The game, by rolling’, bowline’ ball specialists Far Sight Studios (known for its Pinball Arcade suite of virtual tables) delivers one of the most natural video game sports with real-life pros and all the trappings of broadcast presentation. And it also shows that a mainstream badge like video games are still available to sports outside of the multi-billion dollar Big Four of football, baseball, basketball and hockey.
The actual game play is done well but is a bit bare bones. You have one character to play with and you cannot change camera views. There is some learning curve to be successful. Each bowling ball has its own characteristics to evaluate. Weight, hook, and control will all impact how hard you throw the ball and how much spin you should put on it. The overall controls of the game are simple. You use your right stick to throw the ball, and accuracy is determined by the straightness of pulling the right stick back and pushing forward. Speed is determined by how fast you push the right stick forward. When the ball is going down the lane, you must then add spin by pushing the left stick in the direction you want the ball to spin. This is similar to a breaking putt in golf. If you hit it too hard, the ball won’t break. If you hit it too slow, the ball will break too much.
To all of you wannabe league bowlers who want to be league bowlers, there's a new game that is easily up your alley.I was also disappointed in the fact that you can’t change the camera view. You can only play the game from the first-person point of view. When the AI bowls, you view a wider broadcast-style presentation that is a lot more visually pleasing. I would have liked the option to set my line and spin from a first-person view, but then have my character bowl from a broadcast view. This would have created a total broadcast experience and enhanced the flavor of big-time events.
So, it feels like we need a "tournament mode" for bowling similar to what we created for HISTORY MAKER GOLF. The goal would be to get to the stepladder aspect–the part that's on TV–relatively quickly and painlessly, and play that out in full game mode.
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