Recently I received a copy of a rather uninteresting game, and while I’m hesitant to give negative reports of any product I receive I have to say this game had me yawning. The game in question is “Gutterball 2″ by ArcadeTown.

While the install was simple, and the game was ready within minutes of download, the first thing I encountered upon starting the game was fuzzy graphics and cheesy introductory music. As with many other ArcadeTown games, the first thing you do once you’ve reached the main menu is to add your name to your profile. Upon doing so, you are given the option of playing on one of five alleys. Two of these alleys must be unlocked by scoring high enough in a particular alley.

The options are varied and are highly customizable for audio, special effects, and video. Leaving everything set to the default settings gives you two commentators who are as amusing as Ben Stein, the gentleman who does the Visine commercials. Their “witty commentary” consists of about a half a dozen phrases, which they may or may not rotate through during the course of your play.

Each alley has it’s own particular theme, and playing through to unlock Iceberg and Wacky alleys was simple. All in all the entire game was simple. From what I played before turning the game off in disgust, there isn’t much difference in each of the levels unless you’re playing against a smart opponent.

Speaking of opponents, and yourself, all you ever see is the ball. There are no graphics to represent you, only bowling balls and lanes, cheap text and sound effects. The opponents you have to choose from only vary in name and focus. You do have to pay attention to the names of your opponents, however, as they will be key to unlocking new bowling balls in each alley.

The level of difficulty is apparently supposed to go up depending on what computer player you’re up against, however I found that as long as I aimed straight for the center at the highest power and didn’t move the mouse any, I bowled perfectly and thus beat the computer every time.

If you’re looking for a game with variety, challenging levels, and interesting opponents, “Gutterball 2″ is not the game you will want to play. Skunk Studios lived up to it’s name publishing this game, and not even tomato sauce spread liberally over the stain will get the smell out. From this easily amused reviewer, “Gutterball 2″ gets two bowler’s thumbs down.

To try it out for yourself try Arcade Town’s Free Download of “Gutterball 2″. Who knows, if you like it better than I do, you can always purchase the Full Version.

Technorati Tags: Arcade Town, Gutterball 2, Game Review, PC Game

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