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Yes, bowling. THQ and developer Adrenalin Entertainment have combined forces to produce Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2, the sequel to the fun Brunswick Circuit Bowling that was released in September 1998. Unlike the developers of so many sequels, Adrenalin concentrated on refining the two most important areas of any video game – gameplay and longevity – in Brunswick Circuit 2. After all, what difference does it make how pretty a game looks if it’s unrealistic and is dull after an hour of play?

Well, THQ and Adrenalin are closing in on the holy grail of bowling – the perfect 300 game – with Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2. Brace yourself – this is one of the most fun sports video games I’ve played since the release of Hot Shots Golf, and I’m not a bowler. Read on to find out why. Gameplay:

There is nothing difficult about the goal of the basic gameplay in Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2: Like real bowling, you’re trying to knock down as many pins as possible. But a variety of factors, including ball selection and changing lane conditions, make achieving this goal a real challenge. And Brunswick Circuit 2 does an exceptional job of creating this challenge while remaining easy and fun to pick up and play.

The realism starts before a ball even is thrown down the lane. Players can select from a variety of bowling centers around the world that feature different lane oil characteristics. Lane oil patterns, such as Blend, Top Hot, Flat, Ramp and Pyramid, affect the spin and path of the ball. Each pattern produces different ball characteristics. And the oil characteristics will change during the game, forcing the player to constantly re-think the path of the ball before throwing. It’s a great dose of realism.

Players also can choose between one of eight balls – four for strike (first) shots and four for spare (second) shots -- before the game starts. Each ball has different hook, travel and oil flare characteristics. And these characteristics are more than just for show. They actually affect the path of the ball. Great touch.

Preset levels of three bowler attributes – accuracy, power and spin – can be adjusted before each game. But the levels are intra-dependent. If you add accuracy, you’ll lose power and spin, and so on.

Once the ball leaves the bowler’s hand, the realism is exceptional. The ball will rotate with varying amounts of spin depending on the ball selected and the lane conditions. Errant accuracy and misjudged lane conditions aren’t suffered gladly. It’s easy to screw up in this game. And once you get into a groove, the changing lane conditions will prevent you from staying in the same spot and throwing robotic strikes time after time. The pin action also is superb. Pins crash, saunter, spin and careen at the end of the lane after being hit by a ball. Sole standing pins will wiggle when nudged by a fallen pin, sometimes toppling, sometimes standing defiantly. It looks and feels just like the real thing.

In tournament play, the level of difficulty increases as you progress through the qualifying and positioning rounds. If you’re good enough to advance to the TV final, tough lane conditions and an even tougher opponent will greet you. I cruised through the qualifying rounds in a rookie-level tournament, had a bit of trouble in my positioning rounds and was crushed in the TV final.

About the only nitpick in gameplay – and it’s very minor – is the long load time between frames. But I guess the load time could be considered realistic, as bowlers must wait for their ball to return when playing at a real bowling center. Still, this is Sonyland, and faster load times would have been nice. Again, it’s a minor niggle that doesn’t detract from the nearly perfect gameplay of this title.

As bowling games go, Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 is a very deep game. It offers just about every mode that a bowling fan could want. And all of the modes appealed to me, and I’m not a bowler or bowling fan.

There are nine modes of play: Open Game, Tournament, Team Play, Skins Challenge, Skills Challenge, Pro Career, Amateur Career, Cosmic Bowl and Practice. The Open Game allows players to bowl against a friend or a computer-controlled bowler. Players can use either one of 11 Brunswick pros or a bowler that they created. Tournament allows players to play an entire tournament, complete with qualifying rounds, positioning rounds and the TV final, if you’re successful. Team Play allows teams of bowlers to go head to head, while the Skins Challenge is identical to that used in golf, with the solo winner of each frame collecting a set bonus that can be increased from frame to frame. The Skills Challenge is a great mode. Basically, bowlers are confronted with various challenging shots – such as tricky spare or split pickups -- in a head-to-head match-up. This mode provides ferocious competition while honing your bowling skill. Pro and Amateur Career modes allow players to guide their bowlers through a career in tournaments around the world. Cosmic Bowl lets players bowl in a funky, black-light environment with Day-Glo pins and balls. Finally, the Practice Mode lets players remove pins from the rack to create a variety of difficult spare combinations to practice.

