Knock ‘Em Down! Bowling

Genre: Sports (Bowling) / Party Game

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Knock ‘Em Down! Bowling is more or less the Nintendo Switch’s answer to Wii Sports’ bowling minigame, with similar motion-controlled action and family-friendly presentation, although there are certainly differences in the details.

Rather than controlling Mii characters, this time around players simply control a disembodied hand, with cutesy animal avatars to represent them. The game’s atmosphere is slightly cartoony and jovial, and while it’s nothing special, it works well enough for this sort of game.

As for the gameplay, I was delightfully surprised by this game. While the Switch Joycons simply don’t have the same motion sensitivity as the Wii remote, you’d be easily fooled into thinking otherwise when playing this game – the game does a surprisingly good job of detecting not only your movement, but your hand’s orientation as you throw the ball, making your movements translate pretty well to the game.

There are a few issues with the controls, though. Players start their throw by holding down the shoulder button on their Joycon, which feels natural, but release the ball by pressing the A button, which takes some getting used to. Where in Wii Sports bowling you simply released the button to let loose the ball, here you’re expected to hold onto it and press another button, which feels counter-intuitive.

The game’s physics also feel a bit off, with the pins feeling overly light, and the ball itself suddenly shifting directions when spin is put on it. On that note, I kept finding that I was putting spin on the ball making it shift to the right just before it hit the pins, and I simply couldn’t tell if it was my way of moving the Joycon or if it was the game (I got another player to try, and she didn’t have this issue, so I’m guessing I just throw with a spin that hooks right, I suppose). These issues aren’t too major, though – the game is still plenty of fun.

A lot of the credit there goes to the game’s additional options and game modes, which help to flesh out this game (especially since Wii Sports also had, you know, other sports included with the bowling). In addition to the traditional bowling, you can play variants with slim pins, short pins, or even randomized elements including suddenly bowling using a curling stone or football.

On top of this, there are “party game” modes, such as one where players toss their ball at a half-pipe to knock down pins as it comes back down to move the other direction, one mode where players bowl at a platform of pins that’s moving like it’s in a shooting gallery, and one mode where players are all simultaneously bowling at a huge arena full of pins, trying to knock down the most. Given the family-friendly nature of this game, this seems like an excellent inclusion that will make this a solid party game.

Knock ‘Em Down! Bowling is definitely not anything close to resembling a realistic simulation of the sport, and it has a few minor control and gameplay issues. However, for the most part, this is an excellent bowling game for those looking for something akin to Wii Sports bowling on the Switch.

tl;dr – Knock ‘Em Down! Bowling is family-friendly Party-style bowling that channels the spirit of the Wii Sports bowling game surprisingly well, with some really solid party game modes and pretty good motion-control gameplay. The controls take a bit of getting used to, but on the whole this should make a fine addition to a party.

Grade: B-

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