By now I’m sure that you’ve figured out that Fast Lanes Bowling is a game
about bowling. Since you’re reading this review, it’s safe to assume that you
have at least a passing interest in bowling or bowling games. Therefore I am
going to refrain from explaining the complexities of the sport and just take a
look at what kind of bowling you get with Fast Lanes. Well, the short answer is
that you get a casual and arcade-like treatment of the sport as opposed to a PBA
sim. For the long answer, read on.
Fast Lanes gives you the choice of a few modes of play in addition to your
standard ten-frame game (sorry Kingpin fans, there’s no Amish bowling option).
There’s a basic tournament where you try to work your way to the prize by
winning a series of one game matches against computer-controlled opponents, and
also a couple of challenge modes. The first is a series of frames in which you
are challenged to pick up spares from different pin placements. The challenges
start simple and increase in difficulty until you are faced with picking up a
series of progressively more difficult splits. The second mode is called golf,
with each frame treated as a hole in golf. The pins are set in a variety of
non-standard configurations – squares, crosses, diamonds, etc. – and each one is
given a par rating. The par in this case is the number of balls it should take
for you to knock over all of the pins. The game tracks the number of balls you
roll in each frame to knock over all of the pins and your final score is the
grand total of balls rolled.
The bowling itself is a pretty simple affair. You designate the amount of
spin to place on the ball before each roll and then aim your shot on the lane. A
long arrow overlaid on the lane helps you to align your shot, so you can put the
ball exactly where you want to place it. The degree of spin that you choose will
affect the curvature of the aiming line, so there’s no guesswork involved in
determining how the spin will affect the ball’s path. Once the shot is aligned,
bowling is a simple two-click process. A cursor moves along a power bar and you
click the mouse once the desired power level is reached. Once you click for
power, a cursor begins moving down an accuracy meter. If you click the mouse as
the cursor moves through a colored section of the bar, your throw will be
accurate and go exactly where aimed. Miss by a bit and your shot will stray
slightly to the left or right. This system is pretty simple, but it is also the
biggest problem with Fast Lanes. Fast Lanes takes a simplistic approach to
bowling ... too simplistic. The game is purely an exercise in timing, and
once you get the rhythm right the game quickly becomes boring. There’s no
attempt to model factors such as the lane oil and bowler fatigue, and the few
variables that are included in the game such as spin and ball weight don’t have
a noticeable effect. Fast Lanes is all about clicking twice at the right times.
Fast Lanes tries to inject some variety into the game by allowing you to
select from a group of bowlers that include men, women, and fantasy bowlers that
include a robot and an alien. There’s no difference between the bowlers other
than their looks, though. Each one has the same identical slightly jerky and
unnatural movements and the same stock two or three subdued celebrations. You
can also choose from several different fantasy bowling lanes, including ones set
on a pirate ship, a medieval castle, and a lunar base. These lanes feature
unique pins based on the alley's theme and provide a different background to
look at while bowling, but there's surprisingly little else. They all have
very short and repetitive looping background musical themes, but other than that
there's little to distinguish the settings from one another. The pirate
ship had potential with it's rolling deck, but the ship's motion has no effect
on your ball and it's only purpose seems to be to generate a slight feeling of
vertigo in the gamer.
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