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13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Almost as good as you can get on a PSP but BEWAREMar 21, 2008
By Roman Pennington I have revised my review of this product because the xBox360 version of this title includes more tables including the classic "Medieval Madness" machine, which is one of the most expensive pinball machines ever made. It's really a shame that the producers have chosen to release multiple configurations of a game under the same title, yet have different features and functionality, and for this reason, I would advise against buying this product. Want the new tables including MM? Well you're out of luck on all other platforms except xBox. Booooooo!
This review is for the PSP version.
Being a huge pinball fan and having played all the tables featured in this game in real life, I can attest to how close they've managed to capture the gameplay and the feel. The only thing missing is a change machine that won't take my 1$ bill.
There are a few minor issues I have though... The documentation is kind of minimal. There are many dynamics of the games you simply have to figure out - not all the game logic is outlined and what is, is very shallow. The PSP display is very small and you cannot always make out the minute details of the game board. For example, if extra ball is lit, it may be very difficult to tell where the extra ball target is - you surely can't read a little "extra ball when lit" tag in the playfield. Also some of the physics are predictable. For example, when a ball is kicked out of a hole, there isn't any randomizing of its nature. If you know a ball will kick out of a hole and you can trap it on an up-turned flipper, you will always be able to do that. The velocity or angle of the ball coming out of the drop will always be the same. This would normally be a very bad thing, but since the playfield is so small on the PSP, it probably evens things out and gives you time to make more accurate shots so I don't mind it that much. There's also a bug with the plunger... sometimes if you pull the plunger so that it's not all the way back, it will still rocket forward as if it is pulled all the way back. Another annoyance is if you meet the table goal in the middle of a game, a big message is plastered across the playfield, obscuring your view, which usually results in the ball draining just as you've been told you're doing well. But the worst thing about the game is if you accidentally hit the start button during gameplay, the "do you want to quit this game" menu pops up, but the game is not suspended so if you happen to accidentally hit that button, you've probably lost your ball. It should suspend the game at least.
All in all though, this is a very good game and recommended for pinball fans. The main reason why I'm being critical is because this game does come very close to being the perfect pinball game for the PSP.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Incredible bargain - great recreations of classic tablesMar 04, 2008
By Downstream
"downstream"
If you enjoy pinball, you really cannot beat this game for value and enjoyment. Some of the best tables of the past 30 years are on here. The sounds, the gameplay. This brought back some powerful memories of arcades during high school and college. Especially rare tables like Whirlwind and Funhouse. It was a treat to play those after not seeing those anywhere in more than 15 years. I hope Crave continues this series. I'll be first in line to buy any other pinball releases they come up with.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Arcade Pinball With No Waiting Lines!!!!!!!Dec 27, 2008
By Stephen J. Janeczko
"Flaco"
In one word, WOW! Having just got a PSP for Christmas and while on the hunt for games I came across this one just by chance. I read raving reviews and was hyped to play, though I still had my doubts. My doubt was that I had a sneaking suspicion that pinball on the PSP would be pretty much the same as every other video pinball game I've ever played. Great fun though horribly inacurate. Let me tell you now this is not like all the others I've played.
Graphics, sound, and physics are all melted together to the verge of perfection. Yes, the PSP's screen is limited here and at times it is difficult to track where your ball is, however this is not the fault of the game. The game dose a decent job of zooming in on bumpers and rails while paning out in time to focus on the flippers. The camera movements feel natural and dont throw you off at all. The physics are on as well with no unnatural floating or bumping. Sound effects accompany perfectly with the sound of a metal pinball rolling down the board while picking up speed is dead on. Seriously, it's that good.
Now The Games!
Those same chills I used to get as a kid from making a pinball board flash multicolored lights and making that reverberating rumble sound have been brought back. Load screens feature the original back glass graphics that bring back memories for me. The games span from 1970 to the early 1990's and offer a good variaty of boards from simple bumper and fliper to elaborate rails and chutes with a whole gag bag of lights and sounds. The main screen is also set in an arcade which is a nice touch.
To put it blunt, if you like pinball, get this. Yes, it can take a toll on your eyes after a while. So what, put on a pair of glasses. Where else can you relive the glory days of pinball while driving to Florida.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Crave does it again!Mar 07, 2008
By mikdiamon
"mikdiamon"
I am a huge fan of pinball games on all platforms and this is the best of the best! I also own The Gottlieb Collection and was excited about the new tables and they are great, but the I think the graphics are even better! This is as close as you can get without having the actual pinball machine in your house! Realistic play, sounds, physics, everything is 5 stars! Great value too, if you like pinball get this game!!!!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Pinball on a PSP - It probably doesn't get any better than this...Dec 29, 2009
By Steven J. Winslow As a lifelong player of pinball, collector, restorer and technician, I consider myself to be a pinball aficionado and an avid collector of all things Williams. That being said, this collection of Williams games is a pretty good variety of titles. It's a shame that they decided to deprive PSP owners and not include some of the other titles that are found on the Xbox version (like Medieval Madness). Regardless, this review will only refer to the PSP version.
The good:
The graphics are very good. I really have no complaints about the graphics or even the moving POV camera. Pinball machines are full of artwork and these "simulations" are very good representations of that art. Even most of the physics of the game play itself is very good - predictable and not very random, but good. I can say that the real games play almost identically to these sims.
The bad:
The original tables sound effects are nearly perfectly reproduced here. The real problem is the annoying added sound of the ball rolling on wood. Every game has this sound and on many of the tables, this sound is louder than the sound effects of the game. The only game where this makes any sense at all is on the Electro Mechanical game "Jive Time." In real life, you generally would never hear this sound unless you were playing with the playfield glass off. On some of the titles, like Firepower and Gorgar this sound almost completely drowns out the ultra cool digitized sound effects of the game. The speech volume is also horribly low. You can't hear the voices very good over this annoying ball rolling sound effect. Playing Firepower is really no fun if you can't hear Steve Ritchie's voice calling out "FIRE." Gorgar is really no fun if you can't hear his heart beating faster and faster as you play longer.
If only you could control the volume of speech, sound effects and "ball rolling on wood" independently it would really help with this small but annoying issue. I think you should have control over all of the different adjustable features of the original games. You do not. You can't even adjust the number of balls per game. That is unacceptable.
Otherwise, I would recommend this game for the PSP. Being able to play the table in "portrait" or "landscaped" orientation is a nice touch. This game will be moderately entertaining for any pinball fan.
based on 20 reviews
( 20 customer reviews )
