Snowboarding The Next Phase is currently the only dedicated snowboarding game available on the Nintendo Switch, this is partly thanks to Ubisoft cancelling the highly anticipated port of Steep, so we were interested in seeing how it stacks up. It is the latest game from developers Session Games with their first release being Red Bull Freeskiing they have also been partnering with Red Bull Media House updating and maintaining a number of iOS and Android titles.

This is a pretty standard snowboarding type affair. Follow a set route down the mountain, race, get the highest scores possible by pulling off tricks and complete the different challenges scattered throughout the peaks that you find yourself on. There are little bits of story that come into play in the main game but it’s really just the usual thing about going to different peaks across the world to compete in different competitions – functional but nothing groundbreaking and it doesn’t need to be.

As for the game itself, it’s fun, it runs and controls very well but at the same time it just feels very shallow. Once you get past the races and doing some of the more difficult challenges you have pretty much done everything this indie title has to offer. Snowboarding The Next Phase looks beautiful with its bright and stylised visuals. This is all made even more impressive when you consider that it is running on the Switch, it manages to squeeze a hell of a lot out of the hybrid with effects galore and no major performance issues.

The moment to moment gameplay is very fun but it can be short-lived although this is the same for many games in the genres past such as 1080 and the SSX series. At the point of purchase the game was on sale, paying under £10 is nothing to begrudge but it isn’t worth paying more than that. If you can find Snowboarding The Next Phase for cheap give it a go but if not wait until it’s cheap again. The inclusion of a multiplayer mode goes some way in adding to the game’s longevity but doesn’t solve all of its issues.

Final Words:
Snowboarding The Next Phase is a fun title if a little shallow, it certainly does enough to help pass time without any major issues. If you have enjoyed extreme sports games previously then you won’t go far wrong here, it knows what it is and does the best that it can do with it.

Overall: 6.5/10