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Excellent 128-bit pinball simulator

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: November 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

PS2 owners waiting patiently for a 128-bit pinball simulator have finally got their game! Pinball Hall of Fame features seven classic Gottlieb tables with an unlockable eighth table, along with unlockable Xolten the fortune teller, Gottlieb's Love Meter, and more. The graphics are excellent, and the sounds come from the real tables. Contrary to what you may have heard, the ball physics are right-on, and each table has its own special challenges and rewards. If you like pinball, you will find a lot to like in this game; for the money, it's a no-brainer purchase!

Awesome Pinball collection!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: January 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game simulates pinball machines from 50s to 90s. At first I was suspicous about this game because it featured really old tables like 1950-1970s. My idea of a pinball machine are those over the top ones made by Midway during the 90s. Many evolved into more of a spectacle machine while losing 'gameplay'. This is pretty much the only pinball game for ps2. I really like the fact that these machines really exist.

This game blew me away. Right when I saw Genie, Black Hole, Victory, and Tee'd off.... I was like I played and watched people play this before! Brought back memories that otherwise would be forgotten forever.

The graphic and sound for this game is excellent. You will feel like you own the machines. There is voice tutorial and history info for all the tables. The camera angles are excellent. The ball physics very real. The menu screen is nice, all the pinball machines are placed in an old-fashioned arcade and you select them. There is simulated 'background arcade noise' during gameplay, it can't be toggled but its cool. The glass 'shines' effect during gameplay makes the tables look even more real. The gameplay design is SUPERB! Gottlieb knows how to design and make pinball games! Here are the machines:(Name, year, comment, rating.)

Ace high 1957 - a simple but well designed pinball game. Decent.
Central Park 1966 - another simple but well designed pinball game. Good.
Big Shot 1974 - excellent game, beatifully blends pool and pinball together. Great.
Genie 1979 - very popular back then, one of the best single plane pinball machine ever. Great.
Black Hole 1981 - The first pinball game to feature a 'underground' table, or a mini-table built within a pinball table. Great. Pinball machine designs during this time is evolving big time as seen in this table.
Victory 1987 - Very popular back then. Excellent gameplay and ramp design which allows 'double' ramping/looping. Here we see how pinball machines are evolving into little amusement parks. Great.
Tee'd Off 1993 - blends golf and pinball together beautifully. A classic 'basic' over the top pinball machine. Great.

There is a unlockable table called Play-Boy but I haven't unlock it yet. Another unlockable is Xolten the fortune teller machine.

Overall this game is a must buy for all pinball fans!

The best pinball sim yet

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: November 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When I first purchased this game, I wasn't sure what to expect given how poorly older videogames have been emulated in compilations recently released and how unrealistic most pinball sims released for the PSone were, but I was pleasantly surprised by this diamond in the rough.

Having played all but 2 of these pinball games on real machines and having owned one of them in the past, I can tell you from experience that the ball physics are more accurate than any pinball sim that's come through before. Each game has its own unique challenges from the randomness of early games like Aces High to the finesse games like Genie and Black Hole.

The start up menu is very well designed, there is extensive information about each machine, and the extras like the love meter, slide show and fortune teller are nice bonuses. The machines are very easy to navigate through and the designers did an excellent job in selecting pinballs that helped define Gottlieb over a 40+ year span.

My only gripe about this game and the only reason I didn't give pinball hall of fame a 5 out of 5 is that there is an annoying glitch on tournament mode where if you beat the high score, you have to enter your initials for each individual point you have beaten the high score by which can be very cumbersome when you score 403 points and the high score is only 138. Otherwise, I would consider this one a must have for anyone into pinball.

