Video Game Vintage Title: Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Williams Collection

Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Williams Collection

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is a video game title from Crave Entertainment for the Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS. Players play on a variety of classic virtual pinball machines from Williams Electronics' history. The Williams Collection follows the previous title, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection.

The game was released by System 3 in PAL territories on June 17th 2011 as Williams Pinball Classics. This title should not to be confused with Williams Pinball Classics by Encore, Inc. that features four tables for Windows.

Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Williams Collection Gameplay

All tables are available at the start of play, but some require you to use credits. The player begins the game with 30 credits and earn more by obtaining specials and accomplishing various goals on each table. For 100 credits, you can buy any of the locked tables for free-play mode. Completing the 5 table goals for any table also allows you to unlock a locked table.

Other unlockable options include the ability to use custom-textured pinballs, play a left-to-right inverted (Mirror Mode) version of the game, and disable tilt detection. Flipper control remains intuitive in Mirror Mode, with the left trigger controlling the left on-screen flipper. Side-specific features of some games, such as Lane Change, move to the opposite side of the table.

In the Wii version of the game, the player uses the trigger buttons of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to activate the flippers. The table can be bumped or shifted with the motion sensors in either the Remote or Nunchuck. The resulting table motion is proportional in magnitude and identical in direction to the controller's motion. This allows skilled players to use just enough motion to perform advanced ball saves without triggering the tilt mechanism, just as can be done on a physical machine.

Reception
The Wii version was nominated for Best Graphics Technology for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards, while the PSP version was nominated for best PSP game of 2008 by GameSpot. Gamasutra named The Williams Collection the third most overlooked game of 2008.