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“The Jet Gamer” Game Review: Brunswick Pro Bowling
9 years ago
Well, more of these cheapo games.
Brunswick Pro Bowling
Well, if we are going to table a sports game, it might as well be one of the sports types that the Wii is sort of known for right? I’m talking about Bowling. Honestly, I think Bowling actually is one of the more well-known sports titles that the Wii is known for. There are several bowling games, and it is one of the sports, besides golf, that the Wii would look to be quite well suited for when you think about it. Here we go with one of those titles, that isn’t the well-known Wii Sports. How does this one hold up for such a cheap game?
Gameplay
Well, it’s bowling. That’s what you are getting when it comes to the gameplay here. Unlike some of the other bowling games, this is more of a bowling simulation over how nutty can we make bowling, or how many modes can we stick in a bowling game to keep it going. So going into this game, you have to keep that in mind, that this game is trying to simulate realistic bowling and not the kiddy or creative kinds that some games have. This is both an okay thing, but also a slightly boring thing as well. This is interesting in that there are realistic modes you come to expect from bowling, that being normal play and a career mode where you play through a bowling league. If you wanted to play traditional bowling, I would say you are going to get it here. However, I also think this is a bit of a downside as well. This is just traditional bowling. For anyone that has played Wii Sports or any of the cartoonier or nontraditional bowling games, they are likely going to find this game boring as there is nothing but standard bowling modes. There is nothing wrong with standard bowling at all, but you would think they could have added a little more to the game other than free play and the career mode. The thing about the career mode though is that you have to bowl quite a lot to even do anything in the game. You start with low stats and have to play a lot of bowling for it to slowly start going up. Each match involves also having to play all ten frames three times before you can move onto the next day. You also have to do this six times before you can even try the tournament mode, which is where you will earn more money to buy things. Yeah, this is a bit excessive as you don’t seem to be able to skip these extra matches without you being punished in your stats. The game pretty much wants you to commit to playing lots and lots to be able to afford things to buy in this game or to even advance. Yes, I understand that is more realistic, but it is also a bit boring having to play so much standard bowling all in a row just to get to a tournament to be able to afford more things. The tournament that I got to, was interesting, and would have made a nice third mode in this game. However, one lost and you are kicked out of the tournament, like in real life, and you are back to standard matches again. Yeah, this is quite harsh, but once again, realistic. I think still, this game is a bit too realistic for its own good. There is nothing really wrong with the gameplay here, but there is nothing exactly exciting about it either. It is just normal standard bowling, just lacking some extras to possibly give it some much needed excitement.
Story
Not applicable, this is bowling game.
Graphics
You can tell this is an early Wii game and a game from the PS2 era. The characters really have that just starting to get the hang of 3D look to them. The characters are starting to look more like people, but at the same time, they sort of lack the detail that makes them look more realistic. Characters also still have that slight stiffness to them that makes them still look more computer generated and less like they are just part of a movie that could look realistic. I’m sure some of you know what kind of models I’m talking about. That is what most of the characters in this game look like. You can tell that they tried, but they either don’t have the power or the knowledge to make the best kind of graphics on characters they could have. The bowling part looks fine honestly, as it should be, and the bowling alleys really look fine, but that’s it. Everything looks just fine, nothing looks exceptional, but nothing really looks bad either. This is one of those cases, where things do what they should do, but don’t really go the extra mile to really impress you. It is a bowling game though, and honestly, I think you expect them to concentrate more on the sport than the look of the environment at times anyway.
Sound
I think this is something you are going to run into in several of these categories as you can see, but really, I see nothing wrong with the sound in this game, but nor is there really anything that is that impressive either. You have music that sounds like stuff you would hear at a standard bowling alley. There are the sounds of people playing in the alley, and of course the sounds of balls and pins falling over and being hit constantly. If you have been in a bowling alley, this game really makes you feel like you are in one. Still, I think they could have done a better job on the sound track for this game. Instead of all the generic music that really has no interest at all, why not give us some exciting music for us to enjoy as we are playing this game? Just honestly, give us something more than standard, non-exciting music. That is all I ask. It’s very boring and average.
Control
Okay, this is something I have to spend a little more time explaining, since besides the gameplay, the controls of a bowling game are quite an important part of the game. This is especially so on the Wii, where you need to take into consideration that you are using motion controls here of course. The controls in this game are something you have to get used to that’s for sure. You have to find the way that works for you, or else you are never going to do well in this game at all. This isn’t like in other bowling games where you just swing your arm hard and you are likely going to get a strike. You have to actually be careful when throw the ball or else you are going to have a lot of trouble with curving. Throwing the ball straight is actually quite tricky at first. It took me many games before I could actually get the ball to start going straight on a somewhat regular basis. Yeah, the first few games of this, I was getting a bit frustrated because the ball was constantly swinging to the left and going straight seemed impossible at first. Yeah, having to learn how to use the controls well wasn’t that fun at first, because it felt like I was doing everything right, but nothing was going right at all. What I eventually found worked for me was to slow down and match the form of the guy on the screen pretty closely. You would be surprised that going a bit slower, to me at least, made the guy more accurate and cut down the curving quite a bit. So really, while the controls aren’t horrible, once again, they are something you really need to work at to master. This game is about being realistic after all, and I guess that’s another thing they wanted to do in this game. To get good, you need long practice. I’m just not sure everyone is going to have the patience to want to learn this game for the long term game. It can work, but it takes some time.
Replay Value
Despite how this game is a bit boring at times, and it is a bit realistic, I can see how that can be an appeal at the same time to some people. For those that want to play bowling and some okay bowling at that, I can see this game having some lasting appeal. The league is a pretty long game, and honestly, if you want to get through the game with a good score, and you want to be able to buy everything from the pro shop in the game, you are going to have to commit to this game. It will take quite a while to do this as well, and for those that want to play through all the game and want to be a pro themselves at this game, I can see them having to commit some serious time to this game to able to do so. For others though, I can also see this game have a bit of a repetitiveness problem as well. You are doing the same thing over and over again with little differences to keep things interesting. So honestly, I see the replayability being all down to what you are hoping to get out of the game. For someone that wants something realistic, like a real league, then you are likely going to be willing to commit the time to this game to get really good at it. For those that want something a bit more fun, fasting, and changing constantly with different modes, I see them getting bored with this game fast and moving on to something else within no time at all.
Overall, I would say Brunswick Pro Bowling is an average bowling game for the Wii. This is one of those games that really seems to fall somewhere in the middle as I have said above. It isn’t really that bad of a game, but neither is it really an exciting game either. As I said, for those that want a good bowling simulation and don’t mind putting the time into it to become very good at it, will enjoy this game. For those that are wanting a lot of different modes and don’t just want standard bowling, I don’t see them sticking with this game for that long. So really, this is just an average bowling game. Pick it up if you want some bowling, but otherwise, just keep it on the shelf unless you just really want to play some bowling and don’t want to play a different bowling game.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Brunswick Pro Bowling a six point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 6
Story: N.A.
Graphics: 6
Sound: 7
Control: 6
Replay Value: 7
Overall: 6.5
Brunswick Pro Bowling
Well, if we are going to table a sports game, it might as well be one of the sports types that the Wii is sort of known for right? I’m talking about Bowling. Honestly, I think Bowling actually is one of the more well-known sports titles that the Wii is known for. There are several bowling games, and it is one of the sports, besides golf, that the Wii would look to be quite well suited for when you think about it. Here we go with one of those titles, that isn’t the well-known Wii Sports. How does this one hold up for such a cheap game?
Gameplay
Well, it’s bowling. That’s what you are getting when it comes to the gameplay here. Unlike some of the other bowling games, this is more of a bowling simulation over how nutty can we make bowling, or how many modes can we stick in a bowling game to keep it going. So going into this game, you have to keep that in mind, that this game is trying to simulate realistic bowling and not the kiddy or creative kinds that some games have. This is both an okay thing, but also a slightly boring thing as well. This is interesting in that there are realistic modes you come to expect from bowling, that being normal play and a career mode where you play through a bowling league. If you wanted to play traditional bowling, I would say you are going to get it here. However, I also think this is a bit of a downside as well. This is just traditional bowling. For anyone that has played Wii Sports or any of the cartoonier or nontraditional bowling games, they are likely going to find this game boring as there is nothing but standard bowling modes. There is nothing wrong with standard bowling at all, but you would think they could have added a little more to the game other than free play and the career mode. The thing about the career mode though is that you have to bowl quite a lot to even do anything in the game. You start with low stats and have to play a lot of bowling for it to slowly start going up. Each match involves also having to play all ten frames three times before you can move onto the next day. You also have to do this six times before you can even try the tournament mode, which is where you will earn more money to buy things. Yeah, this is a bit excessive as you don’t seem to be able to skip these extra matches without you being punished in your stats. The game pretty much wants you to commit to playing lots and lots to be able to afford things to buy in this game or to even advance. Yes, I understand that is more realistic, but it is also a bit boring having to play so much standard bowling all in a row just to get to a tournament to be able to afford more things. The tournament that I got to, was interesting, and would have made a nice third mode in this game. However, one lost and you are kicked out of the tournament, like in real life, and you are back to standard matches again. Yeah, this is quite harsh, but once again, realistic. I think still, this game is a bit too realistic for its own good. There is nothing really wrong with the gameplay here, but there is nothing exactly exciting about it either. It is just normal standard bowling, just lacking some extras to possibly give it some much needed excitement.
