Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling

A game that's barely out of the gutter!

Ten pin bowling can be fun, but only in a kind of "we've nothing else to do" type way! Under close scrutiny, there are lots of things that suck all the fun right out of the sport. You have to wear ugly shoes that, no matter what size you ask for, always seems to be a little bit too big or a little too small for you. Frustration and anger builds up inside you as you wait in line, knowing you are just going to do as badly as before and it always seems to be your turn that disappears down the back of the alley, failing to materialise for half an hour, therefore holding everyone else's game up. Yet, despite all these complaints, they are what make the non-professional bowler's night out a hit! It’s about this time in the review that it seems appropriate to talk about Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling.

Although it may boast being "ultra realistic" in its bowling physics, this game is totally bereft of any of the fun of actually playing the game for real. While there is nothing wrong with it, there just isn't anything beyond the actual bowling action to warrant a long gameplay challenge.

There may be a whole mess of buttons to press just for you to throw the ball, but once these are consigned to memory, the game really only becomes a matter of timing your speed and accuracy on the A button. Repeat until you have a fair idea of how to score a strike and... well, that's it! Of course, there are variations of game styles: shine, tournament, career etc, but as before, they all come down to the same thing: tap, result action.

Ten Pin Boring!

How good can a game about balls, pins and lonely middle-aged men actually be? As it turns out, not very! Although a lot of effort has been put into the bowling physics and movement – and rightly so – not much has gone into the surrounding environment. To say that it looks flat is a major understatement. The audiences that circle the bowling lanes look as though they have been made of hundreds of cardboard cut-outs. That doesn't really say much about the sport does it? The players have to bring their own fake fans to watch them play! Another annoying point regarding the graphics concerns the bowlers themselves. It seems that no matter how hard you want to throw the ball, and at what angle, the same demo animation shows your bowler gracefully approaching the alley with all the aggression of the sugar plum fairy. There just doesn't seem to be any variation of moves depending on how you throw the ball.

Strike... Out

Ultimately, this whole package doesn't want to sell you a half-decent bowling simulation but rather just some of Brunswick's merchandise and ProStaff players. Outside of the US, there does not seem to be much of a market for this kind of game and much of the appeal for this title seems to concentrate on what it can flag to the fans. Which is fine, if you really want to buy it! OK, the game is an import and only really concerns the American market but we're sure that even dedicated bowling fanatics wouldn't benefit from this licence which isn't much of an improvement on anything that is currently available. All of the variations within the game revolve around Brunswick products, from the clothes the players wear to the balls, they bowl and it gets a bit annoying when, instead of promoting the game's features, it's actually just a giant advertisement. When it comes down to it, if you are a bowling fan then you will either have a bowling game already (in that case save your pennies instead of buying this) or you will probably enjoy going bowling for real. As we've said before, there is nothing inherently bad about this game. It plays simply enough and it passes a few harmless hours, it's just that beyond mastering the controls and trying to beat an opponent or two, there is nothing else to maintain interest. There are a few fun moments to be had here – cosmic bowling is good for a laugh – but the rest of the game consists for moments of total boredom. Which is a real pity!

Overview

Video games are great because they give people the opportunity to experience things that they just can't do in real life. You know, things like blasting aliens, flying spaceships and yes, even bowling. Thanks to THQ, I can now live out my fantasy of actually hitting more than two or three pins in a bowling alley. I can actually bowl like a real professional! Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling is one of the few bowling games available for the PSX. Why are there so few bowling games? I think is has something to do with the perception of bowling on a video game machine. To be honest, it was quite a bit more fun than I expected. The action is very simple, and you have all the physics of real life bowling. There are plenty of different game modes to keep you playing, but this game gets much more fun when you start playing with a few of your buddies. All of this, and you don't even have to wear dorky shoes.

