Earlier this year I had the pleasure of reviewing Roll7’s previous game, OlliOlli World (feel free to check out my review HERE), now mere months later we already have a whole new title from the developers. As one might suspect something quite similar, Rollerdrome is a whole different animal, yet is still complementary in Roll7’s roots of being a colorful skating game. Instead of their usual side scrolling point-of-view gameplay, we now have a third person skating game, closer to the likes of a Tony Hawk game. But that’s not all, Rollerdrome is a guns-blazing action game to boot.
You play as Kara Hassan, who is a player in the deadly sport of Rollerdrome. Set in an alternative future that is clearly inspired by films of the 70s and 80s and what those movie versions of a dystopian future looked like. I easily get vibes from such films like “Death Race 2000” and “Rollerball,” with the addition of this awesome score done by Electric Dragon, Rollerdrome quickly creates a mood that may be familiar, but also unique to itself. The objective of participating in a Rollerdrome match is to perform really cool tricks on your roller skates and to shoot down your opponents that they call “house players.” Throughout the game you will be thrown into increasingly challenging matches to first get you through the quarters. Once completed, you move on to the semi-finals, and then the finals. Each section only lasts a handful of matches, but while at the end of the day they’re ultimately limited, there is a lot of variety of challenges and scenery as you progress forward.
Similar to the Tony Hawk games that came before, whenever you start a stage, you are presented with a list of optional tasks that can help boost your overall score. This varies from collecting things scattered across the map, to defeating enemies while doing specific tricks and so on. An interesting feature I thought was clever was that your ammo is only refilled when you perform tricks, so the game is always pushing you to be a better and better trickster. Grinding on rails to do flips, all of which is necessary to keep the bullets firing. You do have a health bar, and the only way to replenish it is by defeating your opponents and collecting the health from where they fall. What I really love is this extra little Max Payne element, where you can slow down time to help you lock onto enemies and defeat your enemies. It’s helpful and is just an overall fun effect to use, especially when taking someone out while doing super cool tricks. As you progress, enemies will get tougher, you will encounter snipers and opponents with rocket launchers, but you will also unlock more weapons yourself such as shotguns or your very own grenade launcher.
Roll7 is really doing awesome and experimental things in the skating game genre and Rollerdrome has quickly become my favorite of their catalog. I was really hoping the story would have been fleshed out a bit more, but like the films it pays tribute to, ambiguity is part of it. I really hope the developers continue to make the game better in the coming months with newer content, because if you get as addicted to this game as I did, you will quickly be starving for more. Rollerdrome is not just a great skating game, but a fantastic third-person action game, it’s a complete blast and worth every cent of its very reasonable price tag.
9/10
For more information, visit: https://store.privatedivision.com/game/rollerdrome
*Also available on PC. Not available on other consoles until at least 02/16/2023.
Related: Reviews by Nick Navarro
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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