Curling might not be the World's most popular sport, but it's certainly one of the most captivating. However, it's unlikely you'll have a local curling club in your town so the best way to experience the winter sport might be to install Curling Challenge on your BlackBerry.
Curling Challenge is an absorbing simulation of the game, for one or two players. The object of curling is to score points by rolling rocks down the ice, getting them as close to the center of the scoring circle as you can. Each teams has eight rocks per through, and there are 10 ends in a game. The name of the game comes from the way the rocks 'curl' down the ice depending on the rotation you've selected. Once you've thrown a rock, the only way to modify its trajectory is by 'brooming', whereby you sweep the ice in front of the moving rock.
All of these principles have been encapsulated beautifully into Curling Challenge. The control system of the game is very simple. First, you stop the power gage in the right place to determine the distance of the shot, then you use adjust the arrow to determine the direction, before choosing whether to rotate the rock clockwise or counterclockwise. Once the rock is released, you can use the Fire button to start brooming to change the course of the rock.
Although the controls in Curling Challenge are straightforward, mastering the game takes a long time, and you'll find the AI opponent to be a tough cookie. In fact, it would've been nice to have an option to tweak the difficulty level in Curling Challenge to make for a more gentle learning curve.
The graphics in Curling Challenge are simple yet well executed, and the rock physics are pretty accurate, making for an enjoyable playing experience.
If you're looking for a new kind of sports sim for your mobile, Curling Challenge makes for a strangely-addictive alternative.
