Sports Story

 Switch
Metascore
54

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 13
  3. Negative: 4 out of 13
  1. GameSpot
    Jan 10, 2023
    40
    Every so often, a hint of something special glints through in Sports Story's bloated design. A joke or two manages to hit the mark and make me smile, for instance, or a surge of triumph flows through me after a dash of inspiration forms the basis of a strategy that turns a seemingly impossible shot into something possible. But these moments are too rare to adequately alleviate the game's numerous shortcomings, all of which are exasperated by regular technical issues. Golf Story deserved a better sequel than this.
  2. Hardcore Gamer
    Jan 9, 2023
    40
    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.
  3. God is a Geek
    Jan 3, 2023
    40
    Sports Story is a huge disappointment, with a ton of technical issues, a lack of tutorials and unenjoyable new sports making it one to avoid.
  5. Pocket Tactics
    Jan 24, 2023
    30
    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.

Awards & Rankings

31
#31 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2022

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
2.0

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 40 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 40
  3. Negative: 35 out of 40
  1. hiteyek
    Dec 25, 2022
    4
    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 secondI’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.… Full Review »
  2. Sugartoes
    Dec 26, 2022
    2
    Writing this review to protect consumers. This game was rushed in time for Christmas 2022 and, in it's current state, is broken. NumerousWriting this review to protect consumers. This game was rushed in time for Christmas 2022 and, in it's current state, is broken. Numerous game-freezing bugs and crippling framerate stutters.

    As for the content: The best part is the golf, but that's just copied and pasted code from the original game. The new sports and minigames are poorly implemented. Frivolous fetch quests make up the majority of your time. The story is weak. The dialogue is witty, but text scrolling is painfully slow with no option to speed it up. It's also missing critical game elements like tutorials, tooltips, settings, and autosaves.

    Golf Story was amazing. This sequel has been 4 years in the making, which is stunning considering the quality of what's been delivered.

    Honestly, instead of patching the bugs they should redo the game from scratch. For now I feel ripped off for an unfinished game.    … Full Review »
  3. thekingofspain
    Dec 26, 2022
    1
    This game is unfinished and is an incredible disappointment for someone who really enjoyed Golf Story. It is fundamentally broken. I playedThis game is unfinished and is an incredible disappointment for someone who really enjoyed Golf Story. It is fundamentally broken. I played for about an hour and a half and lost *all* of my progress after my game soft locked trying to get bees into a bee hive. Be warned that the game doesn’t AutoSave. From the time that I played, the performance has been disappointingly bad, often dipping well below 30fps. The pixel art aesthetic is charming but I can’t even begin to fathom why a game that looks like this performs so poorly. I really hope in a year or two they can fix up this mess, but it should never have been released in this state in the first place. Avoid my mistake and wait until they’ve patched it up a bit before giving your hard earned cash for an unfinished product.… Full Review »
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