PBA Bowling 2 review

Ah, bowling. It’s not the sexiest of sports, but it’s always reminded me of fun and goofy times with friends. It’s one of the only sports I can think of where players often improve with beer. I’m not sure if drinking would have helped my PBA Bowling 2 score, but this was definitely a fun, if not quite perfect, bowling app.

Professional bowling is something I’m not very well acquainted with. I think I’ve seen glimpses of tournaments here and there on ESPN, and the look of PBA Bowling 2 mostly fits with my mental image: funky looking bowling balls, awkward explosions of applause, and big ads on the pin sweeper thingy (probably not the technical term). The graphics and sound are all very nice, and even a professional probably wouldn’t cringe at the pin action in this game.

In general, the game does a very good job at keeping it real. The physics are actually quite impressive, considering that you’re launching a bowling ball with your finger. You aim, approach, and release with a swipe and a flick, and then you can control the spin of the ball with the accelerometer as it careens down the lane. And there are different difficulty levels to make it fun for everyone. I’m a downright terrible bowler in real life, but this game made me feel like a rock star with all the strikes and spares I was picking up.

Tournament mode will probably appeal to bowling fans, but I’m not one, so the big names didn’t really mean much to me, although the spare challenges were definitely nice for giving the game a bit more oomph in the difficulty department.

There were a few weird physics glitches here and there, and at one point my ball was stuck spinning in a corner for a minute or so. Not so great for a bowling game, but those were few and far between. I would have liked to have seen some online match options, in addition to the high score table, and a pass-and-play mode, but I did appreciate how you could leave in the middle of a game and pick up where you left off.

Overall, it’s very slightly rough around the edges, but if you’re a fan of bowling games, this is a very decent version to have around.

Here is a video demo of the PBA Bowling 2 app on the iPhone

AppSafari Rating: 4/5

AppSafari review of PBA Bowling 2 was written by Tracy Yonemoto on April 21st, 2010 and categorized under App Store, Fun, Games, Physics Based, Sports. Page viewed 7461 times, 3 so far today. Need help on using these apps? Please read the Help Page.