
What's the meaning of life? We all have wondered about it at least once in our lives. Whether it's on the commute, while taking a shower or when rolling a bowling ball down the lane. When you think about it, Bowling is pretty similar to life, a continuous cycle that depends on numerous factors that we usually take for granted - Sometimes a little spice can bring back the passion we've been missing in our daily routine, and sometimes that extra spin can throw our lives into complete chaos.
The fact that we came up with an intro for this review that is as bizarre as the concept of bowling itself points to the power encased in Brunswick Pro Bowling for the Wii U. This is one of those titles that once you put the controller down it will leave you with more questions than answers.The thing about falling into a philosophical funk in which you question everything in life, is that it usually leaves a path of destruction that's difficult to recover from.

Why does Brunswick Pro Bowling exists? What corporate head honcho said it would be a great idea to give the company's license away to a small studio to make a game about a line of business it decided to leave behind in May 2015? What is it winning out of this venture?
Given the fact that Brunswick Corp. was a pioneer in making bowling accessible to everyone across the US and the world, it probably wanted to give one last goodbye to its longtime fans.
It should have left through the backdoor of the alley…
Unfortunately, Brunswick Pro Bowling is not the bowling title we've all been waiting for. There's nothing about this title that can make it worthy of your time. Not the music, not the visuals, not even the gameplay. How could a Brunswick Pro Bowling fail where games like Wii Sports Bowling have thrived?
One of the game's biggest faults is not understanding what makes a video game, well… a video game. In no way is it an immersive, appealing or fun experience. From the gameplay all the way to the visuals and audio, there's nothing memorable or good to write about it.

Brunswick Pro Bowling doesn't waste the player's time with snazzy intro videos; as soon as it creates the save file the player will be prompted to create his/her own avatar. Options abound as the game allows the player to choose the avatar's gender and handedness - neither affect the gameplay, nor you can modify the appearance, height or weight of your avatar. Simply put, the avatar is there for the sole purpose of occupying a virtual space. The whole process takes about five seconds to complete.
Not that it would matter much, visually the game evokes memories of early N64 titles - low polygon count, stiff animations and laughable use of pre-rendered images. It isn't an exaggeration saying that every single environment of the game is a still image. No dynamic lightning or shadow, no details let alone any texture on the surfaces. Everything you see is the product of a pre-rendered image, with the exception of the bowling balls and the pins, both which are rendered in real time. The avatar who you spent so much time creating to look just like the mug of a person who sells shady items from the trunk of his/her car is used sporadically to express joy or disdain after a shot. The funny part is that this avatar is placed over the still image without any attention to dimensions or perspective.

The game takes pride in the simulation of the sport, claiming that it boasts a physics engine that emulates the behavior of the ball and pin as if they were real. Everything sounds great but there's a caveat - the controls are over-simplified and so lenient that when it comes to mistakes that there is nothing stopping the player from having a perfect game once they learn how to recreate the controller stick movement that guarantees a strike.
In order to throw the ball down the lane the player must pull the left stick and then push it towards the opposite direction. If the pushing motion is angled then the ball will spin in the respective direction; the sharper the angle the stronger the spin. It is extremely easy to master, which is why in the end it detracts from the whole experience, as there's no real skill or randomness to the main gameplay mechanic of the title. Furthermore, while the previous title in the series published for the Nintendo Wii had motion controls, for some strange reason they're completely absent in the Wii U version.

