Written Android App Review
Bocce Ball
Once again, the Android app does a great job of realistic gameplay, including proper gravity effects and ball reactions. Want to know the real kicker? The Android version allows for multiplayer as well, up to four players! So if you have an itch to play but its too cold or wet outside, just pick up your phone! I award five stars for gameplay for being so realistic.
Scoring
There are dozens of ways to play this game and it seems everyone has their own version. So I thought it worthwhile to explain the scoring of this version of the game. The basic scoring is: First person to 10 points wins the game, best two out of three wins the match. But how do you get a point?
1) If the pin is knocked out of bounds, the opposing team gets a point.
2) The team with the closest ball to the pin gets a point. If that team has two, three or four balls that are all closest to the pin without the other team’s balls being closer, then that is the number of points that team receives.
3) Only one team gets points per round. It is in your best interest to get all four of your balls around the pin and knock the other team out of the way.
The scoring system is explained well in the market description and I found no fault to the scoring while playing. In addition, I found it quite helpful that they provided a bird’s-eye-view of the board in a radar-like form with the pin as the center, so this helped confirm accurate scoring. I thereby award five stars for scoring accuracy.
Design
Having looked at the other Bocce Ball games on the market, I can honestly say I prefer the graphics, layout and gameplay of this version over the others. Some of the other ones on the market have the game played almost as if you were playing pool/billiards. While there are some mild similarities, this game is not billiards. It’s not really that similar to bowling either except for throwing a heavy ball down toward a white ‘pin’ and using the same type of motion. The game isn’t set on a lawn though, like I would have expected. Instead, it is set on a beach. Just as well though – it is also commonly played in sand as well. I really like the way they set up scoring too – looking like a piece of notched driftwood with numbers that a colored ball moves along.
My only complaint is that there is no way to disable sound and after a while, the waves crashing on the shore get a bit irritating. Needless to say, I turned my sound off while playing. But the 3D style of the game makes this a fun and relaxing game to play while still indulging a competitive nature. For the lack of sound controls, I deduct half a star, but that means the game still gets 4 1/2 stars!
Android Apps Review Details: Bocce Ball Android app is free. This app requires Android 1.5 and up. You may download Bocce Ball from the Android Market.
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