Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection

This is one of the best games you can buy for the Wii. There are nearly a dozen classic Williams pinball tables emulated in this collection (apparently other platforms offer even more tables) and just about every one in the game is great. My favorites are Taxi, Funhouse and Whirlwind. Jive Time and Fire Power are the weak spots, but even those two have their charm. The physics of the machines are spot on and the controls are flawless: you can even nudge the tables buy shaking the Wiimotes… perfect. Being able to play these classics without having to worry about losing quarters gives you the chance to learn the rule-sets of each table and actually become a skilled player. Playing pinball as a kid I never realized how deep the mechanics of a well-designed table actually were. Most of the time I would just resort to spamming the flippers and hope to hit something. Most of the time the balls would just drain down the sides within a few seconds. Now I know better. Pinball Hall of Fame will step you through the rules of each table in a nice fly-by tutorial. As I am writing this, I just got around 23 million on Whirlwind! My only complaint would be is the game’s lack of wide screen support. I want a Williams collection Vol. 2, please!