Ok, I will admit I underestimated this ride. I thought it would be great, but not a contender for my #1 steel coaster. I was wrong, as it definitely is.
First of all, the reason why I find this ride amazing is completely different than why others do. The negative gs are strong, but I don't care about them whatsoever. The reason this ride is absolutely fantastic and unique is for one reason, and that is INCREDIBLY f*cking fast direction changes. I don't care about how many videos of the ride you've seen, or how many times you hear about how fast the rotations are, the first time you ride the coaster you'll be in shock at how fast and powerful the overbanks are, and just how enjoyable the S-turns' banking transitions are. Another underrated part of the ride is the Twisted Horseshoe Roll. What a kickass element that thing is. That's all that really needs to be said as it captures a feeling that can't be described with the beautiful way in which it is engineered.
The first drop, however, is nothing special compared to the rest of the ride. Airtime is not to be found until the train reaches a steepness of about 70 degrees or so, and from then on you get a split second of very strong negative gs, which feels more like hangtime than airtime. It really is undeserving of the praise it gets, but is an interesting way to start the ride off nonetheless. And it beats just about anything else out there anyways.
Another random cool part of the ride is the turn out of the launch tunnel. Best banking rotation EVER. And the launch of course rules, as is the case with every Intamin rocket coaster. Before I rode I was thinking the slow down before the launch would kill the ride's momentum, but it doesn't at all. The ride just cruises into the tunnel, slows down a bit, then takes off without allowing you to think too much. I heard that the trim slows down the train a lot, and while it does, it isn't nearly as much as I thought it would. From then on, the rest of the ride is absolutely crazy, and feels as if the train is taking the course 20 mph too fast (in a good way, of course). Apparently quite a few people think the ending isn't up to par with the first half -- I completely disagree, as the section from under the first drop to the final brakerun is the most insane stretch of track on any steel coaster that I've ridden apart from Phantom Revenge's bunny hill finale.
I should also note the smoothness of the ride. How the hell is this thing so smooth? The trains track exceptionally well. I only remember Intamin trains shaking around on the track way too much. This isn't the case here, as Maverick is smoother than any other Intamin I've been on by far.
Cedar Point still sucks as much as this review does, but Maverick is finally a reason to go visit it. It could very well be the best steel coaster out there.