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Written by Don Lee
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Monday, 30 July 2007 |
 Sims Bowling is the latest addition to list of games available for the
5th generation Apple video iPod. While most of the other iPod games
were in the casual variety with Namco’s Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man and Tetris
being the big-name titles, it was nice to see such a popular franchise
like The Sims makes it to the iPod.
Now I have had my 30GB video iPod for a little while now and I have put a pretty good amount of music and movies on it. When I heard that Sims Bowling was available (and me being the Sims fan that I am), I launched my iTunes Store and picked up this game for $4.99 and after the 38 megabyte download, I was ready for some bowling action.
For you folks familiar with The Sims franchise, this game starts the same way in that you can customize your own Sim character. Choose from different gender, appearance, balls and even your bowling shoes.
Once you start perfecting your bowling skills, you can earn Simoleans (sim money) that you can use to upgrade your character’s bowling gear in the SimStore. Once you begin showing off your bowling prowness, you will be recognized with awards. The game will even keep track of your best statistics such as your best classic game score, your overall average, clean sheets and perfect games. It will also track your best spare-o-thon and strike-o-thon scores and stats.
 Picking up the bowling technique is straightforward but you will definitely need a little practice to master your throws. First you need to set you position on the floor. You can your position using your left and right arrows on the scroll wheel. Once you have chosen your position, then you will need to choose the amount of power you want to utilize on your throw. Sometimes you may want the full power if you are going for a strike or you just want to use a lot of spin on your ball. There will probably be times where you will have to finesse your way down the alley to pick up those dreaded splits. Be careful not to cross that red line, which will result in a foul.
Once you have selected the amount of power, then you will see an aiming bar move from side to side. Depending on where your final selection is made, this will determine how much spin you will need to put on the ball, which you will determine in the next step.
There are three games modes available (classic, spare-o-thon and strike-o-thon). The classic is the typical bowling action that you’re used to on the lanes. It’s 10 frames with the high score winning the game. Just try to get strikes and pick up spares along the way.
Spare-o-thon is a lot of fun and really tests your skills as you try to pick up as many various spares as you can. This makes for good practice when you play matches in classic or pass-n-play mode.
The Strike-o-thon is your chance to show off your strike throwing abilities. The challenge is to try and string together as many strikes as you can. This is pretty difficult and you should really work on your throwing technique before you attempt this or you will be frustrated pretty quickly.
 While the aiming takes a little bit of time to get used to, I really enjoyed playing EA’s Sims Bowling for the 5th generation Apple video iPod. The wonderful graphics, multiple game modes, Sim Life, pass-n-play mode where you can play against a friend, the SimShop, awards and game statistics make this video iPod-only game a wonderful addition to your portable device. Sims Bowling earns 4.5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.
Sims Bowling is only available for 5th generation Apple video iPods. The game will not work from within iTunes or as a standalone application. The game can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes Store for $4.99. You can learn more about the game by visiting the Apple website or by downloading the iTunes software.
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