Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection review

If you're still into the shiny, silver ball, you'll want this playable time capsule

12DOVE Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Great ball movement

  • +

    Beautifully rendered tables

  • +

    Detailed instructions

Cons

  • -

    Unlocking tables is sheer hell

  • -

    Wii got ten tables

  • -

    you get eight

  • -

    Might be tough to find

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Pinball is like a dinosaur to most of today’s gamers, who’ve become used to parent-horrifyingly realistic graphics, epic storylines, and massively multiplayer online worlds. However, those few who still dig on this old-school action would have to look long and hard to find a better deal than this lovingly handled compilation.

We’ll get the list out of the way first: You’ve got Black Knight, Pinbot, Gorgar, Space Shuttle, Funhouse, Whirlwind, Taxi, and Firepower – truly a great lineup. But Wii and PSP players get two more, if rather obscure machines: Jive Time and Sorceror.

You might not recall all of these by name, but if you set foot in an arcade during the last 20 years, you’re guaranteed to know at least a few of these when you see them. Funhouse had the mannequin head on the playfield, Gorgar talked to you in bad English like a devil-horned Hulk, Space Shuttle had a little space shuttle model in the upper right corner. Yeah, it’s coming back to you now, isn’t it?

The games all look beautiful, especially on Wii, where the colors are especially vivid, and play quite well. More importantly, except for a slightly too-predictable path when the ball is kicked out of a few certain targets on some tables (like the center, spinner hole on Jive Time), that precious metal sphere moves pretty much exactly as you’d expect it too, with the proper weight and inertia.

More info

GenreSimulation
DescriptionLike a pinball museum in a box, except better looking and with more tables than it’s ever had before. Pinball fans should run, not walk, to pick this up.
Platform"Xbox 360","PS3","Wii","PSP","PS2"
US censor rating"Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+","Everyone 10+"
UK censor rating"","","","",""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.