Bowling
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Review
This game is a new take on bowling. The prior console games all used a vertical lane. This one is horizontal. This is also the first game to have a bowling ball that was more than a single dot. The pins are about the same as in prior games but we also have an actual person rolling the ball! A nice upgrade in graphics from our prior bowling entries. The gameplay was on par with prior games but it seemed a bit easier. You get to position your bowler before rolling the ball. The other games required you to time a release as the ball moved back and forth across the lane. The ball also moves fairly slow down the lane which makes it easy to time your angle. Your total score is shown on the screen. You can also see the result of each frame completed thus far as an X (strike), / (spare), or - (open frame) You can play with one or two players and there are three different modes. In the first, you can angle your ball up or down at one point as it travels down the lane. The second mode lets you move the ball up and down at will while it travels down the lane. The third mode doesn't let you move the ball at all after it is released. The third mode was lame. The second mode seemed cool at first but didn't seem to give me any edge over my approach from the first mode. The sounds and animation for getting a strike or picking up a spare was notably cool and added to the experience. Overall this isn't a great game, but the improvement in graphics and sound were exciting to see. It feels more like bowling!