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The Williams Collection Hits a Home RUN!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: March 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Just to give some history of myself, I belong to a pinball league and we currently have over 40 titles the games include makers from Williams, Bally, Stern and Data East. I never expect a video game to replace the actual thing but for $14 bucks; The Williams Collection is the most realistic video Pinball ever! Two hours of playing this title and I couldent stop playing it. The designers did amazing work; from the artwork to the sound to the light shows.... from what I can tell everything is spot on. The ball physics are as real as real could get without being in front of the real thing. I own an Attack From Mars, like all pinball machines they need lots of care and maintenance. The beauty of a title like this is the pinball machines will never break, no lights to replace, no weak flippers and no playfield ware. I could buy 278 copies of this game for what I paid for my AFM. This is a no brainier; if you love pinball this is the game to get. I hope Crave keeps the ball rolling and brings out a Bally or Data East Collection; Stern would be nice but they are still making pinballs so I doubt that is even an option.

Very good game for $15 plus it has FUNHOUSE!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I love Funhouse - what a great pinball table. This is about as close as you are going to get to Funhouse without spending $2K plus for the real thing.

Out of all the tables in the game, Funhouse is the best. Whirlwind and Space Shuttle are OK and they kind of drop from there. But, overall it is a good title for the money.

The physics seem realistic. There is no ball spin so you can make the same shot everytime once you figure out where to hit it.

Great sim, just misses pefection

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

As others have said, this is a dynamite sim for the price. The "table goals" feature is a nice touch, enabling you to do something other than just go for high score.

I'm a pinball enthusiast, owner (Williams Riverboat Gambler), and sometime tournament player. The ball physics and overall "reality" of the tables is excellent. The left-analog "nudge" is the best of it's kind I've ever encountered. So far, my personal fave on this disc is Taxi. The designer Pat Lawlor is not my cup of tea, so I can take or leave Funhouse and Whirlwind, but that's a personal preference thing, They are great tables, just not to my taste. You might find they're you're favorites.

The "Instructions" feature with each table is brilliant. Video and audio outlining everything you need to do. Most helpful.

Value-10 stars
Fun-5 stars

Overall-4 stars. What keeps me from giving this an overall five star rating is the flipper feel. Many of these machines were known in their day for lightning-quick, precise flippers. I know it's the nature of the beast, but there is a notable flipper lag. Quick two-flipper combo saves are near impossible. The other thing that's not to my liking: the right analog stick as the plunger. Perhaps a superior controller might help (I'm using a standard Dualshock), but it's difficult to get any consistency. It can be a tad frustrating when Funhouse, Taxi, and especially Pinbot have such crucial skill shots.

Still, nitpicks. This is a dynamite game, fantastic value, and it got me to put down my Guitar Hero controller!

Everything but the balls clacking off the glass

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was excited about this compilation as the Gottleib collection had whet my appetite for more accurate Pinball on my PS2. This collection is better in that the ball movement is perfect and the difference in flippers and layout of the included machines are more varied. The WILLIAMS CHALLENGE mode is a fun add on where you try to best high scores on each table in a run, and the inside the arcade feel with credits etc, is passable and easy to manuver. Unlockable goals and slideshows round out the game, but you came to play pinball and each of the 8 tables included delivers in its own way. My only complaint here is THE CONTROLS ARE SET you can't change them so I had no way to make my arcade stick side buttons work with this title as I had hoped otherwise this is just a well made videogame that delivers exactly what it promises at a fair price. Gorgeous graphics great physics and some memorable tables, I know it isn't WILLIAMS but I would love to play HAUNTED HOUSE in one of these compilations as well.

A must own for pinball fanatics

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Emulating pinball in the world of video games has never been an easy thing, but somehow, someway; all of the games included in Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection, are emulated nearly perfectly, and perfectly capture the feel and enjoyment of the classic game. Featuring tables including Taxi, Gorgar, Black Knight, Funhouse, and Pinbot among others; Pinball Hall of Fame also features a variety of modes, unlockables, and goals to achieve to hold your interest. The pinball physics are dead-on as well, and the game's overall presentation is a pleasent surprise as well. The only real flaws with Pinball Hall of Fame is that more games weren't included on the disc. It just feels like more tables should have been included here, or at least something else. That aside, you can't beat the budget price tag, which makes Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection all the more an essential purchase for PS2 owning pinball fans.

Greatest Pinball Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My family has been in the vending business for more then 30 years. I have played every pinball imaginable and Have a few in my house. This game is the most fun and has the best feel next to playing the real machines. The machines that are offered are the best. Gorgar, Black Knight, Taxi, etc. I have been playing this on my playstation more then my real pinball's. This game is a must for any pinball fan. The games are great and the feel and sound are incredible.

