There are several gameplay modes to choose from, though most of them are just basic variants of the standard game of bowling. You can play in open play, practice, skins, tournament, and challenge modes, which are all different takes on a regular game. Golf mode gives you different pin configurations each frame and a set number of rolls to hit them all in. The game calls that number par and uses basic golf scoring.
The gameplay in Strike Force is pretty basic, though it could have been streamlined a bit. You can position your bowler, aim for a specific spot on the lane, pick different ball weights, and control the amount of spin put on the ball. Once you've decided on all of that, hitting X on the PS2 or A on the Xbox starts your roll in motion. The game uses a "three-click" system that is lifted from most modern golf games. The first press starts the meter going. Then you press the button bar again on the power meter to set the strength of your roll. Finally, the indicator swings over to the accuracy portion of the meter, where you must press the button a third time to determine the positioning of your roll. And that's pretty much it. The game models oil dispersion, which changes the way the lane affects your rolls over time. It also offers the ability to turn oil dispersion off, but we didn't really notice much difference between the two choices. As such, all you need to do is find a sweet spot to place your ball and get good at timing your rolls, which is quite easy to do. Once you've got your timing down, rolling strikes is easier than it probably should be.
Strike Force contains several different characters, including male and female bowlers, a robot, and an alien. Most of the more outlandish bowlers are locked at the start. The models don't animate very well, and many of them use the same animations when reacting to a particularly good or bad roll. The game also has 12 different locations to bowl in, ranging from your average bowling alley to castles, pirate ships, and the moon. The environments look OK, but they also aren't very exciting.
While Strike Force contains bad music, you can thankfully turn it off. Unfortunately, the game doesn't exactly have interesting sound, either. It plays back the sounds of balls rolling on lanes and striking pins pretty well, but that's about it. Also, each lane uses the same sound, even though you could imagine that bowling on a pirate ship or striking pins shaped like little rocket ships would probably sound slightly different from your everyday bowling noises. Different ambient sound is used in some locations, though, and the Xbox version features custom soundtrack support
With all clouds (even bowling ones) there is a silver lining. The glorious ray of shining beauty buried deep within the puffy edges of this monstrous catastrophe is a startling fact -- the fact that you never, ever have to play it, ever. And good is this wondrous truth rainbow, for it spares gamers from enduring an aged donkey's attempt at mimicking Brunswick, only with all that "super neat Outlaw Golf wackiness" that does so terribly well for so many other titles. Strike Force is a game that boasts the most simplistic of modes, a smattering of elevator music that could put a sugar addled toddler into an everlasting coma, and an alien with an affinity for bowling in space stations.
It's unfathomable how a game can be made and another of any type can come afterward without even attempting to offer the most fundamental shreds of the previous' grace. At least try and copy the good of those bowling titles of yesteryear and at least put some effort into smearing out the bad, even if it means spending less time and money on modeling the fabulous alien bowler replete with half-assed glimmer-jacket.
IGN rebuttal: Ah hell no dawg... How is practice mode challenging? It lets players attempt to throw endless strikes against standardized sets! Challenge is the only mode of any real interest, as it sets up a variety of pins in progressing difficulty and tasks gamers with toppling them in single rolls. Skins mode is as pointless as paying attention during mandatory office meetings, and prestigious tournament play, in addition to being exceedingly boring, introduces masterful computer opponents like Pro 9, Pro 2 and the infamous Pro 23. If you do manage to beat Pro 2 and find yourself squaring off against Pro 23 in the finals, you'll still be on the same map that was originally chosen. It's insanity.
The same is best underlined when we view Irfan Pathan [Images] and tear our hair in frustration. Let's make no mistake that the guy has serious talent. But it's now time he starts focusing on his bowling. With the emphasis on his continued presence at the top of the order on the basis of a few meaty scores at number three, he is ending up as neither a batsman nor bowler.
India needs him as a strike force and that priority has been messed around. We had begun to view him as one of the best all-rounders of Indian cricket. At the rate he is going he might be good for a game of rounders at best.
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