Ten Pin Alley

"STRIKE!!"

I can almost recall a bowling video game that I played in, where else, a bowling alley. The designs and graphics were simple. Line the ball up and the pins 'disappear' from the screen. You would soon find a certain way to easily get 300 points and soon lose interest in a short while. Before that, there was a bowling game in the size of a pinball machine and instead of rolling the ball down the lane, it would be a wooden/metal puck, instead. The pins aren't really pins, but half plastic designs of them that 'fallup' when the puck passes through wire underneath. Again the game is easy to beat and get tired of it afterwards.

Well, times have changed, since TEN PIN ALLEY came out and the makers really outdid themselves on this one, making this not only the most fun bowling game, but also the most accurate. They added a lot of features to make this game realistic as possible. Pin physics (over 5 millions combinations on how the pins get knocked down), ball selection, lane dressing and drying. The setup on the bowling aim is tricky. Setting the lane arrow and bowler position are easy and you can take your time, but once it set to meter operation you have to react fast because it becomes active as soon as it appears on the screen. It's like the charge meter on the golf game, but if it let go too far, the character does a silly flop and gets an 'f' on the scorecard. It consist of 3 functions: spin, power and release. Try getting a prefect 300 in every game with this set up. Believe me, you won't, unless you are very skilled, but this what makes this game challenging which makes it exciting.

Although the animation is smooth and fluid, the graphics are sharp and detailed as they should be. Most of the characters' faces and features come out ugly and hard to make out sometimes. What makes this game fun are the characters you can create out of 12 outrageous character types, ranging from little kids, nerds, overweight guys, jocks and girls with sexy and tacky looks. You can choose the outfit, appearance, skill level, ball type and weight. Each character have their own strengths and weaknesses in their bowling style, and act like real people except there are times they go over the top in exaggeration. Their reaction on whether they get a strike, spare or a gutter ball are entertaining to watch.

There are 44 tracks in the CD outside the game that feature sound effects and music. You can choose between Rock and Lounge background music in the game. I enjoy some of them, although I doubt I would hear that kind of music in a real bowling alley because they mostly play the top 10. You have the option to turn off the music and just listen to noises that you would hear in a bowling alley. Speaking of that, the sounds of the ball rolling down the lane, and the pins knocking down are all real and different.

This game has a lot of features to keep you amused. Three types of Alleys, two types of scoring (Standard and No Tap, in which it's considered a strike if you knock down 9 pins on the first time), 6 kinds of play style. Open, Team, Practice, and the three tournament styles. Beginner, Amateur and Pro. There is also lifetime tournament and career statistics that keeps track of your earnings, score average and other other info every time you save into memory.

If that's not enough, there are also a dozen hidden Easter Eggs in this game. One of them is More Options, which gives more choices like more lane decorations and uneven teams. There are also codes that you can put into to truly make the game more exciting, like making the entire screen image wireframe or rotate it around 360 degrees while playing.

There will be other bowling video games into the future that would surpass this one, but for true entertainment and fun, try to find this game. Although the graphics are better, it's has more options than the original Playstation version. This is one truly bowling party game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/02, Updated 12/07/02