At first glance, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection seems like any other bargain binned title. Published by Crave Entertainment, a company known for bargain binned titles, the opening intro screen screams that this game is going to be bad, as the video compression looks uglier than YouTube. Thankfully, that opening video is the only major hiccup in this title, as Crave and developer FarSight have put together a pretty good Wii title.
Pinball Hall of Fame features 10 different Williams tables, ranging from old school ones like Jive Time and Gorgar, to later tables like Whirlwind and Pin*Bot. All the tables are playable at the beginning of the game, but not all are in free play mode. To unlock free play mode, you'll have to unlock five different goals on a single table or get to 100 tokens to buy free play on a table.
Each table's challenges range from relatively simple ones, like hitting a certain bumper a number of times or triggering a certain bonus, to the absolutely insane in the form of some of the high score challenges. Beating the regular challenges unlocks the wizard challenges, which are decidedly harder. These add a bit more playability and difficulty to the title for seasoned pinball veterans and are certainly a welcome addition.
Outside of regular play, there is a Williams Challenge mode. This mode involves competing to reach a certain high score on each of five different tables, with the scores increasing each time to add difficulty. This mode feels a little underdeveloped, but it doesn't take away from the overall feeling.
The in-game graphics are okay, but they definitely don't seem as polished as they could have been. Some areas seem a bit blocky on some of the tables, but if you consider that this is supposed to be a budget title, they don't look quite as bad as they could. Sound, though, is superb, with actual table sounds and effects being used. FarSight's inclusion of these real table sounds only adds to the experience, as they truly make you feel like you're playing the real thing.
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