The Sailboat Championship PRO app game from the Infinite Dreams game development company is a sailboat racing game with a realistic feel. You control your boat by steering (and optionally by controlling the sheet to let in and take out the sail) as you race around courses, dodging obstacles and rounding buoys, trying for your best time. The boat's motion and changing position of the sails when tacking and gybing look realistic, rapidly giving you the sensation of actually racing. But the design of the game frustrates many users, and it may be that this is a game more for gaming addicts with quick fingers than for sailors.
- Version reviewed: 1.20 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch - $2.99
- Apparently not now available on Android
Key Features
- The graphics are rich and realistic for a small screen.
- The physics look good: the sails' position and boat speed are both realistic in relation to the boat's point of sail on the wind.
- A dotted line shows the course, while small arrows over the water show the wind's direction.
- The sailboat is very responsive to the steering control, making it fun to zip around missing the buoys and shaving close to rocks and islands, and the tacking and gybing are realistic.
- With 9 levels of play, multiple courses, and 4 additional rescue and bonus levels, and different boats that can be used within the levels, this game will take many, many hours of play before you exhaust it.
- An older online review mentioned a free version that serves as a tutorial for learning how to play this paid version, but at this time no free version is available - thus no tutorial.
- Online competition with other gamers is promised (untested - not working in my version).
The Downside
- Many players complain about the steep learning curve for figuring out the game.
- If you're a gamer but not a sailor, you'll have difficulty understanding the wind direction's effects on the sails and boat speed. If you're a sailor but not much of a gamer, you'll have difficulty understanding the game's rules.
- The Help screens are very limited and do not explain much about game functions or how to advance to the next level. It's very much trial and error, which frustrates many players who want to understand what's happening rather than just going with the flow.
- Some functions, such as certain available options, are all but hidden in the game (some choices are revealed only if you happen to pause mid-race, for example).
- You have to repeat the same races over and over, and over and over, to compile points that allow you to get a faster boat or proceed to the next level. Gamers may take this as a challenge, whereas sailors may just get frustrated and want to throw the thing at a nearby wall.
Conclusions
I'm not sure of the intended audience for Sailboat Championship PRO - whether sailors who like games, or gamers who like sailing challenges. Speaking as the former myself, I can't help but feel it was developed for the latter. Much of the designer's energy went into attractive graphics (ocean waves, the wake of the speeding boat, the features of rocks and shorelines) and the responsiveness of the boat's steering rather than into features that would appeal to sailors, racing or otherwise.
My biggest complaint, after puzzling out how the game functions in terms of points, stars, levels, specific functions, and other aspects not covered in the Help screens or on the developer's website, is the endless repetition involved. You run the same course over and over, the same each time, trying to shave a few more seconds off so that you get more points. With more points you can get a faster boat, run the course some more, and finally advance to the next level and start it over again. Judging from Apple Store comments, I'm not alone in tiring of this repetition. Ultimately the needed skill isn't sailing at all - it's just how fast you can move your finger to make tight turns and stay on course. Over and over, rather mindlessly. Of course, that's what some gamers call a challenge and seek in a game, so I shouldn't complain. But I can't recommend this to sailors who have anything else at hand to escape boredom.
A better sail racing game app is 3D Sailing Simulator Regatta, available for Android devices. For Apple devices, check out Little Sailor, a much better racing and simulator game.
Even with its limitations, Tall Ships Age of Sail is another sailing game that at least uses one's mind more frequently. While you're at it, check out these other sailing apps.
