Price:	$19.95		Reviewed by:	Mike Featherstone
Supplied:	DeluxeWare		Review date:	20/12/2004
Pros:	Simple to play Multiple modes/difficulties available Good simulation		Cons:	Occasional unrealistic skittle simulation 20 day demo has 'wait timer' before each game

Introduction

Bowling Deluxe is a fairly straightforward game in that it's a reproduction of a ten-pin bowling alley on a PalmOS handheld. The aim of the game is to roll the balls, knock over the pins and score as many points as you can in ten rounds (each round comprising two consecutive balls). If you've never been bowling, that's probably enough of an overview of the rules. If you have been bowling, you know as much as I do (and probably more) so I'm not going to attempt to explain further.

As in the real world, Bowling Deluxe gives you a lane with a set of skittles and an automated pinsetter at the end and keeps score for you electronically. Unlike the real world, there are always enough skittles, you don’t need to reset the pinsetter when it gets stuck and the electronic score keeping seems to be accurate. Oh and as the advertising for this game says, you don’t have to hire shoes either.

Bowling

In play, the game offers you various parameters you can adjust to change the effect of your bowling. A number of different ball weights are available (unlike my experience of any real alley where all the mid-weight balls are in use) and you have control over your position at the end of the lane, how hard you throw the ball and where you aim it. If all of these details sound a little bit too much to set up individually for each shot, don't worry. DeluxeWare have obviously considered this game from all angles and come up with three different modes of play. At least one of them should suit your approach to the game.

Mode 1 - Stroke Play

This is the mode I’ve used most often as it's the simplest and easiest to use and provides the quickest route through a short sharp round of bowling. Once you've selected the weight of your ball (using the arrows on the left of the screen), the only control you need worry about is the stylus. Drag the stylus up the screen toward the pins and depending upon the speed and direction of your stroke, the power and spin of the shot will be determined. Lift the stylus at the end of your stroke and the ball will be released. Thereafter you're in the hands of the software.

Mode 2 - Simulator

If you want absolute control of the shot, play in Simulator mode rather then Stroke. In the simulator you have a number of different things to configure before you can send your ball down the lane, each and every time. Select the weight of your ball as before, slide the bowler's hand along the bottom of the screen to select your point of release, tap the ball on the right of the screen to configure the spin you want to apply and then tap the power meter to set the force you are going to use. Once all of that is set up to your satisfaction, tap the 'Go' button and watch the result.

Mode 3 - Arcade

In this final mode of play, which I must confess to having tried but not used too much, you get to see how good your hand-eye coordination is. As you apply the stylus to the screen to move the bowler’s hand and position your shot, watch the spin setting on the right. When the stylus is lifted, both the hand and spin setting will be frozen and the position and spin will be set. The power gauge will then start moving. When it reaches the power level you desire, tap the 'Go' button. Get it wrong and you're in the gutter. Get it right and you'll hopefully hit some pins and score some points.

Fortunately, given these three vastly different styles of play, separate high score tables are maintained for each.

I tend to play this game in a quick five minutes on my own but if you prefer a bit of competition, there are two options for playing against an opponent. Either find a like minded soul (with whom you're happy to share your PDA for a while) and if you can agree on a mode of play then a two player mode is available. If you have no friends, however, (or at least none that wish to join you in this pastime) then you can select one of the multi-skilled 'computer' players available. Three grades exist: Novice, Amateur and Professional. I like the novice player because I can beat him occasionally but against the professional, I have no chance. Having said that, the simulation is that of a believable player. You’re not facing an opponent who is guaranteed to get a strike every time, nor is it 100% accurate with every ball and I think that’s important in a game like this. If you’re trying to beat perfection, you go off playing very rapidly.

Analysis

Overall, the look of the game is very good. I have a preference for straightforward games that can be played in a relatively short period of time and Bowling Deluxe fulfils those criteria. The graphics are very good. The rendition of the alley is nice and I particularly like the sheen on the floor reflecting the simulated highly polished state of the wood. The sounds are good too, though as with all my games, switching the background music off was one of the first things that I did (not because it's bad, just because I don't like background music).

Behind the scenes, of course, things aren’t as simple as they look from the surface. Navigating the balls along the configured trajectory is only the first of the many calculations that need to be performed and once the pins start flying around (if you manage to hit them) then the whole area of motion calculations becomes much more complex with up to 11 items in motion at the same time. Whether any compromise has had to be made in the coding of this, I don’t know as it’s all been carried off fairly well.

There have been a few occasions on which I watched the tumbling skittles in situations that I’m sure just couldn’t occur in reality (including one pin passing through another at the edge of the lane) but these are infrequent in the main and do not detract from what I find to be the very enjoyable game play offered. (Of course some of my imagined simulation failures could just be wishful thinking on my part as the Strike I was longing for slipped beyond my grasp...)

If you want to give it a go, the demo has a ten-day life but be warned that this is one of those game demos that has an in-built timer of increasing length each time you play. I don’t like this function in demos - if you offer a demo for ten days then let me play for ten days please. If you want to start making me wait before each game then say so and don't pretend I have ten days of freedom to try the software.

Demo gripes aside, in all, it’s a good game and one I have enjoyed playing, albeit in Beta form. About the only gripe I could have is that my skill level in this simulation is vastly superior to my skill in a real alley. You can only go so far with simulations I guess.