Review: Solipskier - SkiFree Meets The 21st Century
by Staff Writer
August 13, 2010
Overview
Do you remember SkiFree from Windows '95, well if so you'll feel right at home with Solipskier which feels like an updated version. Now you're screaming across slopes you draw going for big air and huge tricks. The game is a 2D horizontal side scrolling casual endless game which is a style Canabalt is the most well known for.
Features
You simply place your finger on screen, and move it around to adjust the height of the slope the skier goes on. Your goal is to pick up speed, and draw little ramps, and the skier will do tricks in the air only when your finger isn't touching the screen. There are slalom gates along the way which you try to make it through to increase your speed and multiplier.
The Good
If you like fast paced action you've come to the right place as your skier will be going faster than anything you've seen in the App Store. The entire goal of the game is to pick-up and maintain speed anyway you can, and once you achieve high speeds you will need lightening quick reaction time. There's never even a second to pause if you want to maintain your speed, and it's a great game to get your adrenaline pumping.
The game is super simple to pick up and play as you place your finger on screen to draw a continuous slope. You want to draw dips, and mini ramps to launch your skier in the air, and then let go and watch the air borne skills of the skier. You need to be ready to pick up the slope when your skier is about to land to maintain speed, and go right into the next jump.
As you're going along you want to try to hit as many gates as possible to increase score and speed, and luckily the next one is always indicated on screen. There are tunnels of gates as well which if you hit will have your skier going at unimaginable speeds, and then can lift off for gigantic air. There are also red gates that kill the skier if he hits them, so not all gates are good.
There's always a balance between risk and reward between choosing to draw the slope or let go for some tricks and points. If you miss drawing the slope the skier will fall to its demise, but if you're always drawing a slope you won't score very much. The best aspect is that you're going at such high speeds you don't have much time to think, but simply react.
As you're picking up speed and multipliers when you go airborne your skier has a rainbow trail that increases in size depending on your multiplier. It's especially noticeable with the black and white color scheme that has such a finely polished overall visual style. There is an action packed soundtrack to say the least that fits perfectly with the break neck speed of the game.
There are online leaderboards via OpenFeint which are essential for a high score based game. It's great there are leader boards, but this game has such a great intrinsic replay factor it will have you playing over and over again, and then a few more times after that. This will become that new game that you play in the few spare minutes in your day as the game starts in seconds, and lasts on average only a couple minutes.
Every single time you play it's tons of fun that just simply doesn't wear off because you can always play differently, and the set up of the gates and tunnels are always different. The game is universal so you can play it on any idevice, and it looks great on the iPhone 4 and iPad. The game plays extremely well on the iPad with it easier to discern what is going on at high speeds, and easier to draw slopes.
The Bad
Like most casual endless games the mechanic is repetitive as you're simply drawing a line. It's made so well that it doesn't matter how repetitive it is because it's enjoyable every time. One other problem is that there is no pause button so you can't lift your head from the gameplay without losing.
With OpenFeint it would nice to have some achievements as well. The game is a free flash game that you can play here: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Mikengreg/solipskier. For $2.99 though it's so much better to play with your finger than your mouse.
The Verdict
Solipskier is the perfect pick up and play game that is so easy to pick up, but then so hard to put back down. The game is nonstop action that is tons of fun each and every time through. There is no doubt anyone who picks this up will make this their new go to game whenever they're waiting somewhere.
Solipskier is a must buy for $2.99 that is the best casual endless game in the App Store.
