Zombie Bowl-o-Rama

Developer: Zombie Bowl-o-Rama | Publisher: MumboJumbo |Release Date: 2009 | Genre: Casual, Sport / Simulation |Website: Official Site | Format: Digital Download

Strange meteors falling out of the sky is alarming enough, but when they crash into the local cemetery and cause a zombie outbreak, things get even worse. Now I don’t know about you, but if I see some of the living dead shambling in my direction, I would be reaching for a shotgun and not a bowling ball. Since the name of the game is Zombie-bowl-o-rama, your weapon of choice is predictably bowling and your goal the extermination of all undead, one strike at a time.

Gameplay

As you may have guessed, this is an arcade bowling game aimed at the casual crowd and it doesn’t take itself very seriously. With zombies on the other end of the lane, all you have to do is take aim, choose the force behind the throw and then let rip. You can still influence the direction of the ball as it is travelling down the lane, which is something that might put the purists off. It does however help you collect the random power-ups that appear while dodging whatever obstacles your opponent has placed in your way.

These power-ups (or downs) are the selling point of the game and the source of the most entertainment. All kinds of things are possible, including turning the zombies into ice cubes. In fact, the ball can be turned into a beesnest, grow larger or even bounce back like a pinball with the right power-ups. On the flipside, you can turn your opponents’ ball into a cabbage, shrink it, turn the lane into ice or equip the zombies with headstone shields. These dirty tricks work both ways, so expect to see a few of them used against you as well.

The visuals are amusing but simple and the game looks like it would run on virtually any PC. The different types of zombies are funny and they have some goofy animations, but these sometimes cause them to clip through one another, which looks bad.

The zombies fly apart spectacularly when struck but there is no blood and gore, as you would expect. Everything is portrayed in cartoon fashion with zombies that juggle eyeballs or dress up as businesmen. Those that you miss, shuffle a bit further down the lane, obscuring your view but they don’t obstruct the ball and simply vanish when it passes through them. The game is very short, with only the bowling alley, town Main Street and cemetery, but gameplay is extended with the freeplay mode and some Steam achievements. Music-wise the opening theme is very nice but the rest is pretty generic.

Conclusion
Zombie-bowl-o-rama is fun while it lasts but it does not take long to see and do everything it has to offer. Afterwards there is very little reason to return to it unless you are playing against another human and even then, the fun starts to wear a little thin.