Story
Not applicable, this is bowling game.
Graphics
You can tell this is an early Wii game and a game from the PS2 era. The characters really have that just starting to get the hang of 3D look to them. The characters are starting to look more like people, but at the same time, they sort of lack the detail that makes them look more realistic. Characters also still have that slight stiffness to them that makes them still look more computer generated and less like they are just part of a movie that could look realistic. I’m sure some of you know what kind of models I’m talking about. That is what most of the characters in this game look like. You can tell that they tried, but they either don’t have the power or the knowledge to make the best kind of graphics on characters they could have. The bowling part looks fine honestly, as it should be, and the bowling alleys really look fine, but that’s it. Everything looks just fine, nothing looks exceptional, but nothing really looks bad either. This is one of those cases, where things do what they should do, but don’t really go the extra mile to really impress you. It is a bowling game though, and honestly, I think you expect them to concentrate more on the sport than the look of the environment at times anyway.
Sound
I think this is something you are going to run into in several of these categories as you can see, but really, I see nothing wrong with the sound in this game, but nor is there really anything that is that impressive either. You have music that sounds like stuff you would hear at a standard bowling alley. There are the sounds of people playing in the alley, and of course the sounds of balls and pins falling over and being hit constantly. If you have been in a bowling alley, this game really makes you feel like you are in one. Still, I think they could have done a better job on the sound track for this game. Instead of all the generic music that really has no interest at all, why not give us some exciting music for us to enjoy as we are playing this game? Just honestly, give us something more than standard, non-exciting music. That is all I ask. It’s very boring and average.
Control
Okay, this is something I have to spend a little more time explaining, since besides the gameplay, the controls of a bowling game are quite an important part of the game. This is especially so on the Wii, where you need to take into consideration that you are using motion controls here of course. The controls in this game are something you have to get used to that’s for sure. You have to find the way that works for you, or else you are never going to do well in this game at all. This isn’t like in other bowling games where you just swing your arm hard and you are likely going to get a strike. You have to actually be careful when throw the ball or else you are going to have a lot of trouble with curving. Throwing the ball straight is actually quite tricky at first. It took me many games before I could actually get the ball to start going straight on a somewhat regular basis. Yeah, the first few games of this, I was getting a bit frustrated because the ball was constantly swinging to the left and going straight seemed impossible at first. Yeah, having to learn how to use the controls well wasn’t that fun at first, because it felt like I was doing everything right, but nothing was going right at all. What I eventually found worked for me was to slow down and match the form of the guy on the screen pretty closely. You would be surprised that going a bit slower, to me at least, made the guy more accurate and cut down the curving quite a bit. So really, while the controls aren’t horrible, once again, they are something you really need to work at to master. This game is about being realistic after all, and I guess that’s another thing they wanted to do in this game. To get good, you need long practice. I’m just not sure everyone is going to have the patience to want to learn this game for the long term game. It can work, but it takes some time.
Replay Value
Despite how this game is a bit boring at times, and it is a bit realistic, I can see how that can be an appeal at the same time to some people. For those that want to play bowling and some okay bowling at that, I can see this game having some lasting appeal. The league is a pretty long game, and honestly, if you want to get through the game with a good score, and you want to be able to buy everything from the pro shop in the game, you are going to have to commit to this game. It will take quite a while to do this as well, and for those that want to play through all the game and want to be a pro themselves at this game, I can see them having to commit some serious time to this game to able to do so. For others though, I can also see this game have a bit of a repetitiveness problem as well. You are doing the same thing over and over again with little differences to keep things interesting. So honestly, I see the replayability being all down to what you are hoping to get out of the game. For someone that wants something realistic, like a real league, then you are likely going to be willing to commit the time to this game to get really good at it. For those that want something a bit more fun, fasting, and changing constantly with different modes, I see them getting bored with this game fast and moving on to something else within no time at all.
Overall, I would say Brunswick Pro Bowling is an average bowling game for the Wii. This is one of those games that really seems to fall somewhere in the middle as I have said above. It isn’t really that bad of a game, but neither is it really an exciting game either. As I said, for those that want a good bowling simulation and don’t mind putting the time into it to become very good at it, will enjoy this game. For those that are wanting a lot of different modes and don’t just want standard bowling, I don’t see them sticking with this game for that long. So really, this is just an average bowling game. Pick it up if you want some bowling, but otherwise, just keep it on the shelf unless you just really want to play some bowling and don’t want to play a different bowling game.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Brunswick Pro Bowling a six point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 6
Story: N.A.
Graphics: 6
Sound: 7
Control: 6
Replay Value: 7
Overall: 6.5