This game features 11 Brunswick pros from which to choose, including male standouts Mike Aulby, Chris Barnes, Parker Bohn III, Steve Jaros, John Petraglia, Ricky Ward and Walter Ray Williams. For the first time, it also includes female stars Kim Canady, Cindy Carroll, Lynda Norry and Tammy Turner.

The Create Bowler function is superb. Players can determine the gender, color, build, hair color and style, color and style of shirt, pants and shoes of their bowler.

About the only flaw in the longevity of this game – and it’s minor – is the lack of a Legends mode or the lack of legendary bowlers. It would have been great to bowl with Earl Anthony or Pete Weber.

Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 has the cleanest control interface of any sports game I’ve played since Hot Shots Golf. It’s a classic and appealing example of being simple to learn but hard to master.

The basic, digital bowling interface is a simple three-click affair. Players press the X button to start the power meter. The sweet spot of the power meter is a small green sector. The meter is blue before the sweet spot, indicating a light touch, and red after the sweet spot, indicating an overpowering effort. The player presses X to stop the power meter in the desired area, and then the accuracy meter starts. The player completes the shot by pressing the X button for the third and final time in the desired accuracy sector. Again, the sweet spot is the green sector. The sweet spot is surrounded by two small blue sectors, which indicate a slightly errant shot. Outside of those two areas is what I call “the flub zone.” A bad shot is almost guaranteed if the accuracy meter is stopped there.

Analog control also is available. Pulling back on the left stick starts the power meter. Players then press the left stick forward when the power meter has reached the desired level. The accuracy of the shot is determined by how straight the player pressed the left stick forward to stop the power meter. It’s very similar to the analog swing used in CyberTiger and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2000. Analog control provides a real challenge for those who are tired of the simple, three-click digital system. It’s hard to control the minute movements of a joystick on a Dual Shock analog pad, especially if it’s worn. So it becomes pretty damn satisfying to roll a strike with the analog controls in this game, something I did very infrequently.

The alignment of the bowler and the characteristics of the shot before it’s rolled also are handled very well. Players can press the L1 or R1 shoulder buttons to move the bowler to the left or right of the lane. The amount of spin can be increased or decreased by pressing the L2 or R2 shoulder buttons. The position of the “sweet spot” in the power meter also can be adjusted by pressing on the up and down portion of the digital D-pad.

But perhaps the greatest part of the control scheme is the way the ball path arrow changes with each skill level. On the Rookie level, an orange arrow shows the complete path of the ball from the top of the lane to where it will strike the pins. On the Amateur level, the path stops about 5 feet short of the pins, leaving some mystery about the final location of the strike. And on the Pro level, the path stops way short of the pins and doesn’t give an indication about the effects of the spin on the ball. It’s just a straight orange line showing general location of the shot, forcing the bowler to really think and make adjustments before launching the shot. This ladder-style system of difficulty with the controls is a great, great touch.

Since Adrenalin concentrated so much on improving the gameplay and longevity of Brunswick Circuit 2, some other areas of the game had to suffer. Graphics is one of those areas. There’s nothing wrong with the graphics of this game, but they appear dated and feature few improvements over the original.

The bowler graphics appear somewhat washed-out and lacked crispness and detail. There are decent, realistic face wraps for the 11 Brunswick pros in the game, but they lack the detail of the face wraps in EA Sports’ graphically groundbreaking NBA Live titles in 1999 and 2000.

Framerate problems occur when the bowler approaches the foul line to make his shot. The animation is very choppy and slows visibly at times. That same “tin-man” framerate speed also is apparent when the bowler makes gestures after good or bad shots, such as the pumping of a fist, putting the hands on top of the head or shaking the head in disgust. These emotional touches from bowlers are nice but would have been more effective with a smoother framerate.

Fortunately, the framerate problems of the bowlers don’t extend to the balls and pin action. Balls roll down the lanes consistently, and pins fall with lifelike speed and realism. But where’s the gate that pulls back the pins that fall after the first shot of each frame? It’s missing.

