In that respect there aren't really any constructive criticisms Gaming Age Online could suggest for this game. Admittedly it's not inherently bad or broken, but your mileage will depend almost entirely on how much you like bowling, mini-golf and/or if you have either of the other two systems' bowling games. Making the game even harder to recommend is the aforementioned cornucopia of awesome digitally distributed games being released at the moment. Sure, Rocket Bowl is only 800 MS points ($10), but so is Duke 3D and Mega Man 9 as well… Of course different strikes --err, strokes-- for different folks, but in their opinion your MS points are better spent elsewhere.
Justin Mette President of 21-6 and Lead Developer for RocketBowl answers a few questions about the game.
SBG:
"Traditional bowling scoring rules are (mostly) in effect here. Key differences are these: you've got three rolls each frame instead of two, and you can use your roll on frame 6 to go pick up stray pins from frame 2 or play ahead and knock over a few from frame 9.
At the end of the day bowling is more fun in person and zany miniature golf has already been done on the Live Arcade service (3D Ultra Minigolf). Forcing the two concepts together is entertaining for a game or two, but you probably won't be back for more."
Despite the things RocketBowl gets right, most players are more likely to pick up on this thread of general lack of ambition over anything else. The basic mechanics take some interesting directions within the confines of a bowling game, but the game's actual content is just an afterthought, offering only the bare minimum and lacking the depth to keep anyone outside of the devoted from coming back.
