Fast Lanes Bowling review

The secret to a strike is a little bit of curve.

Bowling is dead easy to understand: you fling a ball at ten pins and try to knock as many down as possible, gaining bonus points for an all-conquering strike and trying to avoid the curse of the split - a situation where you're left with two separate groups of pins, both of which you cannot bowl through. At the end of several rounds, the most destructive player (i.e., the one who has taken down the most pins), is the winner.

The simplicity of bowling is what makes a simulation of it such a good idea, at least on paper. As those of us who have been bowling will well know, it's not as easy as it looks and certainly not as basic as it first appears. The success of any sports sim lies in its ability to allow us to enjoy the subtleties and challenges of a sport without ever having to be any good at the real thing. Should you lack the dexterity required to avoid repeated gutterballs or be without the strength needed to heft the 16lb spheres of obliteration that careen relentlessly down the lanes, then this game should be ideal for you.

This is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

Action replays are par for the course.

But when I say 'should', the emphasis is firmly on what this game could've been, not what it is. It's not long before the shortcomings become all too apparent and it's a shame that they hold back Fast Lanes Bowling from being a fine game.

What's immediately obvious is that the presentation isn't up to scratch. Appearances are, of course, certainly not everything and the very basic graphics don't cripple your ability to play, but a little more polish would not have gone amiss. The bowling balls might have a nice reflective sheen to them, shown off as they hurtle towards the pins, but this is a little out of place when compared to the ugly player models, all of which display a very basic range of animation and, despite looking different, all behave the same. Make a poor shot and you're guaranteed your model will faint or sulk. Score a strike, and the victory celebrations are all the same.

In the frame

The kid is hot! Knocking things down must appeal to our most primal of desires.

Of course, this won't impede how you play the game but, combined with the poor soundtrack, it makes everything feel rather rough and unprofessional. Fortunately, this is a game that redeems itself considerably when it comes to they physics of bowling. This really does feel like bowling. From the curve you put on each shot, to the realistic motion of the pins as they're smashed aside, to the weak trundle of an underpowered bowl, the feedback you get is excellent. Taking a shot follows the simple three-tap method that many golf games use - tap the space bar to begin your shot and again to stop the two sliders that reflect the power and accuracy you want to employ. The more precise your tapping, the closer your shot will be to what you desire.

The whole system is quick and easy, capped off by the straightforward aiming of your shot beforehand, during which time you can select the ball you wish to use and how much curve you want to employ. This makes Fast Lanes Bowling almost immediately accessible, much to its credit, and yet it's still hard to master. It's a shame there isn't a little more elaboration in-game about some of the subtleties of the sport. There's no explanation of what the difference between each type of ball core is, for example, so the developers must be assuming that we are already privy to such esoteric knowledge.

Changing lanes

Mess up on your shot preparation and you can guarantee the ball will go askew.

However (and this is a big 'however'), when it comes down to it, all this game is good for is simulating bowling. It's a glorified, although admittedly very good, physics simulation of ten pins and a ball. You might be able to create your own character, assigning stats to accuracy, strength and your ability to curve the ball, but the various wacky environments you can bowl across, be they castle drawbridge or beach pier, are extra eye-candy covering up a lack of content.

The two sub-games are certainly diverting for a while, but don't add anything significant to the game at all. The first, Golf, challenges you to finish several frames in as few shots as possible, keeping track of whether your total is above or below par. The second, Challenge, sees you trying to knock over an ever-growing number of pins. Both feature novelty arrangements that are increasingly difficult to clear and both are distinctly unremarkable. The meat of this game is in its tournament mode.

A load of balls

They might look like large stone heads, but they don't fall too different to bowling pins.

Unfortunately this tournament mode is more underdeveloped than anything else. The opponents are nameless and lack playing styles or consistency; they are too random in how they bowl. Be it the first round or the tournament final, they are no more or less challenging than at any other time. The fact that there's only one tournament to play in, with its rigid structure of one-on-one games, means you can forget about leagues, playoffs or any other kind of competition.

Fast Lanes Bowling might be very easy to pick up, but it's even easier to put down again since an evening's playing will show you almost everything it has to offer. The actual bowling physics might be very good, but there is very little of a game built around them and there's simply not enough to do. If only developers Lab Rats Games had been able to produce more content, we might be saying something very different about this game.