Posted by Aries on

Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (Crave’s clearing the cobwebs)
By Aries0968

In the bygone days of 1931 David Gottlieb was nothing short of a legend; producing a series of true pinball masterpieces, and fifty five years later a whole new generation of gamers get to play these wonderfully complex games on their PSP.

Now a lot of people are going to see just another crusty ‘classic’ game and instantly dislike the retro style of the game possibly even avoiding the game due to it’s box art due to the pinball theme, however if you do that you will regret it. The HOF collection plays very well with an adaptive twist to it’s pinball genre. The game ‘can’ be played with the PSP turned on its end (as if you were reading a PSP-X magazine) so you can see the entire table while you are playing, and although this can be a little awkward to hold, it seems to work well with the PSP handheld system.

Gameplay is a little limited in its scope, and I have to say if you don’t enjoy pinball games, avoid this game like the plague because that’s all it is: pure undiluted pinball nothing more, nothing less. Despite the innovative control system, and the awesome WI-FI 4-player multiplayer system, the game will fail to bring the game into mainstream of 21st century gaming. At the end it’s an awesome pinball game, and basically leaves pinball as what it originally is, a fun yet addicting game that leaves you playing for hours on end.

Graphics – Not particularly super detailed, but as a pinball game, it replicates the original pinball tables perfectly.  7/10

Sound – Perfect recreation of the original games sound with some classic 80’s tunes.  7/10

Controls – Difficult to adapt too the ‘on the side’ play but more than worth the practice 9/10

Gameplay – Retro pinball action in its purest form exceptional in that respect but that all you got just pinball 6/10

Difficulty – As with real pinball it comes down to skill level and reactions but offers challenges 8/10

Multiplayer Options – Adaptive WI-FI multiplayer with up to four players on one huge table or head-to-head 9/10

Replay Value – If you enjoy pinball you’ll enjoy this and will replay the same table again and again 5/10

Overall - An excellent representation of a classic old school genre, if you want a portable slice of pinball Americana then this is definitely for you, if not look elsewhere for your PSP genre of choice. 7/10