X
- E10+
- SideBar Games
- E10+
- SideBar Games
- E10+
- SideBar Games
- E10+
- SideBar Games
Sports Story
Released On: Dec 23, 2022
54
2.0
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
54
8% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
62% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
31% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
54
8% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
62% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
31% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Sports Story follows the lead of Golf Story, keeping the same protagonist and some characters from the nice cast of its predecessor, and improving many elements of its formula. Bugs and glitches of the launch version notwithstanding, Sports Story grants a lot of fun and keeps the players’ attention high, thanks to a humour capable of hitting the mark in the context of surreal situations to be solved with a sporty approach. The art style is great, with a well designed pixel art.
Even if Sports Story was polished and bug-free, it would still fall strikingly short of the first title in the series. The new sports don’t play well, the fetch quests are tiresome, and the story is tedious and less charming than that of Golf Story. What remains of the retro golf experience is fun, but the whole game feels like a textbook example of being unable to deliver on lofty ambitions.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 42 User Ratings
2.0
5% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
7% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
88% Negative
37 Ratings
37 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 42 User Ratings
2.0
5% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
7% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
88% Negative
37 Ratings
37 Ratings
Sports Story is a cheery RPG that overstays its welcome. While the environments and dialogue are charming and well thought out, the storyline and gaming mechanics aren't fully fleshed out. The characters and world design are delightful, but this charm is dulled by the winding, confusing storyline. The mechanics of golfing, tennis, and dirt biking are well-executed (although tennis could use some work when it comes to aiming), but sports such as soccer, cricket, fishing, and baseball seem to be an afterthought. Additionally, the game introduces some fun and exciting stealth and puzzle elements, but golf is clearly the central element of the game. While the mechanics of golf itself are fantastic, the player is often forced to grind golf levels for money to progress the story. The gameplay and layout of later levels seem to repeat the earlier levels. Overall, the earlier levels are innovative, quirky, and cute. That being said, later levels seem repeatedly rehash old mechanics. The Tennis Academy introduces a unique twist on the fetch quest, but the player is forced to repeat this task verbatim in every world after.
Of course, I must mention the bugs and glitches. I think it's important to give grace to indie developers when it comes to new releases, but there are several bugged quests that disrupt the flow of the game. Further, the environment will often randomly trap the player, effectively soft locking the game. If you play Sports Story, PLEASE save after every important event. I have had to restart my game at least 10 times.
The ending challenge was extremely anticlimactic, and the ending dialogue/scenery seemed to wrap up the game they intended to make but not the game they actually made. The entire ending challenge only uses the golf mechanic, which feels antithetical to the game itself. I wonder if some big facets of the game were cut due to time. This can also be seen from the over world map, which looks unfinished with big empty gaps to nowhere.
This game has heart, but it needs a bit of polish. I have faith that Sidebar Games can rectify most of the problems in updates to come.
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Nintendo Switch
Good game if you enjoyed golf story. The other sports seem fun and mechanics are pretty difficult (time based) which I enjoy. The game does come with quite a few glitches, bugs and frame rate drops (which is annoying for timing based games such a this one. I score a 6 for now but it is definitely worth a full price buy after they fix these glitches with a patch (would score it 8-9 then). I will wait on the patch to play further as not to spoil the fun.
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Nintendo Switch
Technical wobbliness doesn’t always denote a bad game. The sheer charm of the writing, delightful golfing and the warmth of the world compensate for the rough edges. It’s a generously big game, too – imperfect, but special nonetheless.
Compared to the unexpected highlight that was Golf Story, Sports Story is damningly mediocre. Although the writing is as good as ever and the visuals have received a nice upgrade, the performance issues, tedious fetch quests, and occasionally confusing gameplay all hold this one back quite a bit. Despite its shortcomings, there’s certainly still an enjoyable game on offer here, but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether it’s worth the negatives, especially given that the Switch eShop is lousy with great games these days. If you loved the original, you'll likely find Sports Story to be a fun-enough follow-up, but there’s no denying that it feels like quite a letdown after years of waiting. Assuming Sidebar can sort out the worst of the technical issues, we’d give Sports Story a light recommendation to anyone looking for a quirky take on a sports RPG, but this one doesn’t deserve a spot at the top of your list.
It was always going to be tough to follow-up Golf Story in an interesting manner, and one certainly can’t say there was a lack of ambition in what Sidebar Games was trying to achieve in Sports Story. However, fulfilling that ambition is another matter entirely, and ultimately the game leaves a sense of what could have been. Sports Story still has its moments and those who enjoyed Golf Story will be able to find some enjoyment at least. The game ultimately overshoots the green, but hopefully useful lessons will be learned in time for the next approach.
Sequels that don’t quite match the lightning-in-a-bottle status of its originator are nothing new. But it’s telling when a game like Sports Story regresses so much that the follow-up to one of 2017’s most charming and delightful little adventures is as miserable and misguided a release as it is. A game far too broad and all-encompassing for its own good, lumped into a progression that lacks cohesion, explanation and even the most basic of design principles. Resulting in an experience, though briefly entertaining by way of some pleasant distractions and spots of similarly-charming writing, technically and mechanically incompetent. How Sidebar Games could put out a game of this quality is puzzling and depressing on top, given how much genuine enjoyment was felt in the 2017 original. But Sports Story is a pale and poorly-constructed excuse of a sequel proving above all else that ambition and scale doesn’t always end well.
Sports Story is essentially unplayable in its current form, with issues such as softlocking, out-of-bounds areas, and perpetual crashing. Outside of the technical issues, much of the mechanics and story feel disappointing too, with the tongue-in-cheek humour still present but struggling to breathe among the various issues. The disappointment is real with this one.
I am currently stuck in a game breaking bug. I put 5 hours into this game over Friday and Saturday and every time I unlock the 3rd bird my game crashes. I’m going to wait a few months to finish this game. This game requires your to speak to everyone as they give you clues and items. It’s is honestly a chore at some points. I’m glad this isn’t a hand holding kind of game but damn sometimes I with Atreus would pop out and tell me to throw my axe at something
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Nintendo Switch
While it is a sequel to Golf Story, The one main key Sports Story misses is consistency. Any sequel needs to be consistent in order to follow up a good game. Gameplay is confusing and other things feels off. A disappointing sequel to a good game.
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Nintendo Switch
Real bummer. Seems steps back from the original making and feels as if they were bought out to discourage Physical Renditions. This game fails miserably because it HAD a cult following mainly because they focused on Physical Collectors editions & Collectors Cards amongst even more PHYSICAL items. Feels like a "got famous then sold out story" here. I recommend any new to this game set to play this 1 first then play the original last.
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Nintendo Switch
Got soft locked by talking to a person for a second time in chaptet 2 game seems really buggy and could have used more work. It is a shame because golf stody was one of my favorite games as of late but this current version of sport story needs more work and polish. Review writte. 1 week into release.
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Nintendo Switch
I’m disappointed to have to write this review, as I really enjoyed Golf Story and dropped what I was playing to buy this literally the second I found out that it had been released. However, Sports Story should have been named “Following Directions Story” - there’s hardly any gameplay to be found, with a majority of your time spent running from Point A to Point B and back to Point A, perhaps with an over-long scene of dialogue somewhere in between. When there ARE sports segments the gameplay mechanics are extremely shallow, inconsistent, and very poorly explained, almost like you’re playing an NES game (from which the game draws its gameplay mechanics heavily; golf and tennis are, well, Golf and Tennis, BMX is Excitebike, etc.) All of this would be damning on its own, but the game released with a wide array of glitches and frame rate issues - this would be concerning for, say, a smushed down AAA port from the PS4, but when you’re talking about a pixel-art game that theoretically should be optimized for the Switch considering its exclusive launch, it becomes inexcusable. I have a sense that there are scope creep issues here (the devs are on record as saying the project got more ambitious than originally intended), but the many game-crashing bugs makes it feel like it was simultaneously a rush job, which makes Sports Story a glitchy mess that probably isn’t worth gritting your teeth through unless you REEEEEEEEEEALLY liked Golf Story, especially its sense of humor since in Sports Story you’ll be doing a LOT of reading. I’m willing to revisit my score if the devs really take a look at not just fixing the game’s technical and mechanical issues but looking at quality of life improvements as well, particularly when it comes to speeding up the game’s pace - until then though, it’s disappointingly hard to recommend this game.
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Nintendo Switch
Summary Sports story is a game about sports, but not always. Various non-sporting pursuits provide variety. Alternate activities like dungeon exploration, stealthy infiltrations and fishing expeditions mean something unexpected waits around every corner. Sometimes it is even sports. Here are some of the things you can do in the game: * Embark ...
Rated E +10
for Everyone +10
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch
Initial Release Date: Dec 23, 2022
Developer:
- SideBar Games
Publisher: SideBar Games
Genres: