Late this afternoon, Eli and I decided to give Krashlander ($1.99) a shot. If you’re not in the loop, it’s a skiing game that tasks you hitting jumps and knocking over a person (?) at the end of every run. It’s heavily level-based and rocks one of those three-star scoring mechanisms we see so much nowadays. What makes this game interesting are its controls — instead of boiling down jump functionality to a simple button press, Krashlander makes go through the series of motions that an actual jump requires. You have to crouch and lean and extend and burst at the top of a hill in order to nail a jump.

It takes some getting used to, but it’s neat because it really makes you think about how many mechanics we take for granted. Like, you don’t even think about the act of jumping in a skiing game. You just do it. And it’s simple, streamlined even. This game? Not so much. Anyway, video: