Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Not the real thing, but near as... June 21, 2008
a reviewer
I saw this game (aka 'pinball hall of fame' = US version?) and as a pinball fan of old, having taken many machines round the clock in my misspent youth, I just had to get it. There are 2 different play modes (Practice Arcade & Gottlieb Challenge), 11 tables, and a few novelty games. You start with a few tables to play, but you can unlock the others as you achieve the various table goals, or else earn tokens to spend (but these soon run out!!). I never played any of these games in reality, as they are old & may be rare to find, but comparing them to the real thing - the buzz, adrenaline etc. is just not that plausible. However, the tables are awesome, with supeb graphics and excellent instant pick-up playability. You can enter codes for all the locked games: LIS for Black Hole table, HOT for Love Meter game, UNO for Ace High, BIG for the Xolten game, NYC for Central Park (a very hard table), HEF for Playboy (a VERY early pinball game with no flippers!!!), PGA for Tee'd Off, and PBA for Strikes & Spares (10-pin bowling fun!). The other tables (the ones you start with) are: Genie, El Dorado (qite difficult), Big Shot, Goin' Nuts, and Victory (my fave - on a racing car theme). Loading times can be a bit annoying, as can running out of credits when you've not yet unlocked your current favourite table! (Hence the unlockable codes). With the codes you can play your fave games or just earn credits on the novelty games, then play the machines again without using the codes :)
One of the main attractions to this game is the fact that it is a no-nonsense pick-up & play type game, great for diving into for half an hour here or there, and absolute value for money here at under a tenner new!!
If you like pinball games (whether on consoles or the real thing), or if you're just into a quick adrenaline fix, I recommend this game! Super visuals, gr8 gameplay, and top endurable fun!
 Good, but flawed. March 12, 2008
Nick Stevens (London, UK)
I was not troubled by the viewing angles and soon got used to a moving camera - I think they have made a reasonable trade off between close views with movement and more distant views that are not so clear - it is certainly difficult to think of a better way to handle things.
A nice touch is the way that the view zooms out to show both balls if you activate multi ball, going back to a closer view when you are back down to one ball.
And the moving camera does give a very clear 3d feel for the tables.
The biggest strength is the large number and variety of the tables, from the very earliest bagatelle style to relatively recent. {Personally I could have done without the older machines - they are too simple to satisfy a modern audience.) But there's no doubt this does add many different tables to the mix.
Particularly unusual are the 'bowling alley' table, and the "going nuts" one that is in continual multi ball while you try and keep a countdown timer topped up.
Ball movement is mostly good, though there is the occasional serious glitch - particularly if the drop targets pop up under the ball. Despite the claims for realism, the ball does not reflect it's actual environment on the table, just a simple reflection map - this can make it look like the ball is floating over the table at first.
The use of specials to unlock features is a very good idea - normally in computer pinball a special is less use than an extra ball, who cares if the extra games are free?
Instructions for how the scoring works are superb. The viewpoint moves to show you exactly which target is being discussed by the voice commentary.
There are a couple of features I find very irritating.
1. The ball launch is almost completely random as far as I can tell. (You can use tilt while it travels up the launch chute). This removes a major skill element and is particularly frustrating if your ball drops through the centre of the flippers immediately.
2. The sound. For most tables your game is played to a background of noise sampled from an arcade, so you get a continual background racket of slot machines, bleeps, talking etc, and some idiot shouting 'Victory' at one minute intervals! I find this VERY annoying!
Overall though, and particularly considering that this is not a full price release, I am glad I bought it. I gather a follow up featuring 'Williams' tables is in the pipeline - if they fix the glitches and the awful soundtrack, that could be an essential purchase!
 great graphics, below average playability, very predictable September 13, 2007
Roger Stockburger (Gold Coast, Australia)
Used to play black hole and genie the real pinballs as a kid and saw this game and thought WOO HOO !!
Whilst the game has fantastic graphics and the gameplay in terms of ball movement is quite realistic and fun, it's nothing like the real game. With Genie, the outcome of way too many shots are way too predictable. You get 4x up and if your target shot to bring it to 5x doesn't plonk your ball down the middle, it'll casually be lost in either of the sides, or trying to catch the ball on either flipper rolls the ball backwards, over the red rollover button, over the top and down the sides for yet another ball lost.
Genie is fun to play but its predictability and poor game play means its novelty value wears off quickly, even amongst the most hardcore pinnie enthusiastasts like myself.
Also played BLACK HOLE - this one's also rather predictable. The sound effects, whilst remotely similar, are just not the same. Another game that loses its novelty value quickly too.
All in all, over-rated but still fun.
Wish somebody would being out ADDAMS FAMILY as a PS2 game :) ,
GREAT FUN June 22, 2007
d-thinkerdotcom (UK)
I had no problem with camera angles. You can play the tables on a vertical position instead of the normal horizontal version on the PSP, so you see the whole table when you are playing.
Acually holding the PSP in this way is much more comfortable that the normal way, so it is easier to play for a longer time, without taking time out to rest your hands.
But I like Pinball Games - full stop. I simply like the idea of gaming within parameters of cause and effect, so I am more into this side of the game, I am weird!
 weirdly - not as good as pinball games on the gba July 28, 2006
A. Johnson (Derbyshire, England)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
And that's mainly down to the table selection.
The only real problem with this game, camera choices aside, (after a bit you'll probably end up using 3 & 1 on rotated)are the actual tables they've chosen to emulate.
The tables are emulated perfectly - no quibble there, but they are older 'classic' tables. And thus are not generally over burdened with multiballs, features and extras.
It's a very good game and any pinball fan would be happy with it. BUT, both pokemon pinball and sonic pinball on the gba are much much better. Hell if you're a pinball fan it'd be worth buying a gba for those 2 games.
I can't help but feel if more recent tables had been included - and this game takes up less than 300mb on the 1.6gb umd - so space wasn't an issue, it would have been worth 5 stars.
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