Originally posted by flamingemu
I couldn't disagree more that it's an improvement on nemesis or oblivion.
I did say "it's not quite Nemesis", as in; Nemesis is better than this - but... Oblivion? It takes a massive judgement of subjectivity for someone to look at the two rides, and what they do, and say that Oblivion is a better ride than this.
But opinions are like that, I guess, they differ
I, personally, don't think this ride would be out of place at a large American park, especially seeing as it does grab a world record. I myself am more of an airtime person, than and inversion person - and would, no doubt, take something like Shambhala, over Smiler. But Alton Towers just physically cannot build rides like that. I also appreciate that not everyone is an airtime junkie like I am. I know some folk who have absolutely flipped their sh*t at this ride because of how impressed with it they are - I guess everyone likes different things.
Like I said before, anyway, this is pretty much the best they can do with what they have (especially given as it's basically now guaranteed that they will never be building a wooden coaster).
Just a personal thought on Alton Towers itself, though: Until this thing opens and I get to ride it for myself, if it had not been for Nemesis, I doubt I would ever really go to Alton Towers, even though it's my local park (ignoring that waste of space that is Drayton Manor). Other than Nemesis, the coasters there are of pretty lame quality, especially once you've been to the US and Europe a few times - everything at AT sort of just pales into insignificance (except, obviously, Nemesis).