The Flintstones Bedrock Bowling Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

A really great bowling game which is slightly let down by the apparent lack of a save option.

I'm a Flinstones fan and think that Fred was one of the inspirations behind Homer. They actually go bowling in the cartoon so this game is probably more of an adaption than anything else! The game is your basic tenpin bowling game.

The graphics are very nicely put together. The main screen has a nice pic and the faces of all the main characters are exactly like the cartoon. They are well drawn and give the game a good feel. The actual lane and the balls are also well animated and you really get a good sense of the bowling escapades from the series. The movement of the ball is quite smooth and it feels very satisfying to knock down the pins. You get a few stars explode if you get spares or strikes, and the running bird which determines your angle is hilarious. When the ball gets nearer to the pins it switches to an overhead view which makes the anticipation of the rocking pins about to fall over even better.

The sound is quite good although not as good as the graphics. The main theme tune is there as you load the game, but it's a polyphonic tone. During the game there is not much sound apart from the occasional tones when you get a spare or strike. A simple Yabba Dabba Doo! would have really elevated the sound to cool proportions, but alas, it was not meant to be.

The controls are quite straightforward. The shoulder buttons control the menus and during the game the D or key pad will control the bowling. Use the left and right buttons to position the ball. Then use the main button or 5 to select the direction (from the moving arrow). Then use this button again to set the power on the power meter. Finally use this button again to set the angle of the bowl. The shoulder keys will pause and bring up the scorecard.

The playability is great. The bowling itself is very well put together. You start off with 4 characters who all have different attributes. Fred is the best to start with. The bowling is very simple to pick up and the controls easy enough to get you bowling well straight away. The game is challenging and while you can perform bowls you may not be able to in real life (because of the spin), it's a lot of fun to play. There are two modes, quick play and tournament which is good.

The lastability is slightly disappointing. The game is great to play, there are two modes and there are 4 characters to unlock. Sounds good doesn't it. But the big problem I found is that I couldn't find a way to save the game mid tournament. The games themselves take about 15 minutes to play as you have to watch your opponent bowl and for the weaker characters, their bowls take a while. The game can be paused and suspended / resumed, but no save so if you turn your phone off, that's it. And for the tournament, to unlock the characters, you have to play 4 characters first, which means a playing time of 1 hour. That's a lot of bowling. The quick play mode does compensate for this and the game is still a great deal of fun to play. If there was a save function this would be a gold or *just maybe* an ice cold rated game, but as it is, I had to give it silver for the fun of bowling alone!