Featuring eight or ten (depending on the version) classic pinball titles
including such legendary tables as Gorgar, Pinbot and Black Knight,
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection offers a solid selection of
highly playable, challenging boards. Both the PSP and PS2 versions allow
players to wander through a virtual arcade and select which machine you
want to play. Once selected, you can choose from several options including
number of players, balls and overall difficulty. As you gain high scores,
other options, such as reverse fields are unlocked as well. Players can
also make so cosmetic changes such as turning on the glass reflections on
or off and changing the background arcade noise from ambient to off. Each
of the pinball tables in this collection offers a bevy of different
strategies and layouts with different targets and objectives for each.
Before you begin playing, you can view a quick tutorial which shows you
the key locations of big points targets and explains how to unlock secrets
such as multi-ball modes for each table. When the player has completed
this introductory sequence, it’s time to go play and use their
accumulated credits to start each game. Once you begin, you’ll find that
the simulations deliver a remarkable degree of accuracy and realism, which
extends to every element of the pinball simulation. There are eight unique
boards included in the game, and each one has been recreated in meticulous
detail, which should please those who grew up on these games.
Each
board has been emulated, with all the bumpers targets, sound effects and
plunger positions accurately recreated. The level of detail is impressive,
and the multitiered boards remain impressive in the ingenuity and style.
You can especially appreciate the level of detail in the imaginative
designs of machines like Pin Bot, with their hidden targets and secret
compartments that you can uncover. The artwork and visuals look fantastic
in the package, and each machine has been recreated down to the backglass
artwork, sound effects and sampled speech. The atmospheric sound effects
and arcade ambience enhance the mood which makes you feel like you are
playing an actual pinball machine on a long-ago Saturday night, which is
really cool. The ball physics and responsiveness allows players to use
classic techniques such as use of body-english and flipper maneuvering to
keep the balls in play. Players need to be careful not to tilt the
machines, since these indicators are quite sensitive, at least using an
analog stick. This makes it bit annoying at times, but other than this
minor issue, the translations feel almost flawless. You won’t find very
many problems and the multiple view points allow you to play with either a
full view of the table, a close-up angle or a smart cam where the action
zooms in and out depending on ball position. Playing with the full-view
mode doesn’t allow for as much detail, but compensates for this by
allowing you to judge the ball position, while the zoom angles give you a
better chance at hitting targets. Once you’ve memorized each board,
you’ll find that things are much easier. The zoom mode is very
effective, and brings an excitement to the gameplay that sucks you right
into the action. However, Pinball Hall of Fame’s AI is smart enough to
revert to a wide angle when you activate multi-ball bonuses. This makes
playing the game a breeze, allowing for a quick pick up and play mechanics
where you don’t have to worry about complex moves or combos.
The game’s immediate appeal is also due in large part to its well-known
tables, some of which like Black Knight are probably firmly imprinted on
players’ memories, along with the legendary PinBot, which was
immortalized in a stellar NES cartridge several years back. The lesser
known tables also provide plenty of play action, with the simple play of
early titles like Firepower and Sorceror contrasting with the more
complicated, mutli-tiered tables such as Fun House and or Space Shuttle.
Playing the simpler games like Gorgar makes for good practice for the more
complicated tables. These require more concentration and skill. Regardless
of their difficultity, each of the included table play just as brilliantly
as you remember and there plenty of goals, such as points earned or
specific targets to hit, that add to the challenge. Oddly, the PSP version
includes two extra tables not found on the PS2 version, Jive Time, which
is a real 60’s style trip and a more modern multi-level machine
Whirlwind - both are solid additions. The PSP version allows players to
play horizontally holding the system in standard position or vertically,
which is a nice effect that allows the table to fill out the screen
nicely. With tables encompassing another legendary name from the pinball
era, this makes the perfect compliment to the earlier Gottlieb collection.
There are some similarities in style and presentation, and while it
doesn’t have too much in the way of extra features, Pinball Hall of Fame
- The Williams Collection offers a solid package of instantly accessible
gameplay and action that should please flipper fans out there.
- Michael Palisano
Grade: B
