If you’re familiar with the mobile version of this game, you’ll know that it’s a fun physics-based puzzle game where you need to help the ramp reach the finish line by making it go up and down. The game itself is reasonably short and has a great kind of easy to learn, but difficult to master, gameplay loop.
“The Ramp” is a challenging puzzle game developed by XING Games, and designed by Andy Neal. The game is the sequel to 2013’s “The Penultimate Puzzle”, which is in the same vein as “The Mines of Minos” and “The Room Three”. “The Ramp” is a challenging puzzle game that challenges you to push blocks around a board to create stairways that can lead you to the next level, all while keeping you safe from monsters that want to gobble you up.
This review is being prepared shortly after the Tokyo Summer Olympics have ended. Skateboarding was, without a question, the coolest sport to witness throughout the tournament. Every time I saw a skating competition on the street or in a park, I felt compelled to play a skateboarding game, whether it was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or an earlier Skate game on my Xbox. The Ramp, a one-man effort that was just published on Steam, arrives at just the perfect time, but there’s a catch.
It’s too cold to go swimming.
It’s possible that The Ramp is the first time a creator has openly said that… his own game doesn’t have a lot of material. A conventional half-pipe, a long ramp, an empty pool, and a more professional, X-Games-styled park circuit are all available to execute feats on. There are no time limits, goals, or even a score system on each ramp, so you may do as many different tricks as you like. You’re just skating for the purpose of skating, all while admiring a beautiful low-poly visual style and a nice, but extremely repetitive musical hip hop rhythm.
The Ramp is described by the creator as “less of a game, and more of a digital toy.” He goes on to say that the primary aim is to provide “fifteen minutes of flow that make a dull day wonderful” at a very low price. When I initially read that remark, I thought to myself, “yeah, right.” I played the game for about 10 minutes, saw all there was to see, and was ready to argue that it wasn’t worth it. However, the following day, I felt like playing it again. So there I was, enjoying another 10 minutes of fun with The Ramp before becoming satisfied, not bored with it. The procedure was repeated the next day.
Even though the game has no score system or objectives, pulling out a 900 felt very satisfying.
I was never really wowed with what I saw in The Ramp, but the extremely easy control system, excellent physics (with the exception of how ridiculously difficult it is to land a decent trick on the large ramp), and general laid-back vibe kept me entertained. Pure, unadulterated pleasure. I’d even go so far as to say that the game is gratifying every now and again, particularly if you manage to gather enough momentum to leap very high and do a 900 without tumbling down like a ragdoll. The one aspect of the gameplay (and, as a result, the presentation) that I didn’t enjoy was the perplexing isometric viewpoint, which messed with my depth perception at times.
This training may cause you to lose your sense of depth.
It’s difficult to be dissatisfied by a game that acknowledges it doesn’t have a lot of material but yet manages to persuade you to play it every day… for 10 minutes at a time. The Ramp is fairly basic, but it has a good gameplay loop and a laid-back vibe about it. To be honest, its greatest flaw isn’t a lack of content so much as the fact that it’s only accessible on PC rather than Switch. Perhaps when the Steam Deck is released, we’ll be able to appreciate these little indies in a whole new light, since The Ramp is really worth your time if you can put up with playing it on a computer for the time being.
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The Ramp opts for a low-poly, minimalist art style. It plays well and has its own charm, but the game’s isometric viewpoint limits the level design and range of vision. |
I like how simple The Ramp’s controls are, but the isometric viewpoint distorts your sense of depth and distance. |
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I like the instrumental hip hop approach on the soundtrack, but there isn’t enough content here to make it memorable. |
The Ramp is a lot of fun… for about fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, it may be played again in tiny, everyday doses. |
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Final Score: 7.5 |
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On PC, The Ramp is now available.
On a computer, I reviewed it.
The publisher supplied me with a copy of The Ramp.
As an example:
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