Re: GTA IV ruined by bowling game

On Sun, 14 Jul 2024 16:39:49 -0500, Zersterer <nochsfentor@yahoo.com>
wrote:

The game is completely unresponsive during a bowling game.  Looking
through a walkthrough, bowling is required to win the game.  Maybe I'll
go back to GTA III.  The paddles I bought for my computer from Logitech
worked for a bit, but I haven't been able to get them working recently
and gave them away.  Can't believe Logitech failed me.  Their mice are
great.

As far as I remember, at no point is bowling actually required.

(It is strongly hinted by the game that you take Michelle to the
bowling alley on your first date, but you don't actually HAVE to do
that).* Your allies will sometimes suggest bowling as an activity when
they call you up to hang out, but -again- you can do pretty much
anything else (or nothing at all). It's never required to engage with
the bowling mechanics of the game.

With that out of the way, I never really had any problems with the
bowling mini-game. It didn't allow a wide-range of actions, but I
could pick up the ball and chuck it down the lanes without any
problems. Sometimes I even managed to hit a pin or two! My biggest
issue is that bowling is quite possibly one of the most BORING sports
ever created (it even makes darts look exciting! ;-) so I avoided it
in GTA for that reason more than anything else.




* Bowling is an objective on the First Date mission (the one where you
take Michelle on an evening's outing and that introduces the game's
dating mechanics to the player) but it's actually optional. You can
take her to a bar, or strip club or pretty much anything else, and if
you keep her out long enough, eventually she asks you to go home. You
won't win any points with her if you do that, but... well, if you know
how the story progresses that in the long run it's for the best. And
IIRC the mission itself is optional anyway.