OlliOlli: Switch Stance

Genre: Compilation / Sports (Skateboarding)

Players: 1

.

Review:

The OlliOlli series began in 2014 with the series’ first game, simply titled OlliOlli. Released on PC, mobile devices, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita that year, and ported in 2015 to Xbox One, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS, this game was generally praised for its challenging, side-scrolling approach to Skateboarding games. This formula was further refined in its 2015 sequel, OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood, released on PC, mobile devices, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, and then ported to Xbox One in 2016. Despite both of these games being on virtually every modern platform when the Nintendo Switch released in 2017, Nintendo’s hybrid system wouldn’t receive either of these games until 2019 and the release of OlliOlli: Switch Stance, a Compilation of both of the aforementioned games.

Of course, I’m hardly one to criticize, I’m only just now reviewing this Compilation three years later. To be perfectly honest, I’ve kinda’ been dreading this review, because… well, I kinda’ hate the OlliOlli games. Perhaps it’s personal preference, but something about this game never quite “clicked” with me the same way other skateboarding games over the years have, most notably the Tony Hawk games, which I absolutely love.

I suspect my disdain for these games is largely due to the odd control scheme that I just can’t seem to get to feel natural, with players holding down the left analog stick and then flipping it up to perform an ollie (jump), and then requiring players to tap B at the right time to land, or pressing down again on the analog stick to grind if they’re coming down on a surface they can grind on. Try as I might, this always felt to me like the whole “try to rub your belly and pat your head” thing,, and even when I managed to succeed, it felt more due to luck than skill.

A part of the issue I have with this game is that the controls do not seem to act as they should. The game warns players to ensure their TV is set to accommodate fast-paced games, and my Pro Controllers do have occasional issues with drift, so I suppose it’s possible that one of these things was interfering with the gameplay, but I don’t have anywhere near the sort of issues I struggle with in this game with other games that require fast-paced precision movements with the analog stick. I don’t seem to see many others struggling with these issues, so maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m doing something wrong, I dunno. But I can only review the game I played, and the game I played is just… terrible.

Ugh, like I said, I’ve dreaded writing this…

The presentation at least is excellent, with a nice retro 2D look accompanied by some catchy synthesized music. What’s more, the game runs smoothly despite a breakneck pace and the ability to instantly restart levels.

There is at least one flaw here that I can definitely pin on the game and not be unsure if there’s some other issue I have interfering with things here – once you choose one of the games to play in the main menu, there doesn’t seem to be a way to exit back to the menu, save to close out the game entirely and restart it. Not a game-breaking flaw, but an annoyance all the same.

I see so many others out there shower OlliOlli and its sequel with love, and I wish I could experience the game the way they do. For me, the gameplay here was just nothing but frustration. Perhaps others were able to get this game working in a way I couldn’t, or perhaps I’m doing something wrong, but as far as I’m concerned, OlliOlli: Switch Stance is a Compilation of two games that are not only unforgiving, they just don’t seem to consistently detect controller inputs properly, resulting in an infuriating experience. Others may love this game, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it.

tl;dr – OlliOlli: Switch Stance is a side-scrolling Skateboarding game with a retro look, a nice synthesized soundtrack, and gameplay and controls that are punishingly difficult and at times unresponsive to the point where I cannot see what everyone else loves about this game. However, regardless of what others think, I cannot in good conscience recommend this game.

Grade: C-

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Talissa, Eli Goodman, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Ilya Zverev, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}