I have no idea who these people are.
I honestly have no idea why I agreed to review Slide Stars. I guess I was willing to give something a shot, or maybe I was looking for something that I thought would be a game I could make fun of, but in the end, I ended up just being very meh on both the game and the idea that I had. Sure, this is a Trials ripoff that features “influencers” while it attempts some strange motivational aspect for some odd reason, and that sounds like something I could make fun of for a cheeky review. Instead, I just feel rather empty after putting a few hours into it. So, here goes nothing, and I do mean nothing.
As I said before, Slide Stars is essentially a Trials style game. Players take on the role of multiple influencers that I honestly have never heard of before. Granted, I’m a 35 year old that is right on the cusp of Gen Xer/Millennial so I get a lot of pop culture stuff, but the brand new stuff/people are beyond me. Players must traverse a water slide level while riding on a flotation device (giant banana, flamingo float, pinata, etc.) while trying not to wipe out. Players can rotate their character on a 2D plane to pull off tricks and make jumps using a stored-power ollie kind of jump.
Platforms: XB1, PS4, Switch
MSRP: $39.99
Price I’d pay: Maybe 8 bucks?
Players are trying to make it to the end of each level while trying to get a good time, collecting items that play as currency, and gain “likes” based on how well they do. Yep. I said “gain likes” because, of course, you do. Some levels vary in the direction players go or what route they take. Usually, a new route will take them to a separate area with a collectable. Along with that, there are hazards to avoid like alligators in the water or the like. Players earn medals after completing a level, and gain more based on how fast they complete it and by not wiping out. It’s your standard fare with these kinds of games.
What’s not the standard fare is the fact that while it imitates Trials, it doesn’t have the controls of Trials. Trials is a deliberate, meticulous game that requires good reflexes and careful movement to succeed. Slide Stars feels far too floaty in the jumps and the rotation to do anything with any real precision. On top of that, many levels have parts that force the player forward, so trying to make meticulous jumps gets hindered. One thing Trials does great is the instant restart. Slide Stars takes just long enough after a fail that I started to get frustrated with how long it took for me to reload just to fail at the same hazard yet again.
Players can use the currency earned in the levels to unlock new characters and new floats to use. One thing I do have to mention is the floats that the characters stand on maneuver way better than the ones they sit on, but let’s be honest, I’m giving advice that no one reading this review will ever use.
It has a cartoony art style, and with only two themes for the levels, they all begin to blend in with each other. The characters look sort of like the actual people they are based on, I guess. Some more than others. I did my research. I looked up every single character in the game just to be sure these people actually existed. They all do, and luckily for me, the game even gives their social media handles right in their bios. Even after looking these people up, I still have no idea who they are.
I feel like I’ve typed more about Slide Stars than I probably should have. It’s a short-lived clunky game that is priced at a whopping 40 bucks. No way would I pay that for this game. This is an eight dollar experience at best. While it’s never broken, it is never something I found myself wanting to complete. In fact, I don’t see the proper audience for this at all. Obviously someone younger than me, but good luck getting a kid to play this one for longer than about 10 minutes.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
