Family Ski (Wii)

After purchasing Wii Fit on launch, I knew that the Balance Board peripheral which came packaged with the game was full of great potential.

Only weeks after Wii Fit was launched it wasn't long before magazines and websites began publishing dates and details of new games to feature balance board integrated controls.

Family Ski is the first of such games from Namco to feature Balance Board and I must say that it certainly caught my interest when I first read about it and seen a couple of vids on various websites. We had already seen the potential the balance board had for skiing games with Wii Fits slalom game, the question was could Namco expand and improve on the control system to produce a engaging ski experience.

Thankfully it gives me great pleasure to say resounding yes.

Family Ski is everything I was hoping for and a little bit more!

The game is set in the Happy Ski Resort and sets you up as a character that appears to be new to the skiing scene and learning all the tricks and techniques as you go. To start the game, you first must choose a character to use as your avatar through out the game. Whilst choosing your character is only a small part of the games, it is pleasurable as you get to either chose your own Mii character or create an avatar from the games character maker to create a cartoony character which it must be commented lot somewhat familiar to the characters in My Sims. Before you hit the slopes, you get to kit out your character with some funky ski gear such as skies, pants, jackets and goggles ect.

After you've created your little character, it's time to hit the ski slopes and check out the resort and it various slopes which range from beginner to advanced to ensure there's plenty for players of levels to enjoy. It has to be said that skiing around the resort can be quite a pleasure in itself as the game developers have made an excellent job of creating a natural & intuitive control system which once you have mastered by either going through all the Ski School lessons or just experimenting whilst riding about just becomes second nature.

There are two methods of control on offer. The first is performed by using the Wii Remote & Nunchuck alone or you can choose to use the Wii Remote & Nunchuck in combination with the Balance Board. If you have recently purchased Wii Fit like myself, the Balance Board combo will definitel be for you as it adds that extra bit of depth & realism to the controls.

Using the Balance Board with Wii Remote & Nunchuck, is so simple & intuitive that after 30mins of using it you easly find your feet so to speak. Simply stand on the board & use your Balance Board to control steering yourself left & right, whilst utilising your Wii Remote & Nunchuck like ski poles to perform of actions such as pushing your self along, initiating tricks by swinging the controller in indepent direction & pressing the different buttons to perform plow turning & sharp turns.

By far my favourite little control touch in the game is the way you tuck the Wii Remote & Nunchuck into your chest whilst pointing the controllers together to gain a speed boost just like the way you would if using ski poles.

There is so much more you could say about Family Ski which I was extremely impressed by, but to be honest I don't think I could fit it all on one page.

Personally I think that some of the magazine & internet reviews which have commented that the game could have done with a little more depth or realism seem to have missed the point of the games. What Family Ski aims to do is just be a pleasant, entertaining & light hearted fun experience which is perfect way to relax & in my book it gets top mark for this as it does a terrific job.

If you have recently purchased Wii Fit & fancy a fun game to have a blast on with your Balance board, purchase Family Ski & you won't go wrong!

As a skier, snowblader and snowboarder, I love the slopes. However, a young family has kept me away from the slopes for a couple of years and as soon as I heard of We Ski (as this game is known outside Europe), the sooner I had to purchase a Wii Console and Balance Board (of course, I had to get Wii Fit to get one of those!)

I pre-ordered Family Ski and awaiting in anticipation for its release. Luckily it arrived a day early so I've had chance to get to the slopes and take the game for a spin.

Overall, I'm impressed. Is it the same as skiing down a mountain? No, but it's as close as you're likely to get without leaving your living room.

The game loads pretty quickly but be aware that if you have a balance board, you'll need to click the 'balance board' on the loading pages for it to sync. As soon as you're asked to press 'A' and 'B', it's too late.

Once the games loaded and the Balance Board is sync'ed, it's time to choose your Mii and ski-gear. There's a range of gear to choose from and more can be unlocked as your skiing technique improves.

Having donned some untrendy gear and some carving skiis, it's time to hit the slopes. With the use of the WiiMore, Nunchuk and Balance Board, skiing with Family Ski is a breeze. The game is responsive to movement on the balance board and although you can't carve an edge, it's still as close enough to the real experience to make skiing enjoyable.

With a choice of freestyle, races and moguls, there's enough to keep the casual ski-loving gamer happy for a while. You can 'talk' to fellow skiiers and be challenged to races, have your photo taken and sent to friends via Wii Message Board as well as improve technique at the ski-school.

Subtle features like hearing the ice as you travel over it, 'feeling' the slowness of melting snow and tannoy announcements all add to the experience. Graphics are pretty good and do immerse you in the resort. Seeing trails as you carve through the snow looks good as well as the powder spray as you are the first to hit some virgin snow.

With Family Ski, don't expect a virtual realistic skiing experience, if you want that, get on a plane and get to a real slope. If that doesn't suit your pocket or the snow's not great, spend £30 and make the most of the slopes on your Wii.

If I could improve Family Ski, I'd suggest:

* having a larger resort - although the terrain and features cover many that you'd experience on the real slopes, the resort is quite small and can be covered quickly

* allow you to break out of conversations with fellow skiers and photographers

* allow more Balance Boards to be connected - currently only one balance board player can play at a time (this is a limitation of the Wii Console though so hardly the fault of the game). In multi-player mode, players each use the WiiMote/Nunchuk.

This really is a great game, and I would recommend anybody with the slightest interest in winter sports to buy it.

While it is true that the balance board was an afterthought during development of the game (snowploughing, edging, carving and braking should all have been incorporated IMHO), this does not detract much from the gameplay.

Having been on skis off and on since the early 90's, I can say that although it is apparent you are playing a game, the feel of actually being at a ski resort is captured very nicely. Graphics, sound and gameplay do the job nicely for me.

One area that this game screams for more is extendibility. I know that console games generally don't offer much in this aspect compared to their PC equivalents, but it would have been fantastic to have an editor to sculpt the landscape and drag and drop buildings, trees, lifts, run markers etc to build your own resort. I feel this would have been quite possible with the Wii remote and would have extended the play-life of the game markedly. Its also a missed opportunity to cultivate a community such as that found for the Ski Resort Tycoon games.

Also, snowboarding does not feature. Granted this would have required another set of control movements, but is that such a hardship? Most people would go down one route or the other anyway.

I gave the game 4 stars, but I think that bearing in mind the points above 3.5 would have been more accurate if that were possible.

Still, Im very happy to say this game is well worth the £30 I paid for it.