Review: Bowling 2002
Score:
73%
Version Reviewed: 1.x
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Prologue:
Bowling 2002 is a bowling emulator by digital-red.
Nothing much to say because everybody knows what bowling is.
So I actually was very interested to see how digital-red ported this reality game into a virtual game.
When porting games with such limited goal it's hard to create an intriguing game that doesn't turn doll after a few minutes.
The game:
When I first get a game I always rush trough all the options wanting to get in the game as fast as possible. After a flawless and successful installation, I booted up the game ... mmm nice ... selected some nice characters and I was off.
I positioned the ball and slammed all the buttons ad aha reaction in the power meter, 1 enter later my ball was rolling to it's path of destruction (actually it missed but that's not important ;) )
The main screen
The Players:
After we select the "start game" we are presented with the players menu.
Choosing a character was easy by just pressing left or right you could get yourself a look alike. You have 4 characters to choose from 2females and 2males, some people find the number of characters a bit disappointing but since I actually didn't expect any I'm quite happy with the 4 ;)
The first times I played the game I never noticed that you could actually change the name of the player's *g* (I was thinking how stupid the highscore looked when it was filled with the default "player 1" and "player 2" as names).
When you select a player you can change the name by just pressing backspace (DOH) and typing a new one.
When you select the second player you can select a computer component or "none" which let you play by yourself (you can toggle trough these modes by pressing enter).
Player selection.
Yep, she's pissed!
Look at that smile ;)
The Gameplay:
This is of course what it's all about, the essence of every game.
The goal is to get your ball at the end of the lane and get as many pins with you as possible.
Every turn consists of 2 tries (unless you get a strike; when you get them all in 1 throw) , if you cannot get them all in the first try you can still get a spare when you get the remaining pins in the second try.
The score is kept in a blue table at the left upper side of the screen.
There are actually 5 settings which you can adjust to guarantee a successful throw.
You can position the ball by using left/right, determine the weight of the ball, select if you want to throw with your left hand or with your right, choose the direction, give some power and off you go!
The weight of the ball is set by the buttons on the right of the screen, underneath it you'll find the selection for left hand or right hand.
When those 2 are set (you probably just have to set them once in the whole game) you start by positioning your ball. When you press enter you'll notice a small red arrow is going from left to right and from right to left just above the pins; this indicates your direction/target, you'll have to wait for the arrow to come over the place you want to hit the pins and press enter to select that place, you'll notice that how heavier your ball is how faster the red arrow goes up and forth; thus making it harder to select the direction you want.
Finally the power begins filling up, you'll have to wait again until you see your desired power and then press enter. Seems hard and difficult? Be shore it isn't, but you'll have a hard time doing 2 throws the exact same way; thus providing you with the realism of the actual throw.
Go Strike!!!!
Ow yeah baby!
Entertainment:
The thing I really appreciate in this game are the details, above the actual game you get a lot of extra details which makes the game fun to play. The characters you choose for instance, seeing them laugh with good throws and pissed when they miss is a fun extra. Another thing that I really enjoyed was the above look on the pins, you can see your ball coming closer and knocking over the pins on the left side of the screen during your throw.
The graphics are great and sound is fun to here :)
Just a moment before the pins are thrown in to the air.
Oh well...
Technical:
Judgement:
Although the plot is simple, I find this game to be very entertaining and even realistic.
The extras like great sounds/graphics and player characters give this game a extra level of fun.
Reviewed by Dazler Dazler at