Family Ski Comments by Ellie Gibson

You only 'crotch flay' 3 times to get your speed up, you then maintain your speed with a 'tuck', which you achieve by curling the wiimote and nunchuk outwards as if you were tucking your elbows in and your ski poles under your arms, just like real skiing.

This is covered extensively in the tutorial and the instructions, but it seems the reviewer here missed it. Kind of a major part of playing the game....

I can feel pain of flayed crotch already.

price fail...

lol @ Ellie if the OP is talking truth

Best. Review. Ever. You would think that the words 'Communal Crotch Flaying' would lost their comedy appeal after a couple of paragraphs but nope. :)

If Jed is right then that's pretty poor reviewing.....

Just got my wii fit and looking for other stuff to use the board for, and that Crotch Flaying stuff put me right off. Which would be a shame if that's b*****ks and it's better than the review suggests.

I played it for five minutes.

I'm glad I already have children, cause I won't be having 'm no more. :(

It's a very funny review, but Jed's right.

Would love to see someone justify the equivalent price of £12.55 in US versus £34.99 in UK.

A difference of £22.44.

Twenty two pounds and forty-four pence. That's one hell of a Dumb European tax we've got going on there.

Unbelieveable.

Yep, Jed is right. I can only assume Ellie didnt do the tutorial (despite saying players should) and as such really doesnt know how to play the game. I actually think the controls work really well, and that the tucking motion should be the one to control speed, not leaning forward on the board.

When skiing in real life, leaning forward or back doesnt really affect speed, its more the wind resistance change between crouched/tucked and standing upright (that and obviously turning).

In Family Ski, its a natural motion to lean forward and crouch down, when twisting the wiimote and nunchuck into the tuck position, and so whilst the balance board doesnt detect your body movement in this way, you end up in a natural skiing poition.

If the reason for the 6 is due to the controls, then the review is way off the mark, I also dont think the price in the US should be a major factor either (it didnt affect the Rock Band score). Im not saying the game is a 10, or even a 9, I havent played it enough to give a final opinion, but I deffinately disagree with the main problems the reviewer points out.

Oops. Updated review coming soon perhaps?

That's some pretty poor reviewing, I have to say. I know we all enjoy Ellie's comedy attack dog routine, and I'm not saying this game looks particularly good, but too often I get the impression that she sets out to savage games without ever trying to enjoy them.

And not bothering to figure the controls out is seriously amateur.

I love EG's reviews... they have a delightful sense of humour that few other sites have, which even extends to the article "tag lines". LOL

I am disgusted. WhoeverMadeThisGame has completely ruined the immersion by including monkeys. I have been skiiing for nearly two decades now and am yet to come across a single monkey next to a ski lift.

We need a Ninternet witch hunt against the people who made this game right now!

Either they a) remove monkeys from the game, or, and this is my preferred option, b) mount a worldwide campaign to place colonies of monkeys on the slopes of all major ski resorts (and supply them with warm places to stay, food etc.). Realism in games demands nothing less!

If they do not do this some time really soon, I shall be very angry on many places on the internet, and that'll larn 'em.

Innacurate review alert.

Not to mention that moving the wiimote and nunchuck up and down 3 times actually seems like a fair approximation of using your poles to get going quickly at the top of the slope.

The reviewer could have had more fun, with much more legitimacy, by reviewing Top Spin 3 for Wii, where points last long enough to evoke the wooden racket-era, and you can slap your self across the face with the cable multiple times on one point.

EDIT: Maybe Ellie gets the last laugh. Here's the IGN-US review. Skip to about halfway down.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/875/875454p1...

Or let me summarize:
*same complaint about repetitive use of "poles" throughout a course;
* same overall game score;
* less creative use of language.

Yet another shite Wii review from Ellie. Come on guys, don't ye have any professional pride? :/ Ellie, get your shit together.

"The experience is slow, the mountain is small, and the game bombards users with text pop-ups and the need to constantly slow down and chat with other resort patrons in order to initiate short-lived challenges and races."
also @ IGN

The game is fun Fun FUN.

To review the whole game without mentioned the tuck position is like reviewing Halo 3 and not mentioning the fire button.

Game = 8/10 (or 7 if you don't like sking)
Review = 1/10 (The 1 is for the use of the word crotch)

Come on Ellie - admit you got the review wrong - or blame your editor for taking out you explanation of the croutch position.

Heh, she's not likely to admit it. I PMed her before about a patently incorrect article. She didn't change it, she didn't get back to me. She doesn't really give too much of a fuck methinks. :/

damn..

was looking forwards to this one.

oh well.. save myself some wonga.

@Barkotron

I am disgusted. WhoeverMadeThisGame has completely ruined the immersion by including monkeys. I have been skiiing for nearly two decades now and am yet to come across a single monkey next to a ski lift.

I understand you're just kidding, but I feel compelled to set the record straight on behalf of the monkeys.

In Japan they have quite a few monkeys in the mountains where the ski resorts are.
Take Nagano for instance. Those bloody simian buggers really are everywhere if you go hiking, and in winter they even draw closer to where people are - they even have the nerve to dip into the outdoor hot springs.

So there. Excellent skiing in Japan btw.

@Daikon

Really? That's fantastic. I must move to Japan and fulfil my monkey skiing dreams!

I think review is a bit negative and slightly off.

Describing the controlling action as a 'crotch flay' is a bit on the extreme side. I'd say it's more a simple flick of the wrists. Can't believe the 'tuck' wasn't mentioned in the review. Tut tut.


Not that I ski at all (I snowboard); But I'd say the game does give you that same sensation of coming down a mountain, which has similarities with the real thing. OK, so the speed isn't break neck, but it's not that big a deal. I think the controls are OK.


Also I liked the little touches on the ski lift, like how the controller vibrates when the chair goes onto the next pylon and also how the music on the slope sounds "tinny" and directional. Adds a small touch of realisim. Nice.

The balance board does make the game more playable as it 'feels' closer to the real-life action of skiiing. I'd agree that the mountain could have been bigger and maybe have included some off piste.


I'm dreaming now, but if this game could be crossed with something like SSX3 ( Like having a Big mountain with loads of freeride terrain to explore etc) and use the balance board, then that would be awesome !!!

Overall it's a good little game. If you can't wait for your next winter fix then this isn't that bad.


And best of all ? Not a lift queue in sight....