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Strike |
Copyright/Publisher: Mastertronic/MAD, Produced By: Binary Design.
Programming By: Martin Howarth, Graphics By: Jez Nelson,
Music By: Jason C.Brooke,
Release Year: 1987, Genre: Bowling, Number Of Players: 1 or 2
Following in the path of Access' Tenth Frame and Advance's Indoor Sports package comes
Strike, another binary bowling simulation. Either one or two players can participate, the computer
taking the place of an bsent second player.
The main screen gives an overhead view of the lane, with your bowler standing at the left,
next to the ball-return. He is moved right or left to the required position on the lane -
where pushing forward on the joystick causes him to begin his run-up. Pressing and holding
down the fire button starts the bowler's swing, and releasing the button also releases
the ball, which then proceeds down the lane.
Wrongly timed shots result in the ball merely dropping to the floor (or the bowler's foot),
and a foot-fault is called if the bowler's run-up encroaches onto the land - in both cases
a zero score is awarded.
Contact between the ball and the pins is shown in real time and the consequent pin-fall is
displayed at the top left, to be reset by the machine seconds later. The corresponding score
is noted on your score-sheet at the bottom of the screen, ready for your next bowl.
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Julian Rignall |
This half-baked attempt at a bowling program is really annoying. Play is frustringly slow, with
the sprite plodding back and forth across the alley as if its knees were glued together.
Releasing the ball is a very fiddly exercise, and I felt that I didn't really have control
over the action - even when I scored several strikes.
If you're hankering for a bowling simulation save up for Tenth Frame, unlike Strike it's
worth every penny.
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P.S. |
Why Mastertronic have released a product as sub-standard as this after Epyx's great Tenth Frame
is quite beyond me. A budget price should not be an excuse for a bad game. The single screen
action destroys the atmosphere and suspense of where the ball may end up in its
progression to the pins.
The player has no control over the ball's curve and power, making Strike! very boring -
and waiting for the computer in a one player game only prolongs the agony. Strike! contains
no realism and not even a pinch of addictiveness, you'd do well to avoid it.
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S.J. |
As far as I can make out, Strike seems to be based on the game of ten-pin bowling. This is
strange, as it bears little relation to the activity of the same name which I participate
in every week. The action of bowler and ball is unrealistic and the pin-fall is a joke:
hitting the head-pin either obtains a strike... or leaves three of the back pins standing!
It's simplistic, boring and frustratingly limited. To be quite honest, any further
critiism seems superfluous. Just pretend this game was never written and save yourself three
quid - or go and play the real thing, it's a lot more fun.
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