Another bowling game arrives onto the App Store, this time with a summer theme entitled 'Beach Bowling 3D'.
Beach Bowling 3D is one of the best bowling games to yet hit the iPhone and iPod Touch. Whereas some bowling games have focused on realism with famous personalities like PBA Bowling 2 and some focus on fun with no real realism like Downhill Bowling. Beach Bowling 3D is a mix of both being very fun and realistic at the same time.
The setting as you would imagine is on a beach, which brings a relaxed and laid back feeling to the game. You don't compete against any computerised players instead you have to beat a set number of points. The object is to win five cups each allocating the points threshold you need to overtake. That's the game basically, I would be happy with the single player if multiplayer even existed. It seems like a perfect game to have peer to peer, however the developer did include the OpenFeint network so you can compare high bowling scores within leader boards and see which of your friends are online. But this addition isn't quote enough for me when considering how quickly I beat the not overly challenging single player.
To get the bowling bowl rolling you swipe your finger across the screen in the direction you want it to go in. As you swipe the screen will render the angle of the players swipe swipe, detailing the ball will travel. This makes it super easy to add a bit of spin at the end of a roll to achieve those strikes. There are no motion controls which is probably for the best if you want to have complete accuracy. There is nothing I can complain about regarding the controls and are actually the best I have seen in any bowling game for the iPhone and iPod Touch so far.
The graphics are beautiful, the sun is sitting within the sky making the bowling alley and the pins look marvellous. The physics when the pins get hit by the ball and knock into each other ect isn't perfect and a tad over sensitive. An interesting element which I wasn't aware of before playing Beach Bowling 3D is the day and night system. So when it's daylight outside it's daylight in the game (well exceptionally sunny) and when it's dark outside in the real world, it's also dark within the game. Not the first time the day and night system has been implemented into a game before, but still impresses me whenever I see it utilised.
The sound is crisp with the pins falling over in sync and the music sound tracks are very relaxing at night and uplifting in the day time, all adding to the atmosphere that you're really playing on a beach. The only nag I would have with the sound is that an annoying man appears quite frequently commentating things that happen in game such as 'gutter ball' and 'strike'.
Overall Beach Bowling 3D would be the must have game for anyone looking to purchase a bowling title for their iPhone and iPod Touch. But it is let down by the non-incorporation of multiplayer.
