Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Review

If you’re the type that spends your winter cubicle moments dreaming of making lazy doglegs down a snowy slope, than you might just find a tiny bit of solace in Touch Ski 3D from Naquatic, Inc. This game got some tweaks under the hood recently and it looks like they may really have something here.

Touch Ski 3D offers visuals and effects that are quite stunning, as well as a rather unique approach to game play. Instead of simply rocking your device in varying directions to control your player, you lay two fingers on the screen and, based on their direction and relative orientation, control the speed and direction. I found this a little awkward at first (mostly because you need to hold the device in such a way that it makes “line-at-the-bank” play a little difficult), but it didn’t take much time to acclimate.

Slalom-style Race and Jump are the two types of game play available, and I’d highly recommend starting off with the latter as it lets you focus more on how to orient your fingers and trying to maintain a straight line. The Race involves some pretty tricky turning (if you’re a beginner like yours truly) and it’s fairly easy to get a confused as to which direction you’re supposed to be going. Again, it’s not too bad once you get the hang of it, but you can definitely expect your first few minutes to be spent doing a windshield-wiper-style dance with your fingers.

I’m not a big skier; this app doesn’t make me dream of faraway Alpine peaks, but for the short time I’ve spent with it, I enjoyed it. I’m not sure this is something I’ll be firing up too often (again, not a skier), but I can definitely see this being some people’s go-to game (and it’s certainly one of the best looking games I’ve played on the iPhone). Perhaps a little more variety in the game play would make the $3 price tag a little less of a barrier, but they’ve certainly nailed the animations and imagery.

Touch Ski 3D [App Store] is available for $2.99US.

TUAWTouch Ski 3D lets you ski without leaving your couch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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