Fido Bowling

Most bowling games don't do justice to the real thing. The weight of the ball in your hands, the satisfying sound of pins tumbling when you score a strike, the embarrassment when your friends point out you have your bowling shoes on the wrong feet.

None of this has ever been successfully reproduced in the gaming world.

And so Jump Games has eschewed the traditional approach to the bowling sim and opted to set Fido Bowling in outer space, casting one-time 7UP ambassador Fido Dido in the lead role.

Although Fido Bowling offers three different game types, you'll spend most of your time playing Story mode, which challenges you to save planets by scoring a certain number of points in a standard ten frames of bowling. The arena for this challenge is a psychedelic lane of energy floating in space.

There's no real explanation as to why ten-pin bowling is the solution to planetary strife, but such musings are quickly forgotten as you immerse yourself in a world of pins, power-ups, and smack-talking aliens who hover above the lane before each frame, zapping the course and creating a range of hazards to impede your play.

With obstacles ranging from holes in the lane to magnetic repulsors that send your ball spinning into space, Fido Bowling is far from your average sports sim. This is arcade gaming at its crazy best - simple controls and sharp presentation matched with a steady increase in difficulty.

Fido Bowling isn't without its flaws, however. At times, the random nature of the obstacles you face on each frame, coupled with a lack of the appropriate power-up, can lead to frustration. The other two play modes are something of an underwhelming experience too, proving little more than a distraction from the far more fulfilling Story mode.

But despite the frustration, you'll find yourself having another go at a level when you don't meet your target. In keeping with finest arcade tradition, Fido Bowling overcomes its absence of depth by providing a progressively challenging and, above all, fun experience.