Slide Stars review

Slide Stars will have players slide down through some extreme water slides as one of 20 of the world’s biggest social media stars and using quirky things like a banana, coin, flamenco or even a freakin’ live shark.

Slide Stars is a physics-based water slide simulator(?) where the smallest nudge on the left joystick can make you crash, jump/land awkwardly or even on a trap. It takes a while to get used to because this kind of game screams arcadey control scheme akin to what we’ve seen with early SSX entries. When going down a slide, you can press and hold the jump button in order to get as much air as possible.

Each level is designed differently and uniquely so that it doesn’t feel repetitive. While the premise remains the same, having a decent variety of level variation design will push players to adapt every time; as unlike arcadey controls, physics-based controls require a tighter response. Each level has a decent variety of hazards to avoid such as crocodile and hell even TNT barrels. Jumping must be timed perfectly in order to avoid those.

One thing the game has for it is the number of unlockables. As you progress, complete water slides and collect coins, you’ll be able to unlock additional characters to use along with 20 super bizarre rides such as a shark, unicorn, llama, mech or hell even a dragon because why not. It’s a great incentive to keep playing and replay water slides.

The biggest problem here is definitely the controls; the game will suck you in with its cutesy design but once you get a hold of the controls, you’ll find them a bit rough as even a slight nudge of the joystick can cause undesired results such as flipping over or exploding on a TNT barrel.

Why in the holy hell would I want to play as someone who got lucky and became a social media star is beyond me, but it would explain the ridiculous price tag ($40USD). Of course, all of the social media stars are cartoon-ized for this game. Not considering they’re based on real people, the character models are fine; nothing really wow’ing. The soundtrack is quirky to match the on-screen shenanigans.

To be honest, if Slide Stars would be a more arcadey experience similar to SSX, it would’ve easily ended up on my top 10 of the year because it just screams big dumb fun. The physics-based control pretty much removes any brainless fun you could have as you constantly have to focus on the controls. Fans of Trials Fusion looking for something different might be interested, but if Ubisoft’s physics-based racer doesn’t do it for you, avoid Slide Stars.