Which takes us to the next point - the only real reason the game designers decided to give the player an avatar is to dress him/her up with the official Brunswick-branded equipment. Each piece of gear adds certain attributes. Some of them give the player more power or extra accuracy, but the fact that it is possible to get a perfect score without having them makes them trivial. The real contribution is that each piece of equipment makes it easier for the player to cheat.
But that's not all. In the in-game shop players can also buy special balls that will act in ways that a bowling ball wouldn't do in real life. From the Ying-Yang ball that splits in two to make it easier to hit those splits, to the remote controlled grenade ball that blows up when prompted by a command.
So where's all the life-like simulation the game took so much pride in? Is it in the game graphics? In the eardrum tearing music? The gameplay? Simply put, Brunswick Pro Bowling is not worth your time. It's better advised to pay the entry price for the Wii Sports Club game, or just fire up an old copy of Wii Sports Resort.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it's a pity to see so much effort going to waste in projects like these - sure, some games exist for the sole purpose of generating income to the license, while others are the training wheels for small studios that want to grow big. Brunswick Pro Bowling is a bit of both, a mediocre licensed title developed by a relatively small studio with little experience. Sadly this one was doomed since the day it got greenlit.
Brunswick Pro Bowling did things to our head… unspeakable things.
Comments 31
Well that sucks. I was hoping for a good bowling game. Guess I'll be buying wii sports club now.
Haha lol
Well, I guess this game just got guttered.
Joke aside, its a shame this game isn't worth it, as there is a chance to make something better that what Wii Sports offers, but hardly anyone seems to take it.
Day 1 buy for me.
id rather set up bottles and throw rocks at them. (wow I sound mean)
To be honest the review seems overcritical to me, sure it's not great, but I'd still give it a 4/10 based on my current opinion of the game. 2/10 to me means a game is completely broken and doesn't work, which doesn't appear to be the case...
You guys ripped this game apart...holy crap this was a entertaining read.
@Neko_Ichigofan just curious, have you played it?
Yikes, I haven't seen a 2/10 on this site since....
Well... ever
@Neko_Ichigofan It's not broken but moving a stick to win the game does not justify the US$40 price tag
@Pikachupwnage hah... at least something good came out of this game ^^;
@JaxonH I umm... did give another 2/10 to another title =/ the port of Brave Tank Hero for the Wii U. A terrible game made even worse >.< https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/wiiu-eshop/brave_tank_hero
@JoseAcosta
Oh boy, judgement day approaches. If I were a dev, I'd hate to get on your bad side
Of Mice and Men, of 2's and 10's
What a tremendous shame. I was mildly interested in this at first (though it had little to no chance of leaving the U.S.) as an alternative to Wii Sports Club, but man, this sounds even worse than that WiiWare bowling game by Gameloft (and at least that had motion controls and is only a small fraction of the price). Wii Sports Club Bowling also offers a hell of a lot more for AU$13, plus an additional four sports if one were to purchase the retail package, which is still less than the price of this abomination.
Some people have absolutely no conscience whatsoever when they see fit to charge full price for turds like these. I've seen better production values in eShop titles.
How is this game rated E10+? No age should buy this full priced!
Far sight should be concentrating on pinball tables anyway....I'll assume the xone and ps4 versions suck too I guess
I want a Mario bowling game please
and it can't suck either
@JaxonH I think I have seen 2 or 3 (counting this) 2 out of 10s isnce the year started.
@MagicEmperor : I get that you're joking, but the game is actually rated E. The above cover art is a misprint.
Turns out that this turd is going to be released in Australia after all (it's been given a classification).
I suspect that it will be a digital-only release in Australia, however, if there is a physical retail release, I strongly doubt that the Wii U version will ever see such a release. Bafflingly, not even the Angry Birds games were released at retail on Wii U in Australia (the 3DS games were, however).
Wow. Such a Deep review for such a terrible game.
Such a deep review for a bad bowling game. I'm not surprised at this. The game kinda looks like a minigame in GTAV for PS3
The Wii version isn't that bad. It was done by PoV. Whether it was a port of the Farsight game or its own game I'm not sure. This game on WiiU looks kinda... weird. Why would they not program motion control as an option. Mind numbing. Does FarSight know fun, or just simulation?
This will probably be one of those games that sell so bad, but it becomes so rare down the line. Although some rare games don't have much value, I feel like the way things are going, anything rare in the video game world will be worth a lot more in years to come.
I was actually looking forward to this and still may pick it up when it drops to $20, as I did enjoy the previous ones in the series, and I enjoy bowling games (own Alien Monster League Bowling on Wii, High Velocity Bowling on PS3...as well as a few others on PS3 and Wii Sports Club for Wii U). Want to add this game for the PS4 though, but it all depends on what system it falls cheaper on! Other than that, there's been many other games that were just like this, and they ended up being engaging. There are some, not many, but there are some that are good and get slipped under the radar (here's looking at you, The Munchables, Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg, Sphinx And The Cursed Mummy and many more).
If the Bowling game can't compete with Wii Sports Club just don't develop it! Yet, it's the big Bowling brand Brunswick so this awful rendition will have some sales. Farsight Studios makes this redundant shovelware? Where's The Pinball Arcade??
@sillygostly That explains it. I was like, "Uh... What's so objectionable, ESRB-wise?" Thanks!
This had disaster written all over it. I guess the hope is that people will just pick it up b/c of the name- and maybe not be aware of Wii Sports Club.... This might have been worth a look if they somehow maybe combined miniature golf and bowling- maybe somehow had bowling "courses." Surprised Nintendo didn't try something like this.
@JoseAcosta Holy f, $40?? Yeah, I don't think you can say enough bad things about a cheap turd of a game that asks ten times more than it's worth simply because it uses a licensed brand and some people are gullible enough to find that appealing. Why the hell would they even allow this game on the eShop at this price? Or any price? It makes me miss the days when people got on Nintendo's case for being quality-control-freaks.
Looked like Shovel Ware to me.
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