Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2

Product Details

• ASIN: B00004LMZG
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,866 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

Product Description

Product Description
Whether you are a hard core or casual bowler, Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 has something for everyone. Features include enhanced graphics, accurate reproductions of the latest bowling equipment, an improved interface, multiplayer support for up to eight players, and a completely overhauled create-a-bowler mode. Additionally, there are new modes of play (including team and skills challenge), real ProStaff tutorials, enhanced bowler and crowd reactions, auto-replay functionality, and dual-shock and analog support. Strike!

GameSpot Review
It's difficult to think of bowling as a sport. Whereas most sports demand you be in excellent physical condition, bowling usually consists of older, heavier players who spend at least half of the game sitting down. But that's neither here nor there. The biggest selling point of Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 for the PlayStation is just how many options are packed into the game. The game sports nine play modes, each with its own feel and style. You can opt for a basic game, tournament play, teamplay, a skins game, and a skins challenge, as well as start a career, practice, or play a game of the uber-groovy cosmic bowling - which is bowling in the dark with lots of neon and black lights that make everything look crazy. To do the actual rolling you can either select from one of the 11 Brunswick pro bowlers in the game, or you can create your own bowler. The create-a-bowler mode is a simplified version of the create-a-wrestler mode found in THQ's wrestling games. You can choose from several different body styles, customize your bowler's features, and then set attribute points (it should be noted that our attempts at re-creating the cast of The Big Lebowski failed). Before you start rolling, you can select an actual Brunswick ball for your bowler to use for his strike and spare throws that conforms to his personal bowling style. All these options make Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 almost infinitely customizable, and they greatly enhance the replay value. Once out on the lane, you'll spend your time in one of two different control screens. The first shows your bowler's stance and lets you line up your feet and your shot, as well as tweak your spin and even control your power. Once you've lined up your shot, you switch to the actual throw, where you use a meter to control actual power and accuracy. For non-analog controllers, this means using a power meter and hitting a button to stop the moving line in two correct spots along the meter. But for analog controllers, a clever pull-and-push method has been implemented that seems much more realistic. Pull the analog stick back to start your power meter, and push it forward at the right time to stop it and judge accuracy. If the analog stick hits exactly forward, your shot will be right on, while a slight deviation to the left or right will cause the ball to travel in that direction. While this isn't the first time a meter like this has been used in a sports game, it's definitely a great addition. The graphics however are a real letdown. Most of the bowlers look pretty blocky, and the throwing animations look extremely unrealistic. The lane backgrounds are nice, but the crowd looks extremely out of place, almost laughably so. Once you roll, the camera randomly switches around, showing your shot from all sorts of dramatic angles before finally settling on a top-down view of the pins as the ball plows through them. This is a neat feature, and it helps break up the monotony of bowling with a little dramatic flair. Throw a particularly excellent shot and you may get treated with a replay or an animation of your bowler celebrating. While some of the celebrations are pretty funny, some of them take a good while to load and simply aren't worth the wait. Surprisingly, the audio is pretty good. You can choose from two types of music - cosmic jams or Brunswick groove - or surfer rock and hip-hopish house, respectively. The original music is pretty spiffy, especially in the cosmic-bowling mode, where it's notably louder than in other modes. The sound effects are pretty generic - a ball-rolling noise during your roll and a crashing sound when the ball smacks into the pins. If you're playing on TV or in a tournament, the crowd will cheer when you throw rocks and show concern when you split pins. This helps you get into the game and ups the drama on a critical shot. Unfortunately, the hilarious smack-talking-bowler intro movies found in the first game have been left out of this one. But, given the amount of extras packed into Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2, you can easily see why the space-sucking movies had to be taken out. But even without Parker Bohn III talking about how he wipes the lane with the competition, this game is a solid bowling title. With plenty of modes and extras, Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 is accurate enough to keep die-hard rollers happy, yet simple enough to be a game even a casual bowling fan would enjoy. --Ben Stahl
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best bowling game ever, May 17, 2001

By A Customer

This is the closest you will come to real bowling.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best bowling video game yet!, July 6, 2000

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Circuit Pro Bowling 2 is easily the best bowling game produced, mostly on the strength of the physics used to drive the game.

If you're a bowler of any level, you will easily understand the mechanics of the game, and you'll be shooting 200 games very quickly. The game allows you to see the exact path of your ball, and what happens when you move your feet, move your mark, adjust the speed of the ball, and adjust the amount of spin on the ball. (Hint: Put the aiming arrow closer to the head pin than the center of the pocket, and you'll have 10 in the pit most every time.)

There is both an amateur and a professional series of tournaments, which you can bowl one at a time in any order, or as part of a "career" ongoing game. The amateur players are, of course, not as good as the pros, so you'll find yourself near the top of the heap with a little practice. The tournaments can be as short as 3 games, or a 42-game standard length tournament, just like the PBA.

The graphics of the game leave you wishing for better. But then, the graphics are not why you buy this game. There is also one fun side game (Skins Game), and two useless ones (Skills Challenge and Cosmic Bowl). Ignore these useless stuff, and you will truly enjoy this game!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DA BOMB, March 25, 2000

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

THIS GAME HAS IT ALL. COSMIC BOWL, LEAGUE, EVEN PROS. ITS EASY TO LEARN AND EVEN MORE FUN WITH MORE THAN ONE PLAYER.