Apple Arcade review #68: Lifeslide
I really wanted to like Lifeslide. I’d hoped it be Pilotwings with a paper aeroplane. It’s not that, and while that’s not the game’s fault — the expectations were entirely of my own making — Lifeslide also failed to engage my love of virtual flying.
The game has two fundamental problems. One is the tilt controls, which are intended to make me feel more immersed, but actually achieves the opposite. On both the iPhone and iPad, tilting the device became a physical inconvenience and made it difficult to properly control the plane. The other problem is that I found it hard to understand whether my paper plane was tilting up or down, due to the shading and light on the model. This meant that I’d be stalling when I thought I was tilting downwards, and vice versa.
If neither of these problems apply to you, there’s also a lack of focus and purpose, at least in the early parts of the game. There’s nothing wrong with a meditative game without missions, but there was no immediate sense of direction. I was just…floating. And crashing. And stalling. And I never felt like I was soaring.
I regret not connecting with this game. It feels like a missed opportunity.