Playing in Ice and Snow, Without Ever Venturing Outdoors
App Smart: Winter Games: Apps for iOS and Android let you enjoy winter-themed games, including skiing and snowboarding, from the comfort of the indoors.
Yes, it's cold outside. And yes, it's getting slushy and dark and snowy and wet.
Ski Challenge 14 is one of the winter-themed games available as apps for iOS and Android.
Crazy Snowboard places you in control of a snowboarder navigating a downhill terrain peppered with obstacles and jumps.
In Icycle: On Thin Ice, the player is a tiny, naked cartoon figure riding a bicycle.
Fear not, winter also means playing in the snow and skating, skiing and building snowmen. And if you really don't want to go outside, you can enjoy some of this fun with winter-themed games, played on your phone.
Fresh on iOS is the hilarious and highly addictive icycle: on Thin Ice. The app is a 2-D action game that blends traditional gaming genres like platforms and ladders with racing.
But this description does not do the game justice. What other game lets you play a tiny naked cartoon guy riding a tiny bicycle over difficult terrain? The graphics are fabulously cute, and as the gameplay changes from level to level it requires different skills. In some levels, you have to carefully time moves to dodge falling icicles. In others, you have to navigate through mazelike obstacles.
Icycle: On Thin Ice is great fun. But it's not easy, and you'll find yourself revisiting levels to complete challenges like finding hidden items. I can't find much to criticize in this game apart from how much time it may eat up. Also, be careful of the in-app purchases if you give it to your children to play, because those purchases can cost up to $20. The nudity in the game is definitely cartoonish and should be of the safe-for-work variety in most cases. The app costs $1.
For a more winter-sports-like game that may remind you of the fabulous snowboarding game SSX on gaming consoles, try out Crazy Snowboard, free on iOS or Android. This pseudosimulation game places you in control of a snowboarder navigating a downhill terrain peppered with obstacles and jumps. You steer your phone in the air to make turns and tap on the screen to spin or do tricks like grabbing your snowboard in any one of a number of impressive ways.
The game has 3-D graphics, engaging music and sounds and such extras as changeable boards and snowsuits. There are several playing modes, like free play or mission-based downhill runs, to keep your interest. And as you earn more points, you can buy more outfits or more impressive tricks.
But amusing as the game is, it lacks some of the compelling sizzle you might expect if you've played a console skiing or boarding game, partly because you travel the slopes alone with no other players to race (or crash) against. The full “pro†versions ($2 on iOS and $1.03 on Android) do have more content, including more outfits, tricks and missions, and this may account for why the game is so popular on both platforms.
An alternative game on iOS and Android is Ski & Snowboard 2013. This game also has 3-D graphics that simulate real winter sports environments, and has a number of gameplay styles. But it's less about pulling off tricks than cleverly negotiating courses like giant slaloms or proper ski jumps, and in some modes it pits you against other downhill racers so it feels more dynamic.
There's also the option of choosing between playing as a skier or snowboarder, and you can choose to have on-screen touch controls instead of waving your phone in the air to steer your character.
It is fun, and you can try the free edition before paying $2 for the “full†editions on iOS and $1 on Android, which have more tracks to complete and more options. But the paid versions also lack a certain addictive edge for me, and there's one strange flaw: While you can choose which character you want to be - each with slightly different skills - there are no female racers.
If it's a skiing game experience you're after, then Ski Challenge 14, free on Android and iOS, is definitely one to try. This game has perhaps the most impressive graphics of the apps mentioned here. Playing it by rotating your phone, you almost get the sensation of skis biting into the snow to make tight turns.
There are several courses to choose from, though you have to qualify and race on them to unlock the later ones. There's even a sense of competition, thanks to the online mode where your live race times are compared with other players. But the game requires you set up a (free) account, and it's designed to get you to buy in-app “coins†to upgrade your experience or repair your skis, which have limited on-snow time. This can quickly get annoying.
Finally, check out Ski on Neon, $1 on iOS, and Stickman Snowboarder, free on Android, for some simple 2-D casual gaming. Both are games you'll come back to again and again.
Oh, don't forget to go outside, too! Winter really isn't that bad.
Quick Call
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A version of this article appears in print on December 12, 2013, on page B7 of the New York edition with the headline: Playing in Ice and Snow, Without Ever Venturing Outdoors.
