Star Overdrive Review for Nintendo Switch: Gravity-Defying Fun or a Flat Experience?

Rating: 6.8
Author: Jim Smale

by Jim Smale · April 10, 2025

Star Overdrive on Nintendo Switch OLED promises an open-world, hoverboarding adventure packed with high-speed traversal, combat encounters, and deep customization—but does it deliver a smooth ride, or is it weighed down by frustrating mechanics? With a sprawling 3D world, trick-based movement, and an expansive skill tree, the game offers plenty of ways to carve your own path. However, technical hiccups, sluggish controls, and a lack of meaningful guidance threaten to derail the experience. In this review, we break down the highs and lows to help you decide if Star Overdrive is worth your time—read on to discover where it soars and where it stumbles.

Star Overdrive Review Pros:

Decent graphics.
2.9GB download size.
Invert the axis and camera slider.
Third-person view.
A full 3D game world with 360-degree camera control.
The progress menu shows all the landmarks, hidden tapes, time trials, missions, etc, that you have done and how many are left.
The map lets you place your own marker, and you get tooltip pop-ups over discovered locations and icons.
Collect resources and materials from the world and enemies and use them to craft new parts for your hoverboard, which in turn upgrades your stats.
Locations act like a self-contained sequence, usually with combat, platforming, and a bit of puzzling.
Find and unlock upgrade stations.
Hack and slash combat with a dodge roll.
You can jump and air dash for platforming.
Call on your hoverboard at any time and do tricks to gain a speed boost, time jumps with the curve of a jump for a bigger boost.
A diverse range of tricks to pull off, and it’s all done with the right stick.
There are different types of ground that affect the speed and maneuverability of your hoverboard, such as steel, earth, hills, and water.
Generous with respawning locations.
Play how you want, as the areas you explore are fully open.
Collectibles can show on the map, making it easier to find.
You can see enemy health bars.
Customise the hoverboard with colours and icons you find, earn, or craft. You can take components on and off to change how the board acts.
Five types of components: engine, plate, bouncer, booster, and wings.
You have a health bar and shield that can be replenished.
Find and listen to audiobooks.
You find these self-contained dungeons of sorts that have a puzzle or combat sequence with a reward of high magnitude at the end.
Power nodes can be found to upgrade your skills.
In-game cutscenes and interactions.
You can see the inhabitants of the world going about their day.
A huge skill tree to improve your abilities and unlock new ones.
The audio tracks have QR codes so you can listen to them via Spotify or YouTube if you like. Or just listen to them in-game, as there is no in-game music. Oh, and you get the lyrics for the songs.
As you get more powers and abilities, you get a radial menu to select which one to use.
Takes a lot of inspiration from the latest Zelda games with the abilities and dungeon structure.
Enemies can drop resources and materials.

Star Overdrive Review Cons:

Cannot remap the controls.
The performance of the game is not great, with a lot of slowdown and stuttering.
Little in the way of guidance for progress.
Using the hoverboard is not as smooth and easy to control as it needs to be.
Combat is mashy and more frustrating than satisfying.
No camera control when on the hoverboard.
Resources and materials are plentiful and easy to get, but the cash you need to actually craft is not so available.
I never felt like the game got into a groove; I had something to fight against, but it was always controls or mechanics.
Dying just gives a game over screen, and then you go to a checkpoint.
The game doesn’t do a good job of explaining mechanics or giving examples of what to do.
Slow loading times.
Music only plays until you interact with something, then it just stops dead.
The character and the world are flat and Lifeless with no atmosphere or anything.
Respawns can be harsh and chuck you straight into death or fights.
Annoying enemy types.
The movement, especially in the air, is floaty and slow. (pun fully intended)
No ledge grabbing,g making the already tedious platforming that much more tedious.

Star Overdrive:

Official website.

Developer: Caracal Games Studio

Publisher: PID Games

Store Links –

Nintendo

7/10

Graphics - 7/10
7/10

Sound - 7/10
6/10

Accessibility - 6/10
7/10

Length - 7/10
7/10

Fun Factor - 7/10

6.8/10

Summary

Star Overdrive presents an ambitious open-world experience with third-person exploration and a fully 3D environment, complete with 360-degree camera control. Players can traverse expansive landscapes, place custom markers on the map, and track their progress through a well-organized menu that highlights completed and remaining objectives. The ability to collect resources and craft new hoverboard parts offers an engaging level of customization, allowing for upgrades that directly impact movement and gameplay. With diverse environments influencing hoverboard maneuverability, players must adapt to varying terrain types like steel, earth, hills, and water. Trick mechanics tied to the right stick add depth to traversal, rewarding skillful timing with speed boosts. The presence of upgrade stations, skill trees, and power nodes ensures steady progression, while dungeons house puzzles and combat challenges with enticing rewards.

However, Star Overdrive struggles with several shortcomings that hamper the experience. Despite its rich mechanics, the game’s performance is inconsistent, often plagued by slowdown and stuttering. Hoverboard controls feel clunky, lacking the fluidity needed for satisfying traversal. Combat mechanics lean toward button-mashy frustration rather than engaging depth, and the absence of camera control while on the hoverboard exacerbates these issues. Additionally, respawning can be unforgiving, sometimes placing players directly into combat situations or precarious spots. The lack of meaningful guidance leaves players uncertain about how to progress, while slow loading times contribute to a sense of sluggishness. Music, while available via QR codes for external listening, abruptly ceases in-game, stripping key moments of atmosphere. Moreover, the world and its inhabitants feel lifeless, failing to create a compelling sense of immersion.

Despite these drawbacks, the game offers a wealth of customization and creative mechanics that, when fully utilized, can lead to rewarding moments of exploration and skill-based gameplay. For those willing to push past the technical hurdles, Star Overdrive delivers an experience filled with high-speed hoverboarding, freeform trick systems, and an open-ended structure that encourages players to carve their own path, you just have to be willing to put up with a lot of niggles and issues and not expect it to be smooth riding.

“Defy gravity, master tricks, and carve your own destiny in a world where movement is everything.”