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Williams Pinball Classics features stunningly accurate recreations of some of the most popular Williams tables of all time. Every texture, every flashing light and every sound effect has been lovingly recreated in order to deliver the most accurate simulation of the classic pastime. From the surreal thrills of Funhouse, to the intergalactic delights of Pin Bot, you’ll be whizzed straight back to another time when life was far simpler.

Genre: Pinball

Publisher: Crave Entertainment

Developer: FarSight Studios

Online Play:

Local Play:

August 20, 2009 –
In just a few weeks from now, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners will get a chance to enjoy something that Wii, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable gamers have been playing for more than a year now: one of the most accurate collection of realworld pinball tables ever made. Last year’s excellent Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection is getting a high definition upgrade in September, and with it comes a couple of new tables unique to the updated edition.

Crave sent over an early version of the Xbox 360 edition that pinball wizards will be playing next month. In my playtime with the new edition, not much has changed from what’s been released on the previous generation gaming hardware. That’s not a bad thing considering just how accurate Farsight made that game: the tables, based on actual Williams pinball set-ups from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, were spot-on perfect virtual representations, right down to the sound effects and digital displays. The physics, an important aspect to any pinball simulation, has been handled with the utmost realism to make these virtual tables play as close to the real thing as possible. The high definition visuals make the experience even better: the table artwork is absolutely crisp and high resolution, so much so that you can even read the text on the tiny instructions placard near the flipper buttons.

Each of the tables from last year’s game returns. Pinbot, Space Shuttle, Funhouse, Taxi, Sorcerer, Black Knight…even Jivetime, the extremely oldschool pinball machine from the 70s that’s made into an unlockable so you have something to shoot for. New for this version are two additional machines: No Good Gofers and Arabian Nights, two outstanding pinball machines from the 1990s. On the Xbox 360 version, achievement points are attached to the Wizard Challenges that were already in last year’s games – players aim for five different tasks in each machine. Even though I don’t have the PlayStation 3 version on-hand, I’m guessing the trophies will also be attached to these Wizard challenges.

It’s an extremely good gamble that Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection will score just as highly on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as it did on the Wii, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable because in my hands-on the new version plays just as well…but now it’s in high definition. But watch for my review of the game when it ships in just a few weeks.

September 18, 2009 –
Decades before videogames grabbed hold of the market, there was pinball. Even through the evolution of game technologies and the move towards the virtual, pinball managed to hold on with advancements of its own. It’s tough to bring these experiences home due to their use of, well, real objects and gravity, but developers have certainly tried over the years turning the experience into a videogame one. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is the latest effort, and honestly it’s easy some of the best virtual pinball experiences I’ve ever played and it comes extremely close to the same fun you’d get on the actual machines.

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection gets it: if you’re going to create a compilation of pinball for the home consoles, you go to the classics by the people who made those classics. Back in the day Williams was responsible for many of the pinball machines that wound up in pizza parlors, 7-Elevens, bowling alleys, bars, and any of the umpteen other places these quarter-suckers ended up. The collection first shipped for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable last year for a bargain price of 19.99. A year later, Crave had Farsight Studios create an HD edition for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for a slightly more pricey