Ultimate Bowling Fighters by Astraware Review

Bowling, in its various forms, have been around for centuries and is often contributed to having started in Italy.  Fundamentally the game has not changed much from conception to now with the object still to roll a ball down a playing field and knock down a set of pins.  Like golf, bowling is deceptive.  On the surface it looks easy but once you play a while, you quickly figure out that things are not as they seem.

With us now being in the 21st century it make sense that bowling would go along with us and Astraware has done that for us with Ultimate Bowling Fighters.  Ultimate Bowling Fighters, or UBF as it is known, is a great bowling game that allows you to play individual games, in tournaments against another player or against the AI.  The graphics and game play are terrific and UBF and everything that you would expect from Astraware.  Even if you are not a "real world" bowling fan, UBF could become addicting for anyone!

Ultimate Bowling Fighters is installed on your Windows Mobile Pocket PC via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center and requires approximately 3.6MB of storage space.  The game can be installed in either your device's main memory or on a storage card and requires Pocket PC 2003 or higher.  If you are going to be playing UBF on a Windows Mobile Smartphone, you will need 2003 or later.  Once the installation is complete and the game is started, you will see the home screen of the game.  If you leave it in this mode, after 30 seconds the high scores from the various game playing modes will be displayed.

Figures 1 & 2:  The Main Display and High Scores of Ultimate Bowling Fighters

When you select a new game in Ultimate Bowling Fighters you have three options available:  Solo Game, Tournament and Multiplayer.  In the Solo Game mode you play a solo game without any competition.  This mode is a great mode to start out in so you can get use to the game controls and playing on your particular device.  The Tournament mode is the most common mode of play which pits you against various characters from various countries.  As you advance in the tournament the players become increasingly more difficult to beat.  Finally, in the Multiplayer mode, you can play against the CPU or up to four other people on the same device.  For this review I will primarily cover the Tournament mode as this is the most common game mode.

Figure 3:  The Game Mode Menu

When you begin play in Tournament mode you will select the character that you will be throughout the tournament.  The characters are both male and female and represent various countries around the globe.  Below each character is a special ability that player has as well as the weight of the ball that is used.  The special ability is achieved when a maximum power hit is achieved which I will explain in a moment.

Figure 4:  Choosing Your Character in UBF

After making your player selection you will be prompted on the game play style you would like to use.  You can either choose stylus mode or gauge mode depending on how you like to play.  The stylus mode, as the name and icon suggest, requires that you slide your stylus across your screen to achieve both speed and accuracy.  The gauge mode utilizes two gauges - one for accuracy and one for hit power - to throw the ball.  In either mode, when you throw at maximum power the special ability that your character possesses will be used.  As to which mode is best, the answer is both and neither.  Both types of play work equally as well and neither has an advantage over the other.  It completely depends on how you like to play the game and I encourage you to try both modes out in Solo mode.  You may quickly find you prefer one over the other as I did (I prefer stylus mode).  Note that in the Smartphone version of UBF you will only have Gauge Control available.

Figure 5:  Choosing Your Game Play Control in Ultimate Bowling Fighters

Once you select your game playing control mode you are shown your opponent and taken to your lane to begin the first round of play.  The playing field is dominated by the bowling lane itself with your character or opponent - whoever is bowling at the time - at the bottom.  If you have chosen the Gauge control you will see the gauge in the middle of the lane.  You will have a side-to-side gauge to determine ball direction and then a power meter to determine your throwing speed.  To stop the moving meters, tap the bowling ball on the right-hand side of the lane.  When you are in stylus control mode you the direction and speed will be determined by the speed you drag the stylus across the bowling lane.

Figures 6 & 7:  The Stylus & Gauge Playing Fields in UBF

Part of the fun of UBF is the great animation and character expressions during game play.  The animations are fantastic as each player back swings then throws the ball down the lane in full motion.  As the ball is heading down the lane, a close up of the character's face with their reaction is shown or, in some cases, the pins themselves are shown as they await being hit.  It is quite fun and amusing!  A little hint for you:  try to get a split and watch your character's reaction.  It's priceless!

Figure 8:  Character Animations in UBF

After each frame bowled you are shown the score card of yourself and your opponent.  Like real world bowling, the object to outscore your opponent and advance to the next level of the tournament.  If you need to stop the game for any reason you can do so simply by tapping the menu icon on the right-hand side of the screen and then exiting the game.  Ultimate Bowling Fighters will remember where you are and will allow you to continue the game by selecting the Continue Game option on the game's welcome screen.

From an options perspective, there are a few in UBF but not many - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  From the options menu you can control the volume of both the music and the game sounds as well as determine the level animation effects you want to display.  If you have a slower device this can help improve performance.  Finally, you can adjust the type of animations during the game.  The settings for this are off, normal or "PG".  In the PG setting the characters display, shall we say, a little more skin than in the normal mode.  The screenshots in this review were in PG mode to give you an idea of what you can expect.

As you play UBF you will quickly find it addictive and fun.  The animations are fantastic, the game play challenging and the speed of the game is just right.  When you are playing against the CPU you are not waiting for a long time for it to play its turn.  Most of the time I can play an entire 10 frames in tournament mode in under 10 minutes.  When it comes to improvements there are few to be made to the game.  It would be nice to see a few more characters available but from a game play perspective there is nothing to fault.

Ultimate Bowling Fighters is available for $19.95 for Windows Mobile Pocket PC (VGA and QVGA) as well as Windows Mobile Smartphone.  As is tradition here at Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!, to encourage you to try UBF, we will be running a special at the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! store now through March 10, 2007.  At the store, use coupon code CFUBF to receive a 15% discount off of any of these versions of the game

• For the Windows Mobile Pocket PC VGA version click here

• For the Windows Mobile Pocket PC QVGA version click here

• For the Windows Mobile Smartphone version click here

Clinton Fitch, MVP-Mobile Devices
Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!