But the mixed graphics bag also extends to the lanes. Each lane shines with the sheen of fresh oil, and the reflection of the lights and pins can be seen on the lane. It’s very nice looking. Individual boards on the wooden lines also are distinguished by proper shading of the wood. But the lanes, and the surrounding areas at the pin end of each lane, lack definition and crispness, much like the bowler graphics models.

Brunswick Circuit 2 features nine unique camera angles, giving gamers an exceptional amount of choices for a sport that takes place in such a small, static area. Many developers of team sports or racing games, which take place in a much larger, dynamic area, could learn a few lessons from this. Of all the angles, I prefer the default view. It alternates between all of the available views, giving the player a variety of different looks as his ball heads toward the pins. The angle switches are handled smoothly and subtly. You may only see two different angles per shot – this isn’t a fast-action, quick-frame-change MTV video. Very nice job by Adrenalin. Three camera angles for lining up each bowler’s approach also are included: overhead, front and behind.

Replays appear after good shots, such as picking up tough splits or crashing through all 10 pins for a strike. Replays also can be saved, a nice touch for those bowlers who can’t wait to show their friends how they picked up the vaunted 7-10 split.

Finally, the Cosmic Bowl feature gives players the chance to play in a day-glo, black-light environment. Pins and balls have a variety of fluorescent, day-glow colors. It’s fun for a while but loses its appeal quickly due to the bright colors and poor lighting needed to create the black-light effect.

Like the graphics, the sound in Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 offers little improvement over the original game.

The sound of the ball rolling down the lane and crashing into the pins is perfect. It’s obvious that Adrenalin recorded actual bowling matches for the sound, as you can close your eyes after a shot and really feel like you’re at the local bowling center.

But unfortunately, that’s the extent of the quality ambient sounds in this game. There’s some random chatter and laughter from fans and other bowlers in the background, but it’s not distinct and adds little to the atmosphere. Plus there’s no talk from the bowlers. I’m sure that many Brunswick pros quietly or loudly exclaim “Yessss!” or “All right” after making a big shot in a match. That’s something that’s missing in this game, and it would have added much more atmosphere.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 is the lack of commentary. Bowling without commentary is like bowling without white-soled shoes. As a 34-year-old, I can remember the smooth tones of Chris Schenkel flowing from my TV during ABC bowling broadcasts as a kid. But there’s no commentary whatsoever in this game. It would have added more atmosphere, especially if a legendary pro like Nelson Burton Jr. offered color commentary. Plus it would have been great to have Brunswick pros offer audio tips during practice sessions. Hopefully these audio wrinkles can be added to the third edition.

The music in Brunswick Circuit 2 is somewhat refreshing. It’s a mix of futuristic funk meets rockabilly, sort of the Jetsons meeting Brian Setzer in the Stray Cats days. There’s also some light techno and psychedelic sounds in sort of an Austin Powers-like way. This musical mix is a nice change from the plethora of hip-hop and hard techno that is so overdone in so many games these days.

Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 is my pick as the sleeper sports title of the last six months. I haven’t had this much fun playing a non-racing sports video game since the release of Madden 2000 in August.

This game reminds me somewhat of Hot Shots Golf. Sure, there are better-looking golf games. Sure, there are golf games with better sound. But no golf game comes close to the amount of fun, realism and longevity of Hot Shots. The same can be said about Brunswick Circuit 2. It might be a bit dull graphically and feature mediocre sound, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun to play both solo and with friends. This game offers an almost-perfect combination – it’s easy to pick up and play yet a real challenge to master.

THQ and Adrenalin must be commended for concentrating on the fun factor when producing this title. They have pulled off a rare daily double in the gaming world, creating an enjoyable game that’s also very realistic and deep, with few bells and whistles. Some of the “big boys” of the industry – EA Sports and 989 Sports – could learn a few lessons from THQ and Adrenalin. The terms “realistic” and “fun” are not mutually exclusive in PlayStation sports video games. Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 is gleeful, living proof of that.