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IGN Review of Pinball Hall of Fame - The Gottlieb Collection
There it is on the back of the box: "The Award Winning Pinball Hall of Fame franchise returns with a new collection of tables!" To call this Wii game a new addition to the Pinball Hall of Fame collection is incredibly misleading: this is a game that hit Europe as a Wii launch title more than three years ago, and only now has it been shipped as a US release to piggyback on the success of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection in the states. And even then it's not exactly a fresh package for Americans: this is simply a version of Pinball Hall of Fame released on the GameCube and PlayStation 2 back in 2005.
Still, as dated as it is, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection isn't a bad collection of pinball tables. It's just a bit of a step backwards because this game was developed before The Williams Collection, and as such the product isn't nearly as good as its official "precursor." More importantly, I don't think the Gottlieb tables hold up nearly as well as the Williams tables do, but it's at least fun to check out these legacy machines in a decent and solid collection.
There are eleven tables in this collection that span a huge era: the oldest table is Play Boy (not related to the Hugh Hefner magazine) from 1937, so old that there's no electrics to speak of: it's completely mechanical in its gameplay, but at least the compilation does all the score calculation that players had to do themselves more than 70 years ago. Ace High (1957), Central Park (1966), and Big Shot (1974) bring us a little closer to our time, but still offer the mechanical style of pinball with far more emphasis on drop targets and spinners than the contemporary offerings. Black Hole (1981) is probably the most interesting of the non-digital tables, as it features a playfield underneath the main area but in reverse to really screw with the mind. Goin' Nuts (1983) is one of the boring tables of the bunch, either aimed at kids or made stupidly easy with its timed multiball design. El Dorado (1984) and Victory (1987) are generic but solid table designs, but Tee'd Off (1993) is weak in comparison to the similar, later generation No Good Gophers table that showed up in the Williams collection. And then there are two non-pinball machines from Gottlieb's history: the Xolten fortune teller and the Love Meter, two items that, while certainly appreciated, won't get more than two plays.
Strikes 'n Spares from 1995 is probably the coolest addition of the bunch, since it's not really traditional pinball – it's a bowling game that uses pinball mechanics for its control. It's very fun.
If you're familiar with the excellent Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection – released on the Wii in 2008 and on Xbox 360 and PS3 last year, you'll recognize the similar arcade interface to choose the machine, as well as the excellent voice-over tutorials for each of the tables and table challenges to accomplish. But because this game was made beforeThe Williams Collection, The Gottlieb collection is a bit rougher in presentation because the developer polished up what it did in Gottlieb for Williams. The physics are fine but you'll find that the ball behaves a bit goofier, and the table challenges are limited to one challenge, whereas Williams Collection has a whole stack of table challenges to shoot for. Even the visuals are a little rougher – it's not a bad looking game for the most part, but the art assets for each of the machines can get a little low resolution.
©2010-01-08, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Still, as dated as it is, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection isn't a bad collection of pinball tables. It's just a bit of a step backwards because this game was developed before The Williams Collection, and as such the product isn't nearly as good as its official "precursor." More importantly, I don't think the Gottlieb tables hold up nearly as well as the Williams tables do, but it's at least fun to check out these legacy machines in a decent and solid collection.
There are eleven tables in this collection that span a huge era: the oldest table is Play Boy (not related to the Hugh Hefner magazine) from 1937, so old that there's no electrics to speak of: it's completely mechanical in its gameplay, but at least the compilation does all the score calculation that players had to do themselves more than 70 years ago. Ace High (1957), Central Park (1966), and Big Shot (1974) bring us a little closer to our time, but still offer the mechanical style of pinball with far more emphasis on drop targets and spinners than the contemporary offerings. Black Hole (1981) is probably the most interesting of the non-digital tables, as it features a playfield underneath the main area but in reverse to really screw with the mind. Goin' Nuts (1983) is one of the boring tables of the bunch, either aimed at kids or made stupidly easy with its timed multiball design. El Dorado (1984) and Victory (1987) are generic but solid table designs, but Tee'd Off (1993) is weak in comparison to the similar, later generation No Good Gophers table that showed up in the Williams collection. And then there are two non-pinball machines from Gottlieb's history: the Xolten fortune teller and the Love Meter, two items that, while certainly appreciated, won't get more than two plays.
Strikes 'n Spares from 1995 is probably the coolest addition of the bunch, since it's not really traditional pinball – it's a bowling game that uses pinball mechanics for its control. It's very fun.
If you're familiar with the excellent Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection – released on the Wii in 2008 and on Xbox 360 and PS3 last year, you'll recognize the similar arcade interface to choose the machine, as well as the excellent voice-over tutorials for each of the tables and table challenges to accomplish. But because this game was made beforeThe Williams Collection, The Gottlieb collection is a bit rougher in presentation because the developer polished up what it did in Gottlieb for Williams. The physics are fine but you'll find that the ball behaves a bit goofier, and the table challenges are limited to one challenge, whereas Williams Collection has a whole stack of table challenges to shoot for. Even the visuals are a little rougher – it's not a bad looking game for the most part, but the art assets for each of the machines can get a little low resolution.
©2010-01-08, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved