Reviews

Early game from Quicksilva where you control a speedboat pulling a water skier which has to negotiate around rocks, ships and sharks. And that’s about it really. The graphics are good for the time, and it gets hard quite quickly after the first few levels but it doesn’t really have enough depth to make you want to play more than a few times.

Lots of fun with this pretty-little game!! Simple and addictive.

Avoid the obstacles as you pilot your bike along the coast.

I have always loved glamorous and eccentric games and this Aquaplane is a good example of both qualities. ;D

1983 Quicksilva (UK)
by John Hollis

One of my oldest games. This sort of games had lots of glamour and appeal. In 1983 the games industry wasn't established as it is nowadays, and games had the programmers personal touch, would it be commercial or not. A lot of games, some a bit unplayable, it's true, but quite original and inventive, and full of unexpected glamour came out because of this.
Aquaplane is a good example on how to add your personal touch, even if you aren't a graphic designer and still came up with a "cute" game.

In it's basis it's a very simple game, even so it is complex enough in the way you control both the skier and the boat, while avoiding any obstacles. Which may be tricky in the beginning.

The play ability I think is excellent and makes the game very addictive and hard in more advanced levels.
It would be a classic if it had more variety. However to me, and I know other share the same feeling, it's still a classic nonetheless.

What a great game I discovered here! Such simple gameplay yet brilliantly executed and well made! Simply water ski past rocks, sharks and other obstacles, sounds like it's made for a crap game but this is actually really good fun. I highly recommend this.

An early game from Quicksilva which is basically a waterski simulator. It is easy enough at the start but becomes infuriatingly difficult in a not very long time. Apart from the novelty setting, there's really not much more here.

dodge still and moving obstacles while water skiing.

nice and professionally done, but the gameplay is not very varied.

This is a nice simple game to play and get into. One of those great time filler games to pick up and play quickly and to have some good amusement in the process. The sound will probably drive you insane but if you put aside the pitiful noise throughout the game it's playable and good fun.

Original water skiing game by John Hollis, author of Game Designer and unofficial arcade conversions like Space Intruders or Meteor Storm for Quicksilva.

The idea is simple: pilot the boat avoiding rocks, driftwoods, yachts or even sharks. The problem is although you control both boat and skier, the latter follows a different path from the boath due to inertia, so the level of difficulty is high enough to make it an enjoyable and addictive game. The weak spots are its simple graphics and poor sounds.

But an interesting feature is the border effect that extends (or gives the impression of) the game screen.