|| REVIEW || Let's Go! Skiing (PC)
Developed By : DGMA Published By : DGMA
Category : Sports, Casual, VR Release Date : September 27, 2019
Not long after it first came out, I was fascinated by the idea of VR. It wasn't something I wanted to dive into immediately, because I wanted to wait and see the technology work out it's kinks. But eventually I knew I'd be strapping into a headset and tackling numerous virtual worlds, and that time finally came a few months ago. So before we dive into our first official VR review here on the blog I just want to point out that this and all VR reviews going forward will be done using the HTC Vive.
Let's Go! Skiing aims to bring you into the cartoony world of downhill skiing, promising sleek stylish graphics for the whole family to enjoy and dangerous tracks to slalom down. However, this is also a game who's promises are bigger than it's deliveries.
Controlling yourself on the hill is quite simple. Each wand controller acts as one of your hands holding a ski pole. You'll start at a standstill and need to swoop your arms downwards to gain some momentum, repeating this movement if you want your speed to build and build. Steering yourself is done by simple head movements, tilting one way or the other depending on which way you'd like to move.
As simple as the controls are though, you won't get a ton of variety in where you can make use of it. As of right now, this game only comes with three maps for you to ski on. I specify "as of right now" because scanning through reviews on Steam showed that back in November there was only a single map to play on.
Each map runs about the same. You start at the top in a starting gate and must make your way to the finishing gate achieving the best score possible. You'll have a line guiding you down the hill, as well as a deer that constantly runs on the line to give you a sort of guiding point if needed. You won't be able to pass this deer though, believe me I tried, but every time I got close enough to boop it on the butt it would zip forward a distance away from me.
Along the line, you'll see plenty of trees, some of which will fall over in your path, ski gates and coins. Each of these things serves the purpose of extending the in-game "dialogue" options for the announcer commentating on your run down the hill...and really nothing else. Each coin you collect spawns the phrases "You're getting richer!" or "Fee increased" Other than a score label at the end of the levels, I couldn't tell exactly where these coins were going though.
The announcer also comments on some trees that fall over in your path, or by telling you not to miss any gates. However this can definitely be ignored. My first time in this game I was learning the ropes and spent quite a bit of time off the line, zipping through trees and the like. I still managed to place in the gold first place position. Hitting trees didn't seem to be an issue as long as I kept my arms pumping to churn up some speed.
In the end, Let's Go! Skiing isn't a horrible game, it's just that there's not a whole lot to it right now. It's a game that's very easy to pick up and learn, so if you don't enjoy it enough and are only concerned with earning the gold trophy on each of the current three tracks, you can have this game "beaten" in less than ten minutes.
But, again, it is a lot of fun, and while the VR environment is cartoony it still feels pretty lively. It was nice to look around while zipping down through the levels, and if the game continues to grow some, I can easily see myself losing a great deal of time in this title. Until then, I'll enjoy the fact that it was a good play, and hope that one of these days I'll have a reason for jumping back in.
Game Rating : 4.5/10
Pick up the game HERE on Steam
This game was played and reviewed on PC (Steam)
A review code for this game was graciously provided to the site