Gameplay

When I first popped in this game, I really did not know what to expect. I have never watched bowling on TV, I suck at bowling in real life and there are so few bowling video games on the market that I have never really gotten into them. With all of that said, I really had no idea if I was going to enjoy this game or not. As it turns out, I enjoyed it to a point and enjoyed the multiplayer game quite a bit more. One thing that I really liked about the game is the fact that you can play a bunch of different game modes. You can play an exhibition game, practice mode, tournament mode, skins, career and even cosmic bowling. The two best modes are the tournament and career. This is where you test your skill against the other bowlers to see if you have what it takes to compete with the big boys. On the tournaments, you will have to perform well in the qualifying modes to advance to the cash rounds. If you don't make the cut, too bad; no cash. It is pretty tough to make that cut. I also enjoyed the cosmic bowling for a few games. This is done in Vegas, and it shows. You play a dark bowling alley and you use a glowing ball to knock over the glowing pins. This was always fun for a few games.

Another thing that I liked was that the game was easy to pick up and start playing, but it was hard enough to do well that it helped to practice. The shot meter worked like most golf games. You have a meter that will start up and you have to hit the button when you reach the desired level of power you want to throw. After you hit the button for power, the meter will go back down and you will need to push the button in the center of the accuracy section. This determines the accuracy of your shot. I really thought this method worked well for two reasons. Number one is because anyone who has ever played a golf game will be able to pick up a controller and start playing. Number two is because if you have not ever played a golf game, it should still only take a few tries before you get the hang of it. This made the game easy to teach to a newbie and they could start playing right away without getting killed.

Actually, I have gotten a little ahead of myself. Before you even get to the shot meter, you have some options that help set up your shot. First, you can select your ball. You have six choices that range from good curving action to high speed. You then choose your spin. Have you ever seen a bowler who lets the ball fly and it looks like it is going straight in the gutter when all of a sudden the spin kicks in and the ball curves to the middle of the lane? Well, you can do this now as well. You can adjust the amount of curve you put on your shot by simply pressing one of the shoulder buttons. After you have selected your curve, you will then have a small graphical representation of the lane and the pins. There is a line drawn that represents the path the ball will follow if you throw it with good accuracy. You can then move your bowler left or right to pick where on the lane they will release the ball. Once you have this set up, it is time to start the shot meter. Now, this may sound complicated but is very, very simple. Trust me, it is a piece of cake. I do have a couple of complaints with this game. First, I don't watch bowling so this may actually be a normal part of bowling, but I felt that I was constantly left with impossible splits that I had to try to pull off. Like I said, maybe this happens all the time, but judging by the scores of the other bowlers, I would have to say that it did not happen to them. I can't tell you how many times I was left with two pins standing that were on opposite sides of the lane. These shots were almost impossible to make. I just don't know if it was something that I was doing that caused this to happen or if it was just the way the game played. My other complaint with the game is that, well, it is that the game is bowling. This is not my idea of the most exciting game on the face of the planet. It is much more fun when you play against other human competition, but it was still bowling. I think the reason that there are not many other bowling games out there is because there is really only so much you can do with a bowling game. After I played a few tournaments, my interest just started to wane. I guess if you really dig bowling, then you may not feel this way, but I sure did.

Graphics

Not bad, not good. How is that for a description? The graphics got the job done, but there was really not much in the way of graphics to worry about. The bowler looked like a bowler, the lane looked like a lane, the ball looked like a ball and the pins looked like pins. That pretty much sums it all up. One thing of note; the crowd is the most annoying thing I have every heard in my life (not graphics, but I thought I would stick it here anyway). They screech and cheer with every shot, good or bad. Very annoying.

Bottom Line

This game is fun for a bit, but I really could not sit down and play for extended periods of time. They did a great job of making it easy enough that a beginner could pick it up and start playing, yet complex enough that if you really want to get good, it takes some practice. I think that there were way too many impossible splits that happened to me, but I guess that just added some challenge to the game. I suggest renting this game for a weekend unless you are a die-hard bowling fan.