Striking Out With Let’s Bowl Android App

Written Android App Review

As an avid bowler myself, I am picky about supposed bowling games. I bowl regularly in leagues and am typically a high average bowler. So anytime a new bowling game comes out, I must try it out. The Android market has been oddly devoid of any good bowling games, which has been a source of frustration for me. What few games have come out have been poor at best. That is, until now.

Gameplay:

My favorite bowling game is Brunswick Bowling – I’ve played it on the Wii and now own it for the Xbox 360 Kinect as well. Imagine my surprise when I opened this Android app and recognized the lane and the obvious engine being used to control the ball and pins. It’s Brunswick! Just in Android form of course. What this means is that the pin action and ball response are highly realistic. In fact, there might even be a bit too much pin action – the pins bounce around as if they were brand new. Guess that means I’ll just have to break them in then, right?

I love how the ball responds as well. I can control angle, speed and curve quite easily. I discovered a few different techniques in throwing the ball. Essentially, the further down the lane you move your finger, the faster the ball goes. Stopping at the arrows throws a medium fast ball. Stopping at the dots throws a slow (but accurate) ball, and going all the way to the pins throws a powerhouse of a punch! As with real bowling, I found this game took finesse – sure, you can throw the ball at maximum speed every time and hope pin action knocks them all down, or you bowl how I prefer – steadily, accurately, and consistently. I found I got the highest scores when I did the latter. Thanks to the responsiveness of the controls, gameplay receives five stars.

Fun:

While the technical ability of the controls is fantastic, I feel the enjoyment level could be improved. There are no fancy graphics when a player gets a strike or spare like there is at a bowling alley. Sometimes it’s the simple things in life which can make or break a game. It gets a little old just throwing the ball over and over with no real compensation for doing well. For poor positive reinforcement, Let’s Bowl loses a star.

Scorekeeping:

I am giving scorekeeping its own section because of the complexity of bowling score keeping. Sadly, this game got it all wrong. While the final score tally was correct, the frame-by-frame scores were not set to be cumulative. This is absolutely unacceptable for a bowling game. As an example, here is how the scores came out vs. how it should have been:

X

9 /

X

9 -

X

2 4

6 /

7 /

6 1

X  7 -

20

X

9 /

X

9 -

X

2 4

6 /

7 /

6 1

X  7 -

20

40

59

68

84

90

107

123

130

147

This is incredibly disappointing so I can only award one star for correct total score.

Value:

Since this game is free, it is still worth playing despite the scorekeeping issue. There is also a paid version, but until I see the scoring fixed in the free version, I won’t be upgrading. I award 3 stars for value – losing one star for scorekeeping and another for reduced enjoyment level. The gameplay is still the best I’ve seen on the Android market though, so there may be hope yet.

Android Apps Review Details: Let’s Bowl Android app is free. This app requires Android 2.2 and up. You may download Let’s Bowl from the Android Market.

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