'#SkiJump' is an exhausting, but fun VR game
Well, that was embarrassing.
As embarrassing as it is to play, #SkiJump is a lot of fun. It's a VR game in which you move your body in order to ski down a mountain, and playing it feels like you're embodying the unnamed protagonist of SkiFree (that one skiing game that everyone had on Windows 95). It was created by VRUnicorns, the loose team of game jammers that released the HTC Vive launch title #SelfieTennis and seemingly have around 17 projects they're working on at any given moment.
Like #SelfieTennis before it, #SkiJump is hard work. To succeed, you'll need to vigorously pump your arms, crouch down, lean from side to side and jump. The controls aren't perfect, and I lost track of my skis a few times, but polish isn't really the selling point of VRUnicorns' games. They inhabit an important space within VR, offering funny, light experiences that you can play in short bursts with friends.
For early VR users, they have the potential to offer experiences akin to Wii Sports and Wii Play: two games that did such a good job selling motion controls. I was exhausted after ten minutes, and as the video above illuminates, I looked like a complete idiot, but I can see myself coming back to this one again and again.
#SkiJump will be out this year. Although it's being demoed on the HTC Vive, the game will also be supported on Oculus Rift, says Julie Heyde, one of the developers who's working on the game.
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