
I found the ball times on X Men Pro are excellent, and the scoring on Std is quite hard, meaning reaching say 25 million is difficult, so if u are reaching close to 35 to 40 million with everything set to hard, u are doing really well.

Whats your favourite mode or favourite part of the game, any audio or dot matrix stuff that sticks out ?
My favourite part was trying to lock all balls to get multiball, and trying to get each n every X Men character along the way.

Give us all a quick rundown about the game and what you like about it the most. Alot of people know about Sterns latest offerings being AC/DC etc, but X Men hasnt got much coverage so to speak, and its just such a fun and captivating game.  

To be honest I find this game pretty hard but very enjoyable at the same time.
Ball times can be very short like Ironman if the shots are not dialed in right or can be quite long when the shots are pure and the flow kicks in. The settings on hard only make the villians harder to beat. I don't think I am doing that well on it score wise compared to many who are getting 60 odd million on the LE, maybe the pro is a little faster but surely not 30 mill in diference so my play is not as good as I would like it on this game. I find IM a lot easier but I have owned it longer.

My fav modes are the villian modes in particular sentinels and juggernaut, i like have having to beat the health meter down on juggernaught to get his helmet off and them try and hit the xavier shot to beat him. rouge and Strom are my fav hero modes, rouge in particular is very cool as the more x-men powers you absorb from each different shot the more you score.
The nightcrawler mode on the pro is  brilliant, hit the flashing shots as nightcrawler moves between the two ramps, very hard and very cool mode. Much better than just smashing MM style trolls as they pop up and down.
I also like the health meter on magneto to beat him, for mine it gives the game a real different fell other than just hitting a shot that awards a jackpot. The fact that there are no jackpot calls on this game is also very refreshing.

Audio wise it is hard to nail any one thing I like, it is all very solid imo but if I had to pick a fav it would prob be iceman and wolverine. I would really like to add a subwoofer to this to enchance the audio even more.
The custom dots are top notch, i love them all but the extra ball sequence always brings a smile to my face, wolverines claws slice a pinball in half to reveal a x.

Shot wise, I can't get enough of the beast loop into the storm ramp from the third flipper if I can make it, a very fast and rewarding shot indeed. The cyclops mini loop into storm is great too. The rouge and storm skillshots are neat and the magnets are just what i would expect after owning IM, very powerfull and very hectic.

And then there is just the beauty of the machine in it's artwork...wow it really is a looker.

Strategy wise I always try to collect a few x-men shots first after the skill shot and try not to get wolverine to early and get as many hellfire and brotherhood targets as possible as I move into the hero modes. I have only had brotherhood multiball a couple of times and am yet to see hellfire multiball.
Other than that i am still learning as I go.

All up it is a huge winner for me and while I know it will not be everyones cup of pinball tea  i think Borg and his team have nailed this theme in a big way and another code update around xmas will only make this pinball better.
If anyone is considering this game for a future purchase I endorse it fully.