Chipper Review – Downhill and No Brakes

The snowboarding title developed under the ID@Xbox umbrella is coming to Xbox Game Pass.

During the last years, sports game developers have tried to innovate by taking up an increasingly popular element such as the open world. Titles like NBA 2K or our beloved Forza Horizon saga have done it and very well. A few years ago, the snowboarding title Steep, developed by Ubisoft, also joined this trend and came out with a more than commendable title. Well, by taking these paths, the developer Foampunch brings us this grinder (under the aegis of ID@Xbox), a title clearly influenced by these open-world games.

Since we started playing Shredders, it’s been clear to us that the developers have relied on these legendary games from early 2000s like it’s SSX or Amped. The first moments with the game they promise, since Foampunch lets us loose on a huge snow slope without any attachment and free to do what we want. The premise of the title is simple: you and your best friend, Scotty, you are crazy about snowboarding videos on youtube. While recording one of these many videos, we are discovered by a brand ambassador who gives us the opportunity to reach the top with some sponsorship opportunities.

From there, the challenges and missions start to increase and there are more places in the world of Shredders to explore. to a professional event. Unfortunately, all the good signs start to fade quickly after the introduction of Shredders’ cast of quirky characters. It’s clear that this is a very low budget game, but it’s impossible not to crumble when you see character models from the Xbox 360 era and an English dub which seems to be made by dubbing students. The game has the participation of professional snowboarders in real life, something that must be acknowledged in the game, despite the fact that their faces never appear due to this strange technical decision in which the characters look like matchstick figures. The characters are always covered in a mask, which of course makes sense given the harshness of the weather, but it also seems like a way developers avoid the task of facial animations.

Most of the challenges and missions in the game consist of performing a series of tests based on perform some kind of trick or win a race, unlock new missions and scenariosand get back customization rewards (We may carry clothing and items from well-known brands such as North Face or Burton). Shredders naturally wants players to unlock more of the map through progression, but when the game preaches exploration and a taste for freedom, it seems strange that the player was forbidden to reach the depths of the world from the beginning. There’s not much to do in the world itself either, since the stages will just be excuses to practice tricks and nothing else.

Gameplay of shredders It’s not exactly complicated, but at the beginning it will be difficult for us to do the checks. Perform jumps, tricks and landings successfully, it’s great fun at first, but the game never feels like it hits the right pace to keep us hooked. The problem is that the title suddenly becomes a kind of total snowboard simulator With so many moves and variations of holds, grinds and flips to achieve, something that will be wonderful for fans of the genre, but for those who won’t be a cross. Unfortunately, Shredders fails to evoke that cool arcade feel associated with as many greats of the genre as amplified.

However, we have to say that Shredders is a perfect game for those who want to relax after playing a more “moving” game. Jumping down a hill or jumping without a target becomes fun. With a bit more life on the game map, perhaps with more AI-controlled characters gracing the world, that feeling would be enhanced and could be even more fun.

The game insists on always letting us know just how gigantic it is, but not many attractive incentives to progress. Besides seeing more spawn points, customization is surprisingly rare for a game that features an impressive list of licensed brands. We will be able to put different types of boards, glasses, coats, among others, but these do not affect the performance of our character, which makes obtaining these objects through missions a simple procedure.

When Shredders was presented at the last E3 during the Microsoft and Bethesda conference, many of us were struck by its technical section and this interesting open world proposal. Well, despite it being confirmed by Foampunch that the game runs at 4K and 60FPS and Xbox Series Xa stranger fuzzy feeling he pops up around the stages at numerous points, not to mention the inconsistent performance he puts on. There will be few times going down the tracks of the game hit small pull-ups that make us crash into the snow uncontrollably. Also comment on the appearance of certain bugs, which tarnish the final result.

Assoon as in the sound section the music which accompanies this quite well at the beginning, predominating electronic sounds and sometimes chili&out, perfect for relaxing. The problem arises when you spend a few hours listening to the same songs over and over again, which bores us and almost prefers to mute the TV. Sound effects also have timing issues. Special mention to the Spanish translation, which is quite fair, offering us situations in which we will not know very well what to do because of an abuse of words.

Shredders is perhaps a title with much bigger ambitions than its tight indie budget allowed. there are good things as a good control system and fun which is all about goating on the tracks, but the bad stuff tends to predominate more, and that means hours into the game we stop playing. Best of all is that we have it in the Xbox Game Pass catalogwhich is always good news because it will allow many players to get closer to him.