News | 30 March 2015

This game is not evil, it’s awesome

There’s a new mobile game called “Extreme Wheelchairing”, which you can find for free on the App store, or Google Play.

This is a game where you manoeuvre around 20 different levels of a virtual landscape avoiding all sorts of obstacles and so on. It’s much like dozens of other videos game most of us have played at one time or another.

But with one difference.

You do it in a wheelchair.

Now, it’s safe to say that game reviewers are not normally the sort of people who hold back if they don’t like a game. It’s pretty brutal and honest out there in game reviewing land. But as far as we can tell, nobody has a bad word for this game, and that’s because it’s great on two levels.

Firstly, the gameplay is pretty entertaining. And secondly, it’s actually quite empowering. The consensus is that it’s great to see disability “normalised” in this way.

Perhaps the best review on the web is at the site gamezebo.com. “With a name like ‘Extreme Wheelchairing’, my gut immediately assumed this was a game trying to push the limits of good taste,” the reviewer begins in cautious tones.

“Much to my surprise – and after playing it, delight – I’ve discovered this absolutely isn’t the case.

“Extreme Wheelchairing is a game that explores the fundamentally difficult task of manoeuvring a wheelchair, and it does so with a decidedly fair digital representation.

“To recreate the experience, Extreme Wheelchairing puts a wheel on either side of the screen. You’ll push both forward to move forward, or focus on one side (while reversing a bit on the other) to turn and navigate each course you’re tasked to complete.”

Later in the review, he writes: “After a handful of basic levels, the challenge starts to ramp up (no pun intended).”

The reviewer also makes an excellent point about REAL extreme wheelchairing.

Yes, it’s a thing. So why not in games too?

To top it all off, the character in the game is a young woman, which is great to see in the male-dominated gaming world.

We hope you enjoy the game. Plenty of people in the disability community (and their friends and families) are into it. Just watch out for the jump across the water from the shipping container – it’s a doozy.

Transcript

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Intuitive controls

Easy-ish to learn. Hard to master.

“Realistic” physics!

Roll your way through 20+ levels with tricky obstacles.

Extreme Wheelchairing

Coming soon to iOS, Android, Win phone

www.extremewheelchairing.com

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