As a kid, I had no affinity for Twister, the iconic rug game in which you move your hands and feet through different colored dots while trying not to fall. But reimagined for the modern era, the augmented reality-based game Twister Air is totally at my speed.
Twister Air ($19 at Amazon) He takes the rug and places it in an open space in front of you. Ankle ligaments and an outstretched arm communicate using the AR app to track movements such as arm waves and hops. You play by following the motion cues from the app, in the challenges I can best describe as Just Dance meets virtual reality game Beat Saber.
I had the chance to play Twister Air myself, and it definitely surprised me. While the game’s controls and difficulty level options certainly make it suitable for young children, I’ve found that it’s fun for adults, too.
A friend of mine and I shot Twister Air vs. We’re both attached to our bands. We scrolled through the list of song options, which again felt very similar to Just Dance. Once we picked a track and calibrated our limbs to the app, everything just moved and wobbled from there.
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Various directions appeared on the screen, and our goal was to complete them with our movements. Some points are earned just by hitting a spot on the screen with the coordinating color bar, while others require you to move your arms or make three heads. Randomly, the game called for us to switch sides, and we had to do so quickly without crashing. One Tour even had us hitting venues in each other’s zones, and that’s when things got competitive.
In the end, our points tallied. I won’t tell you who won (kidding, I did!) but it was a fair match. The only mistake I made was not launching a gaming workout in the Workout app on my Apple Watch, because let me tell you, Twister Air is a great way to close your Apple Watch loops.
Then the app created a highlight clip of the match, so we could see the best moments of our moves. It’s safe to say we had a good laugh watching Mayhem Returns. Although next time, I think we’ll go up to the harder difficulty setting.
Twister Air is a fresh, fast-paced take on a familiar game. It’s also a friendly introduction to augmented reality for kids who haven’t seen it before. Additionally, it is never a bad idea to promote enjoyment while doing some light exercise.
The game is available for pre-order on Amazon now, with the product officially launching on June 2. The free-to-download Twister Air will launch on June 1, which means it’ll be ready by the time people get their hands (and wrists and ankles) in the game. Full availability will hit other major retailers on August 1.
