Touch Ski 3D – A 3D Skiing Experience

Available In: App Store       Price: $0.99  

Touch Ski 3D One of the reasons I bought a Wii was so that I could run, jump, ski, and hula hoop all in the comforts of my home. The Wii and corresponding Wii Fit have revolutionized the gaming industry, and I suspect that Apple has taken some notes and plan to do the same with portable gaming. Honestly, I didn’t expect to experience anything close to the same with my iPhone, but the folks at Naquatic, the makers of Touch Ski 3D, attempt to prove me wrong with their newly updated game.

Overview
When I initially received this game, it was version 1.0 and only had a few levels. Since then, a completely updated version has been released and includes a variety of options and games. A wide selection of game modes now exist including ski school (training mode), race, freestyle park, distance jump, slalom, tight slalom, and freestyle jump. Other options include choosing your ski color, adjusting the volume of effects and music (which by the way happens to be the most chill music of all the games I’ve ever played), and checking in on high scores both personal and online.

In Ski School, you’ll learn that you use your fingers to control your skis, which are shown at the bottom of your landscaped iPhone screen. The game recommends using your index and middle finger, but I chose to use my two thumbs. Perhaps, I was just coming off of playing Sway, but it just felt more natural to me to play this way. Then again, I’m not breaking any records online, so don’t look at me for game play advice. When skis are the right distance apart and parallel, you’ll reach faster speeds (a color coded MPH reading at the top will help you decide if you’re doing things right or not – green = fast/good, red = slow/not so good). As in real skiing, turning will slow you down as will crossing your skis.

The variety of modes comes in handy when you get a bit tired of the same old course slalom or race course. Ski Jumping is fun as you try to get the most distance (I’m still trying to crack the Top 100), but better yet is Freestyle where you get to perform tricks while in mid air on a jump or in a ski park. Again, the inclusion of an online score board gives you something to shoot for globally, but I’m just as happy with trying to achieve personal records until my skills on the iPhone’s slopes improve.

All of these benefits come at a price of course, and I’m not referring to how much the game costs. The stability of the program remains a major concern. As I was playing the game while writing this review, the program crashed 4 times in 20 minutes. Yes, Naquatic, I’ve rebooted my phone, so it’s not that. And yes, your graphics are pretty cool and I’m sure resource intensive. However, if buyers are expected to play this game for longer than 5 minute increments, I’d say we deserve better stability. To their credit, the developers have released several updates, so it seems that they’re invested in the game. Crashes have lessened since the early version, though it’s far from perfect. In addition, load times of 10-15 seconds exist, though these are tolerable.

Honestly, at $0.99, Touch Ski 3D is a bargain in my opinion. The graphics are solid and the sound effects (there’s nothing like the swoosh of skiing) are a nice touch. With multiple game modes, online leader boards, and several updates to address crashes, the game is easily worth a dollar. Do realize that the current version (v2.1 as of this review) still has problems, but if you can live with periodic crashes for the time being, you’ll be rewarded with a fun game that looks and feels great on the iPhone. As always when it applies, I’ll recommend trying the free Lite version and upgrading for a buck if you like what you see.

Touch Ski 3D

ScreenShots

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Comments

  1. AveSharia says

    I use Crazy Snowboard for snowboarding, which is not first person, but is also marginally awesome.

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