Game Details

ESRB Rating: 

E10+ (Everyone 10+)

Number of Players: 

1-2

Throw Bowling from Wii Sports, Mario Kart-style weapons, and a handful of aliens and monsters into a blender, and you get...No! WAIT! NOT LITERALLY! STOP! OH, THE HUMANITY!!!

Anyway, back to the game. Alien Monster Bowling League is actually exactly what you'd expect from the title. With what must be deliberateely the most campy storyline ever conceived, light and darkness in the universe must be kept in the balance while saving the earth from a world-devouring machine via a tournament of bowling! I know what you're thinking, and yes, I think it was deliberately intended to sound like a B-movie, given the characters included.

In campaign mode, you take on the persona of a choice of four human characters, trying to save the earth. Play first against the other humans, then against five monsters (zombie, cyclops, werewolf, Dracula, and yeti), then against a handful of aliens. Characters each have their own personalities and comic gestures (Werewolf is a British gentleman, and Yeti speaks only in '80's song titles, while one of the aliens has a Cajun accent). As players progress, the bowling lanes add new challenges (like a Ski Ball-like lane or swinging pedulums) inspired by miniature golf courses. Power-ups appear, allowing players both to improve their own balls, like one that splits in half to catch a split or a ghost ball that allows players to stop the ball and aim, or attack the opponent by twisting the screen perspective, shaking the lane with an earthquake, or zapping the ball out of existence. Players can also save energy to use a super ball, which causes an automatic strike or spare, as applicable.

Players can choose from three difficuly levels, which made very little difference from what I could tell, and a choice between standard and battle mode. Standard allows players to take turns like a normal game, but in Battle Mode, players race through the game to rack up the most points the fastest, which will add some serious challenge for those who master the standard game.

Players who lose a game in campaign mode get a chance to save themselves via a turkey shoot, using the Wiimotes to point and shoot. Sadly, this mode does not become available in multiplayer mode, but players can play as the turkey in Multiplayer mode, which we'll return to.

Besides the controls you'd expect, like swinging the Wiimote to roll the ball, the game also offers a "Couch Potato Mode" using the nunchuk, Players will also need to hone their shooting skills, since pins left wobbling can be shot down with a few well-placed hits during the "Tilt."

Players can play through the campaign mode in an afternoon, but in doing so, they unlock all the monsters and aliens as playable characters for the 2-player multiplayer mode. Since the difficulty levels have little effect on the game, we found setting the younger kids to easy and adults to hard didn't really help, but they considered it fun anyway. A 4-6 player alternating mode or online play would have been nice, but this is a budget title.

A few of the characters wear outfits that leave little to the imagination, but overall, this is a family-friendly game.

Intuitive controls, innovative characters and environments, and unique elements make this title worth buying if you enjoy bowling. The campaign's difficulty level will keep young kids without a good sense of timing from succeeding, but an older or more experienced family member can unlock those levels to allow custom choosing of characters and environments to match the child's skill level. Grab a spare and enjoy.