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I gotta be honest with you; I mainly only go bowling with the anticipation of the alley being attacked by The Blob. Or the Son of Blob. Or the Beware! The Blob! Whatever. The point is that expecting a blood red, gelatinous mass to come rolling up the lanes at any moment adds a sense of urgency and terror to the game that really enhances the overall effect. This is why I’m largely disappointed with bowling video games; nobody really dies in them.
But, I won’t hold that against Freeverse’s Flick Bowling for the iPhone and iPod touch. What it lacks in terror, in makes up for with “awesome balls,“ as they put it. And I suppose the balls are pretty awesome. Unlike real bowling, where you’re mainly stuck with the ball you chose at the beginning of the game, Flick Bowling changes the balls up on you constantly. They don’t affect your game, but not a whole lot does. That’s not really the point of Flick Bowling. Rather, the point is to just show off your iPhone a bit more, and have fun doing it.
The “bowling” half of Flick Bowling you should already understand. So, it’s the “flick” part I’m going to focus on in this review. The game starts with the traditional 50’s-style blues swing that generally accompanies bowling games. You can turn this down in the options menu, and I suggest you do. It comes in pretty loud, and it’ll put “Jim Dandy” in your head all day, and I don’t think any of us really need that in these trying times. While you’re in the options area, you can also adjust the sound effects volume, the difficulty, and the amount of spin you can control.
You’re given two play options: free play and versus. Free play is just you on your own, while versus allows you to go up against one other human or computer opponent. There is no online multiplayer, which may explain why you can only go up against one other opponent; do you really want to pass your iPhone around to three other people?
The actual act of bowling is fairly minimal. First, you select your bowler (I bet you can’t guess which is my favorite). I was at first surprised to see you’re not able to customize your bowler, not even by name, but I now think this was a good decision. Barring the ability to save your bowler, this feature would just get in the way of the fun. Your high scores are still saved, although in the names of the predefined character, so it’s up to you to remember who actually did what.
Once your character is chosen, the game begins. You select from three balls, then your bowler is automatically dropped at the fowl line. There’s no approach, here, you just slide the bowler to the left or right to aim. Taking your finger off the screen cocks up the bowler, then you quickly touch the screen and flick your finger up to bowl. This will take some getting used to, as doing it incorrectly will result in a very weak roll and an inevitable gutter ball. You can control the spin of the ball, too, but I found this to be pretty dicey. Once you do get the feel for it, though, it’s pretty easy to stay consistent. It’s actually kind of fun to watch people play this; although a simple, short flick is enough to bowl, my wife, for example, will follow through until her arm is completely extended over her head, her finger in the air as if pointing out that she’s #1. And I suppose she is, as I have yet to beat her.
Now, that’s really it to this game, and that may turn some people off. Everything’s as basic as can be, but that actually makes for a quick but fun gaming experience. It’s a perfect little time killer. And the bowling experience, while perhaps a bit too simple, is still satisfying due to the excellent audio effects and fantastic graphics. The ambient sounds of games going on around you are very well done, and the graphics are smooth and shiny. Very shiny. Freshly polished shiny, in fact, as the waxed lanes reflect the fluorescent lights above. Some different characters end up in different bowling alleys, with decor that manages to be faithful to the bowling alleys we’ve all been in while also helping to promote Freeverse along the way. All that’s missing is the smell of cigarette smoke and the little arcade alcove over by the front door.
If Flick Bowling were priced at $9.99, I’d be a bit wary of recommending it fully due to the lack of features (although Freeverse is addressing some issues in the upcoming 1.2 release, and they’re also taking ideas). But it’s perfectly priced at $4.99, so I can say that this is a game you really should check out.
Then, you should check out Beware! The Blob. You’ll never bowl comfortably again.
Appletell Rating:
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