''AMF Bowling 2004'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Mud Duck Productions ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland, and founded in 1999. The company owns publisher Bethesda Softworks with its development unit Bethesda Game Studios (developer of ''The Elder Scrolls, ...

and published by

Crave Entertainment Crave Entertainment was an American video game publisher founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters was in Newport Beach, California. It was acquired by Handleman Company in 2005 in a deal valued up to $95,000,000 but was then sold to Fil ...

exclusively for the

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in the US on December 1, 2003. Licensed by

AMF Bowling AMF Bowling (AMF Bowling Worldwide) is a major operator of bowling centers and major manufacturer of bowling equipment. The AMF brand continues in use by the following companies: * In the United States and Mexico, for the AMF Bowling centers ...

, the game is a simulation of traditional

ten-pin bowling Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll ...

, with modes for individual and local multiplayer and tournament play. ''AMF Bowling'' received negative reviews, with critics citing its lack of gameplay features and variety and sub-par presentation of the game's character models and environment design. The game was the first in a series of licensed bowling games published by

, succeeded by ''

AMF Bowling Pinbusters! ''AMF Bowling Pinbusters!'' is a bowling sports-based video game. Gameplay The Wii controller allows the player to mimic real bowling by using typical bowling movements. The game environment offers mirrored balls, hot neon lights, and strobe ef ...

'' for the

Nintendo Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

and DS in 2007.

Gameplay

''AMF Bowling 2004'' is a simulation of

over ten frames. Players control the ball using a circular overlay with three regions and a pointer arrow. The player presses the A button four times to start the bowl, determine the power of the bowl, the accuracy of the bowl, and the level of spin. Lanes feature other mechanics, including an oil pattern that determines the level of grip on a lane, influencing how much spin can be applied to a bowl. The game supports a scoreboard and replay controls to view a completed bowl. Players are also able to create and modify the appearance of their own bowler and change the texture, logo, surface and hook of their ball. ''AMF Bowling 2004'' supports two modes. In 'Open Bowling' mode, players can complete a regular local game with up to three human or computer opponents, a team game in groups of competitors, or a practice mode in which pins can be removed during frames. In 'Tournament' mode, players complete in rounds against 8, 16, or 32 competitors, either in a match play mode with bowlers eliminated in head-to-head rounds, or a shootout mode where players where eliminations are decided in groups of three, with the top two players facing off to determine the winner.

Reception

''AMF Bowling 2004'' received a negative reception from critics.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

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stating the game received "generally unfavorable reviews" with an average score of 48% across six reviews. Critics were mixed on the merits of the

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

gameplay. Hilary Goldstein of ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' praised the physics as "good as they can get in a bowling game", but found the core gameplay "bare bones" and "boring". Similarly, Alex Navarro of ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' praised the game's "realistic delivery", but found the game "isn't much fun" due to the game's "complete and utter lack of variety...with no rule variations", also critiquing the game's poor explanation of mechanics, stating "oil patterns and aiming marks may be true to life, but they aren't exactly intuitive...the game never really explains how these elements come into play." However, Russ Garbutt of ''Xbox Nation'' found the game to be "fun", stating "the ball, pin and lane physics are as spot-on as the developers claim they are." Dale Nardozzi of ''Team Xbox'' stated the game was "stripped down" and "fails on pretty much every gameplay level", finding the lack of options led to a "purely score-based game" with no unlockable features or motivation to play. Several critics dismissed the visual presentation and sparse design of the game. Writing for ''

'', Hilary Goldstein critiqued the game as having "no frills, weak animations, terrible character models, and a lack of visual pop". Similarly, Alex Navarro of ''

'' stated the game's "graphics and sound leave quite a lot to be desired", dismissing the bowler models as "a complete joke, with badly shaped bodies and no real detail to speak of", and finding the "remaining set pieces and components (to be) pretty low-res and generally not nice to look at". Russ Garbutt of ''Xbox Nation'' stated "the title does very little to impress...the flashy balls and pins are artistically rendered, but these are last-generation graphics." Dale Nardozzi of ''Team Xbox'' dismissed the graphics as a "full-frontal insult", disliking the "poor animations", "sheer lack of detail", and "terrible" surrounding details.

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/xbox/amf-bowling-2004 2003 video games Bowling video games Xbox games North America-exclusive video games Xbox-only games Video games developed in the United States Mud Duck Productions games Multiplayer and single-player video games Crave Entertainment games