Shredders

Shredders is a breath of chilly mountain air in the face of snowboarding fans everywhere. If you miss the genre's heyday of Cool Boarders, 1080 Snowboarding, and Amped, then it's definitely time to strap on a new pair of digital bindings.

Shredders may not be the most graphically impressive game, but the small developer studio FoamPunch manages to do what they set out to accomplish. Shredders is a worthy successor to titles like Amped and brings the accessible but deep controls of Skate to the snowboarding genre while focusing on what’s most important to the sport. The freedom and joy of finding your own path down a mountain through deep snow.

Shredders does everything in its power to make you feel cool, it pays homage to the glorious sport of snowboarding and does wonders to try and welcome newcomers as well.

I’m not an avid snowboarder by any means, but I’ve found Shredders to be a delight, a quick and rewarding, pick-up-and-play title that I can jump into for some quick runs after bashing my head against Elden Ring for far too long. It’s full of fun, humour and generally a delight to play.

Shredders is a beautiful snowboarding simulation title. Take to the mountain, wow the crowd, and get an invite to the kick-ass event. Fantastic solo, but better with friends! Pull off some gnarly tricks and be one with the snowy wilderness.

Technically, the game does look the part, with solid graphics especially on Xbox Series X where the game was tested, albeit there’s noticeable and rather annoying framerate drops whenever the game loads new players into our session. In the end, I find myself having a good time with Shredders, but there’s still plenty to iron out in its design before it has the chance to be remembered as one of the great snowboarding titles.

Made "by riders for riders", Shredders could be the Skate of snowboarding games. Its technical and more grounded approach to this sport makes it an original and interesting take.

Shredders snowboards its way onto the Xbox Series X that while it limits the replay value with some control inconsistencies and graphically errors, it still delivers an enjoyable time.

Shredders is an enjoyable game if you temper your expectations. The campaign is quite good and comes in at just the right length while also providing some incentive to return and complete all of the challenges for each mission. Free roam mode is fine if you can forgive some of the performance hitches and inability to do much with others in a structured setting. The controls are good, but you'll lament the game momentarily forgetting about its momentum system. The relaxed feeling of snowboarding without restrictions makes things enjoyable. It makes for a perfect game for Xbox Game Pass and a decent purchase for those starved for a purely snowboarding-focused game.

Foam Punch hit that sweet spot between arcade and simulation, so snowboarding in Shredders feels really great. However, there are technical and longevity issues.

A snowboarding title for enthusiasts: this is Shredders.

Shredders is an ambitious indie game, characterized by some too many edges but with the great quality of offering a snowboarding game that conveys passion for this discipline. The extremely complex control system can lead to some frustration, but those who have the patience to overcome a few too many failures will be rewarded with satisfaction and a lot of fun.

Shredders is quite successful, and will easily appeal to fans of sliding and demanding gameplay.

Shredders is a fun, straightforward dive into the world of snowboarding, with mostly great controls and movements, and plenty of real-world influences. Some rough edges and often poor performance are all that hold this title back.

Shredders is an ideal Xbox Game Pass game. It's a game most players will get a few hours of enjoyment from, complete the missions and grab some achievements, and then move on. The dedicated fans will keep coming back for the fluid and rewarding gameplay, and maybe to get perfect scores on all those missions. If you go into it expecting a big-budget rival to the likes of SSX and Amped, you might be disappointed with what you find, but taken at face value, Shredders is a fun time and a worthy addition to the sports library on Game Pass.

Shredders is a game designed for snowboarding lovers, which includes good and fun mechanics to carry out the tests. Unfortunately, it falls short on everything else, causing you to lose interest very quickly.

Despite being fun, Shredders feels like an "introduction" to a bigger game that never comes.

Shredders has its fair share of good intentions; it is meant to be a love-letter to an exciting sport such as snowboard, but in the end it does not manage to excite the player, the main reason being its lack of virtues. It is a fun game... but also a very simple and monotonous one. Unfortunately, it does not manage to shine much within its own genre.

Shredders is a peculiar work full of contradictions. If its narrative, crazy, hilarious and embellished by the participation of some snow stars is as fresh as snow, his good gameplay (inspired by Steep) must clash with a disastrous technical performance. Still a game worth trying, especially on Game Pass.

I ended up feeling the same way about Shredders in comparison to SSX as I do with Tony Hawk and Skate. I prefer the fast-paced arcade action of the former, but the latter is a great time as well. I’d love to see the core gameplay and vibe of Shredders with a little more budget put into it, as there’s something special hidden underneath all the snow.

While Shredders is definitely a great homage to snowboarding, it feels restrained and I can’t decide if it’s the budget, the developers, or the lack of length in missions that are what’s holding it back from entering into truly great territory. The incredibly beautiful snowfields help this world come to life. And while the characters can look a little generic, the voice work from professional snowboarders does help make up for this (sometimes). The developers at FoamPunch have delivered an open world with intuitive controls and a killer soundtrack that will make you want to keep coming back. Shredders is undoubtedly a solid snowboarding simulation. Hopefully the next attempt can clean up the pain points to deliver the whole package.

Shredders is a love letter to snowboarding, full of desire to entertain... but fails to excite because of some balancing issues and lack of content.

Shredders has a lot of potential and can be fun, but it needed a few extra months of development to improve some key aspects and fix some annoying bugs.

With its grassroots indie charm, Shredders really owns its limitations. The game will resonate most with those tapped into contemporary snowboarding culture but can satisfy anyone who wants to lose themselves to moreish gameplay and a killer soundtrack. As an Xbox Game Pass title, it’s a day-one download, and well worth an evening’s play, even if you never touch it again. It’s not going to change the world but Shredders is an action-sports game that feels sensational to play – and that alone is no easy task.

If you’re a snowboarding fan, there’s a good chance you’ll get some hours of quality entertainment out of Shredders, especially if you manage to master its trick system. That’s a pretty big if though, as there’s some frustration involved. Still, available at a budget price, and included in Game Pass, it’s a decent new addition to a genre that’s pretty underrepresented these days, and with a low barrier to entry. It’s just a shame it isn’t a little more polished, and welcoming.

Shredders is admirable for its ambiguous concept within the confines of an indie budget, but its gameplay doesn’t warrant any repeated trips to the slopes. Foampunch tries to salvage the game with an attempt to charm players with its wacky humor and splashes of energy, butting heads with the game’s juxtaposition of a dull open-world in the process. Curiosity may pique your interest in Shredders as it launches on Xbox Game Pass, but you’ll likely have forgotten the game within a few minutes of your descent from the summit.

Needlessly complex controls dragging down a robust system, a storyline uninterested in upping the ante to wacky hijinks or otherwise, and a world that fails to acknowledge your existence, Shredders performs self-sabotage by seemingly not performing at all.