Rollerdrome Review – Max Skate

Rollerblading has been on the rise as of late. I mean, out of this year alone we have two titles bringing this genre back from its grave for some neat 6 wheel actions. But one of them can be put in a Mad Max reference and it still makes sense.

Enter Rollerdrome, a game by Roll7 that mixes the smoothness of a skateboarding game with the smoothness of a Max Payne-style shooter, making it a very effective game that even in this starting blurb, I cannot praise enough. It is that good.

So, let’s get it started and see how this groovy cat goes.

Presentation

The graphic style is amazing, with Roll7 using the same cel-shaded-ish cartoon style with funky, poppy pastel colors that they had used for OlliOlli World and it fits this game perfectly as well. Its level design looks distinct and its vibrant-ness does not distract the player at all as you try to beat a stage as quickly as possible. 

Music is okay for this sort of game, where it becomes secondary as you eliminate the many enemies. It’s not as memorable as the ones in OOW, but you can mute it on the options and play your own like perhaps the Airport theme from Max Payne 3 to make the entrancing game more engaging. But it does feel rather fitting during its intense matches. 

And character-wise, Kara Hassan, our protagonist, does a great job as the newcomer to immerse ourselves within this dangerous world built within a conspiracy that you will uncover as the game goes on. Its walkey bits make for good downtime as we learn about the shady organization running Rollerdrome. 

Not distracting from the core gameplay but curious enough for me and perhaps many others to see how this story unfolds as we reach the final levels.

Gameplay

Rollerdrome is an amazing mixture of concepts and ideas that blend together rather well. It’s basically combining extreme sports (like Tony Hawk and their own OlliOlli games) with bullet-time shooters (like Stronghold or Max Payne), with the tenacity of making it one-of-a-kind in the Rollerblading Gun-Fu genre.

Like its skating mechanic is basically a realized version of the previous works but now has the nowhence of having to do reverse skating before pulling a trick or a spin. Its controls are easy to grasp and it’s needed due to its mechanic of reloading your weapons is tied to your tricks skills. A fine balance between doing a grab trick and using your shotty to take out the Houseagents before they do the same to you.

As for the gunplay mechanics, think of it as Max Payne but Kara is more agile within the slow-mo mechanics being highly useful to chain together combos (it’s still a skating game, btw) and get that high score, which is the part of the challenges that will help players with unlocking the stages to advance both the game and its story. 

The game’s enemies do have a scale of difficulty as you venture on through the stages and I feel it’s fair enough as the further you go, the better you get at the game. Plus, there are some accessibility options to make your game cater to your liking if you feel that they are a bit harsh on you. 

It is a good concession for those who want to enjoy this title (which you should) at their pace and I am completely onboard with them catering to pretty much everyone. 

Content

Rollerdrome isn’t a long game, with myself getting through most of the levels till the final area at around the 5 hours mark, but Its endless mode, Out For Blood, will keep you entertained or agitated depending on how hard the mode is it will test your skill in the drome. 

But you can keep doing previous levels multiple times over without its narrative bits, kinda like how Hotline Miami does it, and given how addictive its core gameplay loop already is, replaying them could be relaxing for some even.

And there is the leaderboard to see how many combos and points you versus the world have as you redo the levels, over and over to get the highest score. And while there isn’t a multiplayer mode per se, these leaderboards are a pretty good alternative. 

Personal Enjoyment

I will be frank but I didn’t expect Rollerdrome to captivate me more than it should but the folks at Roll7 have crafted the game meticulously, in so making even playing the hardest level, very enjoyable. 

Them blending two genres into one amazing neat package is worthy of praise and its gameplay is very much the meat of this video gaming sandwich. And it won’t handhold you when you get the last few chapters too, but players will know where exactly they did wrong, and then you might be attempting to try and fix that in later runs

Really, it’s just that addictive to replay over and over again to get “The Run” out of your system and I roll with that, hard

Verdict

Rollerdrome is an amazing title and I highly recommend anyone to try out this one. It just clicks when you start chaining combos and eliminating enemies flawlessly. It’s one of those fun-to-play, hard-to-master types of games that I think will get a shot of either the best indie Game of The Year or even GOTY. We shall see.

A first of its kind and a dang good one, too.

Played On PC. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Rollerdrome

An amazing title that I highly recommend anyone to try out this one. It just clicks when you start chaining combos and eliminating enemies flawlessly without fault.

  • Presentation 9

  • Gameplay 9.5

  • Content 8

  • Personal Enjoyment 9.5

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