Crave Gets the Highest Marks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In heaven, cars would never need oil changes, the weather would always be balmy and great pinball machines would never have to be shopped out for costly repairs. Well, thanks to the folks at Crave the last one has been made possible for us here on earth. Their "Hall of Fame - the Williams Collection" is everything and more. All of the detail, sound bites and logistics have been painstakingly worked out to the finst detail.

Of course the flagship is "Funhouse", probably the best, craziest, over-the-top pinball machine ever. From Rudy's quips, following eyes and advancing clock--it's all here. And who can forget the classic "Whirlwind" ("the storm is approaching!!")? And I almost fell over when I saw "Taxi"--a game that didn't quite rise to the levels of popularity of, say, "Funhouse", but still ate a lot of my quarters in its day. What's not to love about a game that requires you pick up Dracula, Santa Claus, Pinbot and Mikhail Gorbachev? That's Williams' great, quirky style for ya...

The other games are great, too. "Pinbot", "Black Knight" and "Space Shuttle" all come with their mid-80s creepy Williams-esqe vocoder sound bits. And there're the great classic classics, "Gorgar" and "Firepower".

The ball mechanics are fantastic and lovingly recreated for each machine. The player can change the first-person perspective on the tables to one of several presets, from up close and personal to the playing field to high above it. The illusion of the real games is high--many times during play I would start to worry about the ball slamming into targets and bumpers and how much it would cost me to have them fixed if they broke...until I realized that this was a video game.

So hats off to Crave. And the game is only fifteen dollars. The price of a "Funhouse" video game reproduction alone could easily justify a much higher price. I hope they plan on coming out with more similar anthologies and collections ("High Speed", "Comet", "Theater of Magic" and "Attack from Mars", if you please).

If you're a fan of these games then get your copy (I had to order mine--I couldn't find any on the shelves anywhere here in Las Vegas). In the meantime...I'll be over here, trying to get to midnight to put Rudy to sleep. "Go play on the steps!!"

The absolute Best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I grew up playing alot of pinball, so recently I have been searching around for the perfect pinball game. I have found a select few that I was impressed by and I found a whole lot that was not evenworth the time to finish the three balls. However, when I found this one and read of the 8 different machines that are included, I was intreaged.
WOW!!! What a game. I remember playing 6 of the 8 games that are included. Each one is accurate to the slightest detail, and the game play is right on. My favorite ones are Fun House and Whirl Wind, but they are all wonderful and enjoyable to play. I recomendthis game to anyone who even has the slightest interest in pinball or to someone who is just looking for something different then the slew of new games that are somehow all different but in the end, all the same.

Outstanding!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I want to say this first before I talk about the game. I am a pinball junky and have been playing the game for 28 years now. I am also visually impaired. Why would I mention my vision problem you may ask, well I feel it helps with the honesty of my review. I have played many different pinballs and for some reason I always come back to Williams machines. They are my favorite machine of the big three. I will also go a bit further and say that with out a doubt Steve Ritchie and his designs and machines are my personal favorite, so also keep that in mind.
This game is the best I have ever played on a console period. I prefer it over the Gotlieb collection simply because the Gotlieb machines are my least favorite pinball company of the big three. The Williams collection is very good. I grew up with these machines and contained in this collection are some of my favorites.
If you are a pinball fan, you must own this game. If you are familiar with these tables they will be easy for you to complete the goals but still the fun factor is top notch. They play like the actual machines themselves. Making some of the skill shots with the plunger however can take some time and practice but you can still make them if you get a bit creative with using some visual cues.....compare the plunger in relation to the front of the cabinet compared to the bottom of the tv screen for example. You can make those shots by doing it that way. Becoming a "pinball wizard" and completing all the table goals is easy if you are a decant player and know the tables.
I only have a few minor complaints, which overall are not that big of a deal. I wish you could select between 3 and 5 ball play. Also when you pick a table to play it would be neat to see the machines power up and boot procedure. To me it just adds that extra touch but is not needed for game play. The only other PC pinball experience that I think you can compare with this is Visual Pinball.
This game is a must have for any pinball fan period. I would love to see Crave come out with a Steve Ritchie collection. They might just do that some day, or at least I can dream. :)

Its the 1980's all over again!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you ever miss-spent your youth in Video arcades in the 80's then this is the game for you!

Pinbot, Taxi, Fun House, Gorgar, Black Knight, Twister, Firepower,Space Shuttle, its all there.

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