Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection

I don’t know about you, but most of my first experiences with gaming came via my dad’s office PC. Whenever I found myself stuck in his office while he was buried in paperwork, I found myself clicking on the games tab and keeping myself entertained. One title in particular consistently ate up my time; with its flashing lights, crazy sounds, and addictive scoreboards, Pinball was my game of choice. So, when the pinball simulator Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection came into my possession, I have to say that I may have suffered an acute flashback or two.

The Williams Collection excels at recreating the arcade atmosphere associated with old school pinball, while at the same time appealing to virtual pinball simulators of ages past. You choose different tables to play by navigating a virtual arcade that looks to have been plucked straight from the early 1990’s. Classic Rock blasts from the speakers while the sounds of pinball alarms and classic arcades titles like Galaga, Pac-Man, or Mortal Combat drone in the background.

Players start with a certain amount of credits that they can spend to play different machines, but by earning high scores they can unlock these pinball tables for free-play as well as gaining access to play on currently off-limits tables. The attention to detail in reconstructing these machines is amazing as I found myself slightly speechless at how realistic the tables not only looked and sounded but actually played. You can play a whole host of differently themed tables ranging from medieval dragon slayers, future space adventures, funhouses, carnivals and more. From what I’ve read elsewhere, the representation of these games is uncanny when compared to the real world machines they are based on.

Physics play a key role in a pinball game, and everything reacts as it should when a small silver ball is ricocheting madly off every corner. The controls are decently designed, with the triggers controlling the little flaps while the control stick can be used the bump the table in the direction of your choice. Everything reacted quite beautifully, and once I got into a groove my speakers were filled with the glorious buzzes, whistles, and dings of madcap pinball.

I’m not as big into pinball as I used to when I was a wee gamer, but I found myself enjoying my time with the Pinball Hall of Fame. The developers seemed committed to recreating everything with an admirable attention to detail and instead of trying to create some sort of gimmicks that would play better to a video game console they focused on crafting the best pinball experience possible. Not normally my cup of tea, I nonetheless think this game succeeds admirably at exactly what it was meant to; playing pinball.