Brunswick Pro Bowling (Wii)

[Daniel270]

Has anyone else given this game a try yet?   Opinions?

[hulkster]

i read a summary of the latest ign.com podcast, and they said it sucked.  too bad, as i want a good bowling game with career mode and stuff.

[somunny]

Nintendo Power didn't rate it too highly (6.5 +/-).  However, that's the only review I've read.

[Daniel270]

Got the game yesterday... graphically, it's good.  Control leaves a bit to be desired, tho.

[ahofle]

How does it compare to the Wii Sports bowling (which I really like)?

[Daniel270]

I feel like it was originally designed with the regular controller in mind.  The only actual movement of the wii controller is the "throw" move, which seems like it's slow... you move, then a few seconds later, the ball is thrown. The rest is button pushing.  I haven't figured out how the hook is figured yet.

Wii Sports Bowling is alot simpler to learn and play, imo.  It might not be completely accurate, but it's definitely alot more fun.

[SNAAKE]

this game sucks...

[Malenko]

that sucks, I was hoping to snag this one up for my nephews to play, they like Wii Bowling and kept saying they wished there was a better bowling game....... guess they can keep on wishing.

[ahofle]

Same here.  How could they screw up the controls on that one? 

[hulkster]

yeah, see this is what i dont get.  nintendo has basically layed it out for everyone on the control end.  i.e. wii sports.  here it is, bowling with simple graphics but great gameplay...all you have to do is take that gameplay and add a career mode and better graphics and you have a winner.  why in the heck would they not do that?  i know it costs more to do the whole control scheme thing but geez, if they made a solid bowling game, id buy it for sure.  i love wii bowling...its the best of the wii sports games imo.  how hard is it to take those controls and just make it look better, add some multiplayer stuff, and maybe even online (gasp)? 

same with fps games for the wii.  i just got metroid and retro studios NAILED IT on the controls.  awesome controls and 20x better than any other console fps control.  why cant they take the same control method and copy it over???   

[ahofle]

It's probably like someone around here mentioned...the game companies didn't really take the wii as seriously back when those games were being developed.  I'd be willing to bet there are tons of game developers working 80+ hour weeks as we speak trying to catch up to the wii craze.

[Daniel270]

I feel like it was originally designed with the regular controller in mind.  The only actual movement of the wii controller is the "throw" move, which seems like it's slow... you move, then a few seconds later, the ball is thrown. The rest is button pushing.  I haven't figured out how the hook is figured yet.

Wii Sports Bowling is alot simpler to learn and play, imo.  It might not be completely accurate, but it's definitely alot more fun.

Finally figured out how the thing hooks.  Basically, it's a pivot of the wiimote, similar to Wii Sports Bowling.  However, the game doesn't play based on MY actual skill.   As you play the game, you "level" and gain points for accuracy, strength and such.  Also, the player's character early on gets "fatigue", which affects how well it plays. 

I played a little bit yesterday against the computer in a non-tourney event and the computer player knocked down 9 pins and earned a strike.  It's a standard 10 pin game so you can imagine I was less than happy at catching the computer cheating in it's favor...

Overall, I'm sorely disappointed that I paid $40 for this and wish I could've rented it first beforehand. 

[SavannahLion]

Finally figured out how the thing hooks.  Basically, it's a pivot of the wiimote, similar to Wii Sports Bowling.  However, the game doesn't play based on MY actual skill.   As you play the game, you "level" and gain points for accuracy, strength and such.  Also, the player's character early on gets "fatigue", which affects how well it plays.

Think game controls could get any more counter productive than that?

[tommy]

The Wii sports bowling is perfect, they just need more depth with it, maybe a Wii sports Volume 2?

[Daniel270]

The Wii sports bowling is perfect, they just need more depth with it, maybe a Wii sports Volume 2?

I could go for that... perhaps with a tourney option?

[HaRuMaN]

The Wii sports bowling is perfect, they just need more depth with it, maybe a Wii sports Volume 2?

