Gottlieb Pinball Classics Preview

Wii Preview | We take an exclusive look at one of the first budget titles for the Wii.

PALGN was recently invited to Funtastic to check out one of their upcoming Wii budget titles, Gottlieb Pinball Classics. The game is set for release on December 13, and will retail for a thoroughly decent $79.95. Conveniently enough, this is the RRP for the PSP version, which was released and reviewed, earlier in the year. After having an extended hands-on with the game, we came away rather impressed - Gottlieb Pinball Classics just works so well for the Wii that it doesn't feel like a port, but as though the game was made for the Wii.

The title draws inspiration from the work of David Gottlieb, a pioneer for pinball machines who made a ton of the things and released his last machine in the mid-'80s (the developers have included a photo tour of Gottlieb's factory, which is lengthy but interesting). The game features eleven of Gottlieb's pinball creations, which range from some of his first, through to the rarest and most elusive. Some of the "pinball" machines are a little more gimmicky, mind - one tells your fortune and one plays out more like a bowling game.

The game looks very impressive.

The nunchuck for the Wii is used for the left flipper and the remote for the right, whilst jerking the remote lets you tilt the machine. It all feels very intuitive, and quickly becomes addictive, simply because it feels as if you're really playing a pinball machine. Gottlieb Pinball Classics may be a port of the PSP version, but it feels more natural playing with the Wii controller.

The port to the Wii appears to have been executed flawlessly. The physics in the game are simply amazing, with balls that move around realistically, helping to make it feel like you're actually playing a game of pinball. A pinball game isn't exactly going to push the Wii to new technical heights, but the tables look near photo-realistic and feature reflections and shadows that make it seem as if you're standing over the table. In the background you'll hear noises from the other pinball machines too, with the title doing an admirable job of making you feel like you're actually at a pinball parlour (remember them?) [No, grandad - Ed].

Prepare for a challenge with this table

As in the PSP version, the main single player mode in the game is the Gottlieb Challenge. Here, you're taken through all of the tables, but to progress to the next table you need to reach a certain score. You're allowed three attempts for each table, but some of the scores are extremely large. It's also possible to play through each table individually, as all of them have certain goals. There's a catch, however: not every table is on free play and you need to earn credits in the Gottlieb Challenge to actually play some of these tables, which is a little frustrating. There are a few tables which are on free play, but the only way to unlock all of the tables on free play is to complete all of the table goals. Thankfully, Funtastic put the tables on free play for us, so we whisked through them all. Each table is so perfectly recreated that it will require a different strategy.

Gottlieb Pinball Classics for the Wii looks like it's shaping up to be a lot of fun. The game features eleven tables, a decent single player mode, some incredibly addictive pinball tables, not to mention a control method that genuinely changes the game for the better. And at a budget price, it's all very enticing.

Overall:
Gottlieb Pinball Classics seems like an even better game on the Wii, thanks to controls which make it feel as if you're actually playing pinball. Clever and addictive.

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2 Comments

Tom T.

3 years ago

hopefully this is significantly updated over the gamecube version and not just another re-release with new controls. i love pinball, but i had their gamecube release and it was fatally flawed. i wanted to just mess around with the classic tables, but they were almost all locked up. and you had to get high scores on each table to unlock them. i'm not that in to playing the same table over and over to try and get a high score, so i never even got to see most of the tables. it just collected dust as a result. i think they are confused a little as to what constitutes "fun." it's fun to hunt for every hidden coin or for hidden levels in a mario game. but it's not fun to be locked out from 70% of a game's basic funtionality - a game which you have paid for in order tobe able to play - simply because you are not a hardcore gamer who wants to sit andmash buttons for hours doing the same repetitive things. this is an EXCUSE for fun and gameplay, not the real mccoy. and i'd lay odds that this is why not many people had heard of the original version, which i only ever spotted in the mark-down bin at EB.

note to developpers - please re-evaluate before you release. add some subtle, unlockable little extras like music tracks and sound effects for a little media gallery, or interviews with pinball personalities - or maybe ONE locked up table that's really obscure and special. but don't lock up almost all the tables again! that is the opposite of fun.