 ONSHORE winds, cold water, jellyfish, stand-ups, sharks, pollution,
fishermen, criminals and flat days. These are some of the things that
the average bodyboarder has to deal with when making a trip down to his
local break.
Imagine riding perfect waves in any location in the world
while sitting in your PJs drinking coffee. Welcome to YouRiding.com, the
online e-version of the sport we love.
First released in 2007 by French company Intellysurf, the aim was to
provide free online sport games that are realistic, challenging, fun and
easy to learn to play. You can choose to bodyboard, surf, ski or
snowboard in exotic locations with professional riders.
YouRiding is free and the 2010 version features improved game-play and rider's control, a quicker
skills improvement system, a user-friendly navigation system and no more loading or downloading times.
In bodyboarding mode you have the following options: Freeride, Contest
and the Journey Mode where you search the world for the best waves and
win challenges to taste a piece of the glory. You can ride in the prone
or dropknee positions and can even choose to be towed in with a
jetski... just in case your arms get tired.
The Facebook game mode of YouRiding Bodyboarding allows you to compete
against your Facebook friends on eight of the best waves in the world. On
each wave, you will play with a different pro rider from the NMD, VS or
Pride Bodyboard teams. Your ranking among your Facebook friends on
waves will be based on your high score on the wave.
Everyone seems to be YouRiding so I decided to check it out for myself.
I was pretty impressed by the layout and design of the site as well as
all the options. A bit lost, I decided to click on Quickgame which
happened to be Dave Winchester on the knee at Pipeline. After a quick loading screen I was in and hit the spacebar to start. Disappointingly I
was not on the knee and frighteningly I could not do it. I took the time
to read and re-read the ‘How to Play’ and after 10 minutes managed to
bottom turn. I decided to stick with it, eventually able to get a bit of tube time but am beginning to worry that all my wipeouts will actually kill the little animated Winny causing me to be remotely disconnected.
Aaargh.....
YouRiding is a poor excuse for bodyboarding. The graphics are terrible,
the moves are lame, the spots unrealistic and you can't choose Mark
McCarthy.... The feel is from the 1980s and the controls are
unresponsive. Frankly, the game is for groms and those who will never
get to surf a real wave. I would rather surf two foot slop than go
YouRiding again... but... maybe I should try another board from the
online shop.. yes.. maybe just one more game. If I can just beat the Pit
Pilots’ score....
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