I could go for that... perhaps with a tourney option?

And a better Wii boxing game.  The concept is great, but the control sucks.  It maybe reads 50% of my punches, and even less of my uppercuts/hooks.

[shmokes]

It's true.  Bowling is really the only sport of the package that is really a complete game.  It could benefit from some depth, but everything is there to kinda bowl 10 frames like you would in real life.  Tennis is just swinging, no control whatsoever of your character's movement.  Baseball is just swinging.  No stealing bases, or even deciding whether to risk a double when you hit first base and see that the ball hasn't been picked up yet.  There's no (controllable) hook or slice in golf, and there are only a couple of clubs to choose from.  Boxing effectively doesn't even function.  But the bowling offers a simple, but basically complete bowling experience. 

So it really is funny to see someone come along like this with a dedicated Bowling sim, after seeing how to do it.  And make no mistake, reproducing Wii Sports Bowling is not beyond the capabilities of any half-competent developer -- the game is barely more than a tech demo.  It's a lane that never changes, with 10 pins, and a single gesture for throwing the ball.  The entire bowling portion of Wii Sports was probably completed, start to finish, in well under six months.  Probably more like two.

Anyway, yeah, publishers of games like these should be criminally liable for fraud.    The court should apply some sort of "reasonable person" test, where they decide whether a reasonable person who saw the game on the store shelf, having heard nothing about the game prior, would think that it could possibly be that terrible.  And Wii Sports Bowling could be entered in as evidence of what a developer can do with bowling on the Wii with almost no time or resources devoted to the project.   

[shmokes]

The Wii sports bowling is perfect, they just need more depth with it, maybe a Wii sports Volume 2?

I could go for that... perhaps with a tourney option?

And a better Wii boxing game.  The concept is great, but the control sucks.  It maybe reads 50% of my punches, and even less of my uppercuts/hooks.

Hell, if it is even possible to get the proper amount of precision from the Wii's controllers to make boxing work (we all know that I have my doubts on that score), I don't give a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- about Wii Sports Boxing II, bring on Fight Night!  Fight Night pretty much revolutionized boxing videogames by moving from button presses to analog sticks for controlling punches.  The Fight Night engine is ALREADY tailor-made for the Wii.  Man, Fight Night is a fantastic game with a gamepad, but without changing anything else about the mechanics of the game and simply substituting the motion controllers for what previous versions have used the right-analog stick for, the game would be an instant classic.

But all that depends on what kind of precision developers can squeeze out of those accelerometers.  And if pretty much every game released so far is any indication, that kind of precision may be beyond the Wii motion controllers' capabilities.

[Daniel270]

Then wouldn't it be more reasonable for a more "perfected" wiimote?  Something with a bit more accuracy and precision.....

[Lilwolf]

a friend got this game, and he loved it... but his wife hated it.

It ended up his normal bowling stroke (hes a good bowler) translated perfect for the game.

His wife couldn't get anything to go...  She's not a good bowler in real life.

Also, my friend is the kind of bowler that he doesn't throw the ball that hard, but with lots of spin. 

Anyway, mixed results... I say its a big no-go for most people, which sucks.  I would love to have another great bowling game that doesn't use wiimotes for the gui.  But I dont' think this is it.

[ChadTower]

all you have to do is take that gameplay and add a career mode and better graphics and you have a winner.  why in the heck would they not do that? 

I'm going to go with because they didn't have the source code Nintendo used.  Can't "just copy over the control scheme".  It's not that simple.

[Xam]

The Wii sports bowling is perfect, they just need more depth with it, maybe a Wii sports Volume 2?

I could go for that... perhaps with a tourney option?

And a better Wii boxing game.  The concept is great, but the control sucks.  It maybe reads 50% of my punches, and even less of my uppercuts/hooks.

Glad to hear it is not just me having trouble on the boxing...yeah about 50% of punches register...even in training mode.

Xam