Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection does exactly what it sets out to do: offer the player who remembers pinball a very passable simulation of the silver ball game that so many wasted their youth on – actually it was probably their parents who wasted their youth. With seven tables by one of the leading pinball makers of all time that spans the decades of the ’50s through the ‘90s, and even an unlockable table that reaches back to the still evolving Neanderthal period of pinball of the 1930s, Pinball Hall of Fame is an entertaining and educational (don’t worry, it won’t hurt) game package at a very reasonable price.
It is ironic that video pinball games have been a staple of gaming consoles since the days of the Atari 2600. After all, video games all but killed pinball machines in the arcades. But here we are in the part of the console life cycle where a lot of casual gamers have picked up new systems and the pinball simulators show up right in time to entertain them.
Over the years video pinball games have tended to go toward the outlandish, with tables that could never occur in the real world. The best of these appeared on the under-appreciated NEC TurboGrafx-16 with Alien Crush and Devil’s Crush. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection goes in the exact opposite direction. It offers simulations of some of the influential real pinball machines of the last five decades. Here it succeeds admirably. From the classic Central Park to the wide-bodied Genie and the two-level, reverse-lower-level-play-field Black Hole, there is a good variety of pinball types here. Each table includes a flyer on the game, brief history and instructions on the various scoring opinions on each.
Of course what makes or breaks any pinball simulation is the ball physics. The question to be answered is, “Does that little silver ball roll and bounce just as it would on a real pinball table?” The answer is, “Yes.” The ball in Pinball Hall of Fame actually gives the illusion of weight as it moves around the board hitting bumpers and drop targets.
The tables look great, with both authentic graphics and sound from the original tables. It is almost as if each of the tables was scanned in its entirety and put into the game. Every detail is meticulously replicated. The designers also saw fit to give the gamer six camera angles with which to view the action that range from (in my opinion) way too close to a view of the full table.
Sound is exceptional with the full range of bells and bumps that accompany a pinball game, along with a very authentic replication of the unique sound a pinball makes as it just rolls across the table. In addition, the sound designers added in some nice ambient sounds that a player might hear if he were really playing in an arcade.
Controls could not be simpler: left and right triggers control the left and right flippers, the left analog stick is the table-nudge control and the right analog stick pulls the plunger and launches the ball. A small warning on the nudge control, these tables tend to “tilt” a little too easily. Use it sparingly. Otherwise, the game controls very well.
The game even includes an Xbox Live scoreboard system that allows players to upload their scores and see how they rank against other players. It’s a small thing, but nice icing on the cake.
Add to this already impressive pack some nice unlockables like the flipperless Play-Boy pinball table and the carnival favorites Xolten the fortune teller and the Love Meter and you have a very entertaining package for the whole family at the extremely reasonable price of $19.99. Of course for pinball aficionados who are fast seeing the disappearance of pinball machines from their natural habitat, this will be a must-buy.
© 2005 GameShark.com