Pretty darn close to perfect

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just picked this up and I must say I am impressed. I truly love pinball not just as entertainment but as (depending on the machine) works of art, ie. backglass artists, table designers, and programmers have really created some masterpieces over the years - and this game really does them justice. The graphics are 1st rate, and the tables are recreated perfectly. The sound is truly amazing, and the game has exact recreations of each machine's electronics and table sounds. The arcade sound background effect is interesting, but I agree with another reviewer that it might be nice to toggle that down. The only other issue that I can possibly think of is that the gameplay relies on the gamer to choose one of six different camera angles, now some tables are more difficult than others - and this requires different camera angles, but you can only toggle through them in one direction which makes it a little difficult if you need to change angles in mid-gameplay. This is minor in the bigger picture of the game as a whole though. If I could suggest any upgrades on future volumes, I would only suggest that the designers include more attention to the backglasses - as these are a kind of overlooked in this volume, and you really can't get a close up look at them. If it were even possible to show each backglass as they appear when lit with their backlights and dot-matrix displays, that would truly blow me away. But I digress, allow me to simply say that this is a must have for a pinball fan (especially for the low price) and I really look forward to and hope the designers consider making expanded volumes that include more machines. I'd be first in line to pick it up.

Not Good Enough

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I wanted to like it so much more because graphics look fantastic, and it looks like the awesome pinball machines that I grew up with. And secondly there hasn't been a good true collection of the pinball experience.

But the ball is alittle toooooo slow moving! I don't recall the real pinball machines have turtle moving balls. I was actually yawning and waiting for each ball to come about.

Takes Me Back In Time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is a time warp! When I load "Big Shot", I'm 9 years old again and discovering pinball for the first time. When I play "Genie", I'm back in 7th grade hanging out at the arcade in the mall on a Saturday afternoon...

Then it's "Victory" in 1987 as I play game after game to relax after a hard day at work. "Tee'd Off" takes me to 1993 as I try to earn free games because I'm looking for a new job...the other games are OK, but don't hold any memories for me...I never really liked "Black Hole" and am way too young to remember the earlier games.

Buy This Now!

Fun, but there's a couple things that bug me.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Maybe it's just me becuase I didn't see anyone else comment about it; The ball seems to not last very long in this game in a turn, I mean when I Play the actual pinball machine I can keep it going forever but in this game it seems to always find some way to slip by. ALSO, I didn't notice anyone comment about this either but I played this game from brand new and no scratches, in 'Black Hole' when the ball falls from the right side to the bottom, it's like the game doesnt know that It fell, and a new ball should come. I kept tilting it for 3 minits and it never read it to start a new ball. And it does this every time it falls over there, so 'Black Hole' is just not an option for me though it looks cool. I like the different camera angles I can choose from and the different choices of games to play. and that I can choose my own style ball, that's always fun. I did buy this game in a 3 pac for $10 at Sears so I don't have room to complain too much about the things I don't like. I'd have to say if you're getting this for $3.35 like I did instead of this $15 on Amazon, it's worth getting.

-VickyGeez

Just Not Good Enough

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: March 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a pinball expert or anything but I always enjoyed video game pinball ( not the simulations of real machines ) and I thought I should give this a try anyway despite the fact that this is, afterall, a sim. I was wrong. Only two of the tables are any fun ( Black Hole and Tee'd Off ) and I just don't care about the history of the machines in general or Gottlieb in particular. Some may argue the older tables ( 50's, 60's ) require more skill and finesse, but I just found them to be dull and somewhat tacky. And only two worthwhile tables for $20 just doesn't cut it. I recommend these instead: Extreme Pinball for The Playstation, Pure Pinball for the X-Box, The Pinball of the Dead for the GBA ( macabre and creative! ), and even Dragon's Revenge for the old Sega Genesis.

Awesome Game that it is worth the money

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was looking for a good Pinball game for my new PS2 and this was highly rated. The graphics are very cool. The best pinball sim that I ever seen. I think that this game did not get the credit it deserved. There is 5 camera angles, I like the more of the chase camera, always chasing the ball. The table art is lifelike, so are the sounds and even the old mechanical numbers for your score roll as in Big Shoot. It is interesting to be able to see and play the different tables. It is a walk through history. This is a must for anyone old enough to remember going to an Arcade, with a pocket full of quarters, having a great time. It might not appeal to kids, but who knows they might be able to appreciate the old tech with out the action of first person shooters or role playing games. I got my copy, now go get yours.

Virtual Pinball

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you ever played pinball and enjoyed it, then there's good chance you'll appreciate what this game has to offer. Which is virtual pinball, classic tables, and no coins! (that's the best part)

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