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Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection Review (X360)

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Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection Review (X360) Crave
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Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection takes us back to the glory days when the local arcade was THE hangout and pinball was the sport of kings. Now, though, arcades are dead and pinball is long gone. Thankfully, Crave Ent. and FarSight Studios have recreated 13 classic pinball tables in one great game for the Xbox 360. Whether you are an oldschool fan or a younger gamer looking to see what all of the fuss was about, Pinball HoF: The Williams Collection is worth checking out.
Game Details

  • Publisher: Crave
  • Developer: FarSight Studios
  • ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
  • Genre: Pinball
  • Pros: Addictive gameplay; great ball physics; 13 tables
  • Cons: $40 MSRP; needs more stuff

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is a collection of 13 classic Williams pinball tables. If you ever went to an arcade in the 80’s or 90’s, you probably saw at least one of these machines there. The machines include, Gorgar, Space Shuttle, Black Knight, Funhouse, Firepower, No Good Gofers, Jive Time, Sorcerer, Tales of the Arabian Knights, Taxi, Pinbot, Whirlwind, and Medieval Madness. If you played any of these machines in real life, the digital re-creations are pretty much identical to the real deal. They all have the same quirks as the real thing, such as an extra wide drain or frustratingly cheap outlanes or a particular flipper that occasionally gets stuck. This is real deal, oldschool pinball, and that is awesome.

The game offers an interesting menu in that it looks like a real arcade and you move around the arcade from table to table. There are a few modes including normal high score play, the Williams Challenge where you play each table and have to meet high scores to advance, and a tournament mode. Each table also has unique goals, and completing these goals earn you achievements and open up free play for the tables. It is a nifty system that keeps you coming back. When you finish all of the goals and earn all of the achievements, there are also Xbox Live leaderboards you can try to top so you’ll be playing this game for a long time to come.

Gameplay

Crave
Each of the 13 tables are pretty distinctive and offer unique challenges. Not all of them are equally fun, however, as the older tables are a lot simpler than the more modern ones and just plain not as good. As a pinball history lesson, it is nice to have the different eras of the game represented, but you’re only going to really want to play and keep coming back to 5-7 of them instead of all of them, which hurts the overall value a bit.

The gameplay is straightforward, pure pinball. The left and right triggers on the Xbox 360 controller control the left and right flippers and the right stick controls the plunger to put the ball into play. You can also shake the table by moving the left stick around (handy to jostle the ball around if it is heading straight toward the drain or somewhere else you don’t want it to go), but don’t do it too much or you’ll “tilt’ the machine and will be penalized. Once you have the basics down, it is just a matter of learning the objectives of each table (yes, pinball is an objective based game) and figuring out how to maximize your score and playtime per credit. This learning process is completely addictive and wonderful.

The physics of the ball deserve special mention because if the physics weren’t just right the game wouldn’t be anywhere near as enjoyable as it is. The physics feel pretty much perfect and are as close to real pinball as digital pinball will ever get. You don’t quite get the same thrill of banging on a real machine and standing in a real arcade, but darn it, its close.

Graphics & Sound

Graphically, Pinball HoF: WC isn’t spectacular, but it doesn’t really need to be. The machines all look like they should and are absolutely authentic to their real world counterparts. There are some depth perception issues where it isn’t always easy to tell where the ball is in relation to the table, but this is usually when the ball is sliding along a plastic ramp or something so it isn’t detrimental to gameplay, but it will confuse you when you see it. Also, the camera is generally pretty good and the “smart cam” options that zoom in and out as the ball moves up and down the table do a good job of helping you see everything.

The sound is one of the most distinctive things about pinball machines and arcades in general, and the sound in this game is 100% accurate and authentic. Every obnoxious voice clip and sound effect from every table is present and accounted for.

Bottom Line

Crave
All in all, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is a great game that I recommend to anyone and everyone. Whether you grew up playing these machines in arcades or just want to try and capture a little piece of what oldschool gaming was like, there is something for everyone here. Pinball is just crazy fun and addictive and it is nice to be able to practice and play all you want without having to keep pumping quarters into the machine. I do have a couple of small complaints. First, the MSRP is $40, which is a little high, but Amazon.com has it for $30 so pick it up there. Second, not all of the tables hold up that well. You’ll grind through some of them just for the achievements and then not touch them again. I’d rather there were more good tables and less of a “pinball history lesson” vibe. The good far outweighs the bad, however, so these complaints are only minor. I highly recommend Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection for a purchase.

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