Excellent foundation that is extremely light on modes, content, and meaningful reasons to keep replaying it.

You can probably experience everything Nintendo Switch Sports has to offer in about 45 minutes. Play a couple rounds of every sport and you've seen it all. There's no solo mode, there are no stats to build up, there are no Matts to challenge. The only carrot on the end of the stick is rotating random loot system which lets you earn points in matches to get cosmetics for your character. The cosmetics are honestly great, but it's a grind to get what you want and it only unlocks them for your character. Meaning guests cannot take advantage of the fun outfits you've worked hard to unlock.

The sports all feel pretty good. Volleyball and Badminton are honestly surprisingly fun additions. Soccer is fun but it's just slower Rocket League. Bowling, Tennis, and Chambara are the same things you've seen in the Wii Sports games. Great but nothing new. In fact, the Bowling mode in Switch Sports is arguably less feature-rich than what we saw in Wii Sports Resort. Your only option is to just "Play" and you might randomly get the Special mode sometimes. It kinda sucks.

The online generally works better than I would've expected from a Nintendo game. Forcing you to play online to actually get cosmetics ensures matchmaking never takes long, but I still wish I could play offline and earn unlocks.

The lack of a campaign, or really any sort of meaningful solo progress, as well as the lack of several key sports like Golf (which will be added later) and Boxing, are a huge bummer.

While this isn't a Wii Sports-level hit, the stuff that's in the game is actually pretty fun. I just wish there was more of it.

+ The Sports gameplay is solid
+ Sportsmates are great Fight me.
+ Great visual design
+ Catchy music
+ Fun cosmetics

- Dearth of features and modes
- Needs more sports
- Cosmetic unlock system is a grind
- You can only unlock cosmetics when playing online

Reviewed on Jul 23, 2022


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