My husband and I both have laptop computers. He is often bringing home work, and I am usually writing reviews (like now), but occasionally I like to play games. When my Toshiba laptop died, we replaced it with a HP, which came with a trial version of several Wild Tangent games. One of which was Polar Golfer. I played it enough to become addicted, and then the trial ran out. (I think that's the point of the trial downloads!).
I purchased the Polar Golfer CD, and with it came the Polar Bowler game as well. Two for one! I prefer the golf version, but the bowling game is a lot of fun as well.
This isn't your typical bowling game. It has an icy, arctic theme, with comical characters replacing the bowling ball. When you start, you can choose from two versions, straight bowling or power bowling. The straight version also has the arctic theme, but there are no "helpers" along the way. Power bowling allows graphics to pop up suddenly that allow you to get a better score. More on that in a minute.
This game has seven bowling lanes and six characters. You start out with one lane and one character. When you reach a score of 200 points, another lane and character are unlocked. The lanes have comical names and great graphics, and are called Chill Pin Alley, Candy Cane Lane, Ice Berg Alley, etc.
Straight Bowling
Other than the arctic graphics, snowflakes, icebergs, etc. this is the classic bowling game. The lanes are made of ice, and there are markers like on a real wooden lane, and you attempt to knock down 10 frozen pins. There are gutters on each side, and a menu pops up after each turn that shows your score. Scoring is the same as in a real game of bowling.
You start out with a polar bar sitting in an inner tube (this is your ball). You can move him from left to right across the lane. When you're ready to bowl, there's a sling shot of sorts that you pull back to shoot him down the lane. If you pull him back all the way, he'll go faster and vise versa. You can control his movements, curving him left or right with your mouse.
Power Bowling
This version is the most fun for me, because it has "power ups". Different graphics appear at random along the lane, and hitting them can greatly increase your score. There are several power up graphics to watch for:
The Bomb: this is a black smoking bomb, and if you hit it it will explode knocking the pins down. This will not always result in a strike, however. It depends on where in the lane you hit the bomb, and how square you hit the bowling pins.
The Zap: is an orange circle, and hitting this will electrocute the pins. Hitting the zap will sometimes result in a strike, but it can also leave you with a split!
The Vapor: this is a blue colored snowflake, and it is the most desirable of all the power ups. Hitting this will guarantee a strike, as it vaporizes all ten of the pins, providing you hit at least one of them. Attempting to hit the Vapor and losing control and ending up in the gutter renders it worthless, as is the case with all the helpers.
Multiplier's: these look like golden coins, and read 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, and 6x. Hitting this gets you bonus points by multiplying the number of pins you knock down. Hitting all ten pins with the 5x will get you 50 bonus points. Bonus points are added to your bowling score at the end of the game.
Characters
1) Polar bear in an inner tube.
2) Walrus on a snow machine
3) Penguin on a saucer sled
4) Snowman that curls into a snowball as he rolls down the lane
5) Eskimo on his dog sled (no dogs!)
6) I haven't unlocked it yet, so I don't know!
Some characters are easier to play with than others. I feel that the walrus and the snowman are too tall, not allowing you to see the arrows and the pins. Using these characters makes it harder to aim your ball at a specific pin.
If you want to quit a game midway through, you hit the "Q" key and it will take you back to the main screen, where you can start over, choose another lane or character (as long as they are unlocked), or exit the game.
Multi-Player Mode
Polar Bowler allows up to 4 players on the same computer to compete against each other on the same lane. When a new player is up the character will change and the player's name will appear in the lower left corner of the screen.
Thoughts
Although this is probably a child's game, I have a lot of fun with it. My husband refuses to play Polar Bowler, but he is addicted to the Polar Golf game.
The game is designed for Windows XP systems, and is very easy to learn and play. Trying to hit all of the bonus graphics in the power bowler game can be challenging for the best bowlers. I really enjoy this game.
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