Galactic Bowling - App Store Link ($4.99)

Galactic Bowling is a well-done port of Perpetual FX Creative's inter-galactic bowling game for the PC. I have to give kudos to Perpetual FX Creative as this port maximizes the capabilities of the iPhone/iPod touch platform. The game has great graphics, four well-defined characters (all with full back-stories) and the 'inter-galactic battle with aliens' story-line actually fits within the framework of this bowling game.

Here is the official story line: "Since the dawn of time there has been a balance between light and dark energies. For as long as can be remembered each side had a planet that was tied to the fate of these energies. The "Dark Planet" Eosp-B served as the center of dark energy for the universe. It was ruled by one known as the "Dark Queen", Lucindall Evveril. Just as there was a Dark Planet, there also existed a planet of light energy. In order to maintain peace the Dark Queen placed her daughter, the Anubis Princess, in a position of power to watch over the planet of light. By doing so, the Dark Queen was able to have control over all of the dark and the light powers in the universe.

But, the day came when the dark planet began to decay and die. The dark planet beings began losing their energy and their powers. Out of desperate need for survival, the Dark Queen built a magnificent ship capable of harvesting all the power from entire planets. The queen knew she would not be allowed to destroy all life in the galaxy, so she created the ultimate tournament to decide which planets would be spared from death. Each planet would appoint one of their own to travel the galaxy and compete in the Galactic Bowling League. Earth had only four people brave enough and crazy enough to accept this heroic challenge: John Dire aka "The Air Strike"; Kendra Klein aka "The Striking Beauty"; Max Fortner aka "The Lucky Strike"; and Shaniqua Stevens aka "The Cobra Strike".

The winner of the Earth League will earn the right to compete against the clever and fierce aliens in the Galactic League, tough opponents, each trying desperately to save their home planets from total destruction."

The game has three distinctive play modes (solo, regular and battle) and eleven lanes to play on. On the first few levels, you compete against the other players from Earth on standard bowling lanes. As the game progresses, the locations change and the lanes get more complex. There are obstacles on the more complex lanes which include such things as fire, loops and worm holes.

The player controls are fairly straight-forward as you are able to position your player by using a horizontal slide bar at the bottom of the screen and you can set the angle of approach with a vertical slide bar. The physical bowling motion takes place by tapping a power meter to set the strength of the throw prior to tapping the bowler him/herself. Don't worry as this all probably sounds a lot more complex than it really is. The quick summary is that you can get bowling right away without having to learn any complex moves but there are features (like the vertical slide and the power meter) that allow you to finesse your approach. Once you throw the ball, you can use the the iPhone's accelerometer to put some spin on the ball while it is in motion.

With each throw, your "power-up" meter starts to fill - the more pins you knock down, the faster it fills up. Once filled, you can bowl a 'special' ball that automatically clears all the pins standing. You can unlock other special balls as you progress through the story which include extra speed, extra power and the ability to split your ball in two. Like Guitar Hero, you even can earn various types of 'whammies' which you can use to disrupt your opponent's game.

Galactic Bowling will hold your attention quickly but there is more than enough here to warrant many repeat plays.