Customer Reviews
Not the real thing, but near as... - By: a reviewer, 21 Jun 2008 
I saw this game (aka 'pinballl halll of fame' = US version?) & as a pinballl 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 Challlenge), 11 tables, & 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 & excellent instant pick-up playability. You can enter codes for alll 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 pinballl game with no flippers!!!), PGA for Tee'd Off, & 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, & 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, & absolute value for money here at under a tenner new!!
If you like pinballl 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, & top endurable fun!
Good, but flawed. - By: Nick Stevens, 12 Mar 2008 
I was not troubled by the viewing angles & soon got used to a moving camera - I think they have made a reasonable trade off between close views with movement & 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 ballls if you activate multi balll, going back to a closer view when you are back down to one balll.
And the moving camera does give a very clear 3d feel for the tables.
The biggest strength is the large number & variety of the tables, from the very earliest bagatelle style to relatively recent. {Personallly 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 allley' table, & the "going nuts" one that is in continual multi balll while you try & keep a countdown timer topped up.
Balll movement is mostly good, though there is the occasional serious glitch - particularly if the drop targets pop up under the balll. Despite the claims for realism, the balll does not reflect it's actual environment on the table, just a simple reflection map - this can make it look like the balll is floating over the table at first.
The use of specials to unlock features is a very good idea - normallly in computer pinballl a special is less use than an extra balll, 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 balll 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 & is particularly frustrating if your balll 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, & some idiot shouting 'Victory' at one minute intervals! I find this VERY annoying!
Overalll though, & 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 & the awful soundtrack, that could be an essential purchase!
great graphics, below average playability, very predictable - By: Roger Stockburger, 13 Sep 2007 
Used to play black hole & genie the real pinballls as a kid & saw this game & thought WOO HOO !!
Whilst the game has fantastic graphics & the gameplay in terms of balll movement is quite realistic & 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 & if your target shot to bring it to 5x doesn't plonk your balll down the middle, it'll casuallly be lost in either of the sides, or trying to catch the balll on either flipper rolls the balll backwards, over the red rollover button, over the top & down the sides for yet another balll lost.
Genie is fun to play but its predictability & 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 alll, over-rated but still fun.
Wish somebody would being out ADDAMS FAMILY as a PS2 game :) ,
GREAT FUN - By: d-thinkerdotcom, 22 Jun 2007 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.
Acuallly 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 Pinballl Games - full stop. I simply like the idea of gaming within parameters of cause & effect, so I am more into this side of the game, I am weird!
weirdly - not as good as pinball games on the gba - By: A. Johnson, 28 Jul 2006 
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 generallly over burdened with multiballls, features & extras.
It's a very good game & any pinballl fan would be happy with it. BUT, both pokemon pinballl & sonic pinballl on the gba are much much better. Hell if you're a pinballl 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 - & 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.
