In an extreme test of my generic dictum that a story can improve any game, I read this morning that Flick Bowling 2 for the iPhone has a story mode. As summarized in CNET’s review:

The story goes like this: On a regular day of bowling with your friend, suddenly Baron Von Stopwatch…appears and kidnaps your partner and enters a time portal. From there, you’ll travel through time, bowling in historical settings against figures like Cleopatra and Genghis Khan, to gather clues of where Baron Von Stopwatch has taken your bowling partner.

My desire to purchase and play this game upon reading that is definitely based more on the stunt than the story. Heck, it’s probably based more on my Lebowski fanhood than the story. But even so, kudos to developer Freeverse for pushing the boundaries.