Bowling Wizards Review

Written by Craig Will (puffkix) Monday, 09 January 2012 06:00

Bowling Wizards is set on changing the mobile phone gaming landscape by adding a little extra something to the recipe. That something is variety.

Smartphone/tablet games can be broken down into a few categories:

• Fling animals at structures
• Virtual gamepad Action-RPGs
• Casual sports
• Tower Defense
• Slice/Cut something
• Sidescrolling touch to jump
• Facebook-esque energy points refilled over time casual grow/expand/social games

Now there's nothing inherently wrong with these genres, we categorize console games into genres, but there is a problem with the fact that each new game in a genre is really just a rehash of the same game – no, they are the EXACT same game with a new skin.

I may have been a bit hyperbolic in saying there's nothing else out there, but too often I find myself downloading the same game with a different name and wondering, "Is there nothing else?" NextWaveMultimedia (?) has stepped up to the plate and taken a crack at answering the question; and I think they've hit a home run (a ground rule double at the very least).

There is a story to Bowling Wizards. A rather silly story told through a rather lengthy video. While it may seem silly or extraneous, the backstory really does a good job setting up the fact that this isn't just a typical bowling game. You won't be throwing a ball down the lane trying to get strike after strike, chasing that magical 300. Instead you will be using your brain to set up “Bowlaids” in order to successfully navigate the map and knock down all the pins. Each Bowlaid serves a different function, splitting the ball into two, changing direction, rotating the ball, etc., effectively mixing the sports category with the fling things category mentioned above. And it works very well.

Despite some sluggish performance after the ball is launched, no exit option on the main screen, and no way to recenter the camera on the ball after setting up all the Bowlaids this is a solid entry in an otherwise stale gaming market.

8/10