AMF Bowling Deluxe 3D

I've never been that big a fan of ten-pin bowling. It's not so much the game itself (indeed, my 'unique' technique of throwing the ball up into the air, watching it crash down onto the floor, and pootle down the middle of the lane is actually quite successful), but rather the fact you have to put on someone else's sweaty shoes on for no other reason than… hang on, just why do we have to do that?

AMF Bowling Deluxe should be the ideal alternative, then; no sweaty, silly footwear and no spotty teenagers serving wet chips and salty coke. Just ten-pin bowling. With its pros come a few cons, however, most of which revolve around the developer's decision to take what could be a fairly simple title and try and make it 3D. In the end, it's a factor that doesn't really add anything to gameplay and only serves to complicate issues.

That's not to suggest that this is any kind of catastrophe, far from it. AMF Bowling Deluxe 3D might not quite live up to its name, but it does deliver a nice snippet of bowling life right to the palm of your hand. Most impressive is the sheer amount of bang you get for your buck – as well as a Quick Play mode, in which you simply play a six-frame match against no-one but yourself, there's also an extensive World Cup option, a Precision game that tasks you with hitting specific pins, a Duck Pins mini-game that sees your bowling with tiddly balls, and a two-player pass-the-handset alternative.

Needless to say, the bulk of play takes place in the World Cup, which involves taking on a series of rivals, unlocking both bowling allies and players as you go. It's a typical structure that allows you to learn the game, setting you up against tougher players without ever randomly dropping you in too deep. It's also a motivator, opening up new venues and challenges.

Success in AMF Bowling Deluxe 3D comes fairly easily at the beginning, too. There's a set, easy structure for each bowl: both the direction and spin you place on the ball are determined by moving gauges left or right with the '4' and '6' keys, while a sweeping power gauge appears as your character beings to roll the ball, with the aim being to hit the '5' key before their swing reaches the top. If you let it go too far, you'll cross the line and foul your turn, so it becomes a case of timing your release perfectly.

If you're after power, then the key is to launch the ball when the gauge reaches its sweet spot near the top (just before said danger zone). Manage that, and the game switches to a bizarre 'special move' cut-scene, in which the game's characters all perform a strange ensemble accompanied by what appears to be a massive yellow explosion in the background. There's then an awkward cut back to the ball in motion that doesn't link up and only serves to highlight the game's glitchy graphical shortcomings.

That's a factor that causes a more fundamental problem when the ball is in play. The game's 3D nature means that, rather than viewing the action from above, the camera is fixed at the right-hand side of the lane when the ball is rolling, meaning you're never able to get a fix on just where the ball is in the lane, with it always looking like it's drifting off to the left. Tracking your ball's progress as it steams towards the pins is an important aspect of bowling, creating in the whole 'will it, won't it hit the pins' ingredient that gets players enthused and enraged depending on the end result.

The fact that it's missing from this release sours the experience somewhat, especially when it appears that the only reason it's absent is so the game can show off its 3D capabilities. It's the one flaw in what is otherwise a weighty package that conveys the thrill of bowling with little fuss and a fair whack of charm. There are improvements to be made should Vir2L decide to have another crack at taking us down the alleys, but for now AMF Bowling Deluxe 3D will still provide a decent alternative for anyone averse to those sweaty shoes.