Sports Story Review

Here’s the thing about Golf Story. When it first dropped, I was pleasantly surprised, an RPG with an Aussie flavour and backed with a clever collection of mechanics, golf-based puzzle solving and just an all-round good feeling in the ol’ tum-tum. It was a perfect storm, as the Switch was finding its feet and developers were slow to port their games to the eShop, here was a little indie that could that capture an audience and run with it. That left an eventual sequel with a lot to do if it were going to recapture that same lightning-in-a-bottle moment in time, and truth be told, Sports Story just had too much going against it to really give itself a chance.

As in the 2017 original, Sports Story follows an assortment of quirky characters across a range of sports-related quests, carrying on the legacy of being a golfing great to challenge and complete a bunch of other activities, solving a few mysteries and saving a few locals of the island in the process. The vast majority of quests involve some kind of sporting activity, largely still golf, but also incorporating cricket, football (of the European kind), volleyball, tennis, and the occasional BMX ride.

Let’s talk the sports for a moment. The one thing I enjoyed the most about Golf Story was its clever incorporation of the birdie-putting, par-swinging sport of the Tiger, playing out a few rounds in a more traditional (and at times challenging) format before throwing you into some puzzle solving using the very same mechanics, namely aiming for specific targets to trigger results. It was good, clean fun, and for the most part Sports Story follows that similar line of thinking by keeping the bulk of its adventure with a golf through-line, though it should be said that if you’ve played the original and are jumping into the sequel, expect some strange changes to the core golf mechanics that aren’t quite as enjoyable as they once were (it’s not broken by any stretch, but it doesn’t feel as good as I remember it).

The usual corporate line, then

As soon as Sports Story attempts to divert your attention to the other sports to keep things fresh and creative, that’s when the cracks begin to show. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of incorporating a little diversity, and some of the inclusions I did personally appreciate (I grew up playing a lot of Super Tennis on the SNES back in the day, so I’m always keen on some 16-bit rallies), but most of the additions do feel a little tacked on or ill conceived. Despite the strength of the tennis story arc, which benefits from having a decent narrative built around it, the rest of the sports do feel like afterthoughts, haphazardly sprinkled into the plot just to stretch things out, a far too thin spread of vegemite on a piece of toast begging for a more generous amount.

Most of the sports (see football) are kept aside for mini-games and puzzle solving than a true, competitive competition a la golf and tennis, which feels like a missed opportunity. Again, absolutely nothing wrong with the idea of sports-based puzzles and the like, but the thing that made Golf Story work so well was balance. Maintaining a focus on one sport allowed it to creatively change things up without having to resort to a bunch of different mechanics or sudden changes in controls. Sports Story feels like the complete opposite, suffering from too many inclusions that take away from the experience and leaves it unfocused.

That, ultimately, is where Sports Story fails. By trying so hard to one-up themselves with a variety of activities across numerous sports, the developers dug themselves into a hole they couldn’t climb out of. If anything, Tennis Story would have been a more appropriate angle to take, let alone Golf Story 2. It’s a lengthy enough game as it is, but so much of it could have been pulled back, a little culling here or there to tighten the pace and keep the focus on what does work instead of what else they could cram into the world.

Golf remains the best element of the game

One thing that is abundantly obvious when comparing Sidebar Games’ original work to its more elaborate sequel is the visual and audio upgrades, going from what felt like a late 90s SNES title to something more fitting for a modern indie yet still clearly inspired by the classics. Things feel more detailed, with a greater level of character movement and little details scattered across each area. It’s a genuinely pretty game to watch in motion, it’s just a shame that the core mechanics and story weren’t so tightly developed to match them. There are some obvious bugs and glitches here and there, though compared to some of the ones I’ve seen online I don’t seem to have experienced some of the bad ones in my playthrough. A blessing and a curse, perhaps.

Final Thoughts

I wanted to like Sports Story, just as much as I liked the original, but ultimately I came away disappointed. Whether it’s an idea that could only go so far, or a studio that struggled to find a way to recapture the magic, clearly something wasn’t right, and instead of going back to the drawing board, a more is more approach was taken to the detriment of the overall product. It’s a case of what could have been, but what’s here still shows glimpses of promise and form that made the original Golf Story far more than just a lucky game released at the right time. That’s what hurts the most, that those enjoyable, funny moments are lost within a package that just tried too hard to compete with itself.

Reviewed on Switch // Review code supplied by publisher

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