This review is for the Microsoft Windows version.
I had a pretty nice time with The Ramp. The control scheme was nice and simple, if a little unintuitive at times, and the audiovisual feedback for executing skateboard tricks was fantastic. The problem I ended up having wasn’t with the quality, but with the quantity. Developer Paul Schnepf acknowledges that the game contains maybe one hour of content by describing it as a “digital toy”, which I think given the context is appropriate. It’s a simple system for controlling a skateboarder, four levels, and nothing else—the amount of enjoyment you get will come from how much satisfaction you get out of learning to master an activity. For me, this was worthwhile. I wanted to execute all the tricks that the Steam achievements guided me to learn, and as a result I have pretty much mastered everything you can do with this game over the course of a couple of hours.
Whether or not I recommend The Ramp is a very different question to whether I like it. I really like it, even if it’s unintuitive (you gain speed on ascending ramps by standing up from a crouch as you rise), and the way it looks and the general design principle is very appealing to me and no doubt will be for others. The thing is, saying there is very little content means more here than it usually does—there is no progression of any kind, and the game doesn’t even give you a score for chaining or pulling off special tricks. If you play this, you will need to be motivated exclusively by your own desire to get better at it, and personally I think that can be refreshing.
I would recommend against this game if you’re looking for a good time-to-dollar ratio, or if you need direction or external incentives to have fun. In general though, I do tentatively recommend the game for what it does provide—it’s just important that you know what to expect going in.
Dylan's Morsels 