At first glance, Crazy Strike Bowling EX looks around 10 years old. The out-of-date character models and textures, the audio design, generic characters, music, and overall style feels like it’s from the PlayStation 2. However, this game delivers a fun bowling title that will keep you playing.
Let’s get past the obvious problems with the game. The graphics are not up to snuff with most PS4 releases, with lacking character models with eyes that look dead. However, once you get past its appearance, the game shows a burst of creativity within its stage designs.
Each stage has its own moving parts and aesthetics that make each location interesting to play in. This aspect made me want to unlock all the possible stages to see which area I was going to play in next, and there’s a lot to get.
While voice acting typically isn’t too important in games such as this, there is plenty of emphasis on the characters, their outfits, and accessories, so the voices should have had more focus in this game. It sounds as if the characters have been voiced by the developers, and some of them sound really odd to the point of being a little creepy. Instead, Corecell Technology should have found other voices. There are plenty of great freelance voice actors online who would have loved to lend their work on this.
But what’s important in a bowling title is the implementation of the game itself. Thankfully, I am happy to say that this game is an excellent video game form of bowling. The controls are solid. There are two meters — one for the speed and one for the direction of the ball. At first, it may be frustrating to learn the system but, after getting the timing down, this game becomes a breeze to the point of becoming too easy. However, I can’t knock it as it is a well implemented control system. There is one problem I found. Sometimes it can be difficult to line up shots that require very accurate precision as the pin can look faraway. This does get frustrating when you need this for certain challenges in the challenge mode.
Crazy Strike Bowling EX provides four modes to choose from: Exhibition Mode, Crazy Mode, Challenge Mode, and Battle Mode. Exhibition is where I spent most of my time. Exhibition is where you unlock all the stages by beating the high score set by the game on each location. This is the standard bowling mode that you would expect, and it’s fun to play through because I love to bowl.
Crazy Mode is honestly the worst mode in the game. It’s an attempt to Mario Kart-ize bowling, and it fails. It doesn’t have strategy to the game, and without warning steers the ball sideways to the gutter. There are also ways of getting barriers to stop your enemies from getting anything in, and special moves that can change the tempo of the game. However, I dropped this mode quickly as it provides an unplayable experience with every other ball unpredictably falling to the side of the lane.
Next is Challenge Mode and, like the name implies, you are given challenges to finish. From taking down one pin at a time to getting a certain amount of pins in an allotted time, this gives more variety to the content and tests the player’s bowling skills. While some challenges are limited to the sometimes inaccurate lining system, this mode gives plenty to do if you love bowling and like to challenge yourself.
Lastly, there is Battle Mode, which I can see being fun between two players. At the same time, players try to get a certain amount of pins down before the other in a race. Your balls can hit each other, and the competitive urge, even against the computer, to beat the opponent before he or she finishes makes this mode fast and fun to play. There’s not much else to Battle Mode, but it’s certainly a great addition. Exhibition and Crazy Modes can be played by 4 players, so if you have a group of friends who want to play a casual game of bowling, this is a great option.
Playing Exhibition Mode and Battle Mode can provide you an opportunity to get experience. With this experience earned throughout these two modes, you can gain the opportunity to get new costumes, accessories, and hair styles with the money you receive. It’s a nice inclusion, as it provides an incentive to keep playing, even though it has a small selection.
Crazy Strike Bowling EX provides a fun bowling title on the PS4 and, as it is the only game of its kind on the console, I would recommend it if you like the sport. If you can get the past the poor presentation, graphics, and voice acting, you should give this a try if you want to play a game like this. Also, if you want to use your PlayStation Move controllers again, this is one of the few games on the PS4 that lets you use them!
A PS4 code of Crazy Strike Bowling EX was provided by Corecell Technology for review purposes
Crazy Strike Bowling EX
Pros
- Fun bowling mechanics
- Exhibition, Battle, and Challenge Modes are great
- Can be played by up to 4 players
- A variety of stages to unlock
Cons
- Ugly graphics
- Bad voice acting
- Crazy mode is too cray cray to be fun
- Lack of precision with single pins
