| Home | Talks and Slides | My GameLog | Research and Projects | Publications | Resume | Teaching |
| Back // GameBreadth Project // Game Ontology Project // GameLog | ||||||
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (PS2)Status: Stopped playing - Got frustratedI started playing this game on Sunday 27 August, 2006 // I stopped playing this game on: Wednesday 2 May, 2007 |
||
| Current opinion of this game | ||
|
Shockingly bad news in very little playtime, though I LOVE the concept.
|
||
| September 11, 2006 10:20:38 AM | ||
|
It crashed again (Black Hole table). On the positive side, I have to say that I've really enjoyed the "tutorials" they have. It's a neat way to learn the particulars of a certain table and the narration is not bad. In fact, it has helped me understand why certain tables were included and how they differed from each other in terms of design. I guess I had never though about how pinball tables not only differed in their components and artwork but also in the the general strategy you're supposed to follow. For example, one of the tables (Ace High) you're supposed to LOSE balls after meeting certain table goals in order to get extra plays. The goals of this table, actually the strategy, is counterintuitive (keep the ball in play for as long as possible) and I would never have found that out if it wasn't for the "tutorial". :-) |
||
| September 1, 2006 09:48:01 AM | ||
|
Booted this up again the other night and had a lot of fun playing the Genie table. I even beat the high score! I've always been intrigued by pinball games because of how they mix skill and luck. Gambling aside, pinball must be one of the few games where it is a common for a player to lose through no fault of his own. I lost more than a few balls without getting the chance to even flick the flippers around... Why does this happen? It has always annoyed me to no end, but I still put up with it..in the general sense of the word. However, I have noticed that more recent/modern pinball games tend to have some sort of timer so that if you lose to early in the game you get the ball back. In other words, you are guaranteed a minimum play time per ball...regardless of whatever may happen. Of course, this observation is wholly anecdotal and I'm not really an expert on pinball games. Would anyone care to comment on this? On another note... the game crashed AGAIN! The ball got caught underneath a flipper with the the joypad rumble feature on.. Yeah, I had to switch the PS2 off. That makes this game 0-2 for crashes and hangups.. Grrrr! |
||
| August 27, 2006 06:21:58 PM | ||
|
I just LOVE the concept behind this game. Namely this is a collection of 7 vintage (or semi-vintage?) pinball tables by Gottlieb. I had heard a lot about "Black Hole" (1981) but had never had the chance to actually play it. Last night I did...sort of. :-) I played 3 of the tables using the 4-player mode. (basically "hot-seat", since I only have one controller). Would you believe that the game crashed twice?! I almost fell out of my chair...the first time was when I was about to start, the ball seemed to have gotten stuck somewhere and never fell into the starting position. You know, where you pull back on the plunger and into the game. I basically had to tilt the machine and then quit and restart. The second time was even worse...I think the ball left the table somewhere because all of a sudden the camera zoomed in on the table in a really strange location, and stayed there. I couldn't even quit! I had to restart the table. I'm really, really, really hoping that I just had a string of bad luck. Otherwise, I'd have to say that it's a great trip down memory lane. Well, more like historical-exploration lane in my case! |
||
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria
