REVIEW : OlliOlli World (PS5)
OlliOlli World is pure fun for a certain type of player. Let’s not mince words: this side-scrolling skateboarding game is incredible, and it’s light years ahead of the previous instalments in the series. Roll7 has taken the series to new heights, upgrading nearly every part of it while presenting it in a stunning new package.
Of course, the most visible alteration is the new visual design. The cel-shaded imagery looks just like anything you’d see on Cartoon Network, and it gives the series so much more personality — and that’s before it even introduces any characters.
The larger levels are particularly enjoyable to explore, as the change away from 2D allows for the proper introduction of various routes. You can either jump or shift through a level, bringing you down a diversion with new obstacles to face and opportunity to perform crazy stunts. Optional challenges have always existed in the OlliOlli games, but they’re lot more varied in World, and they truly tie into the numerous routes to urge you to visit everything.
The game is largely the same as previous editions in terms of gameplay. With X, you increase your speed, while the left stick is used to set up and execute flip tricks, grinds, and manuals.You can chain together one massive combo from the beginning of a level to the conclusion if you’re good, and landing a run feels amazing as always. However, it remains a difficult game, and it’s all too easy to restart if you’re not satisfied with your progress. Chasing that elusive perfect run and gradually ascending the stage leaderboards is as engrossing as it’s ever been, and the gameplay is sleek.
There are some fresh features and modifications to keep OlliOlli veterans on their toes. Grab tricks are now a thing, and they’re perfect for catching large air with the correct stick. Vert ramps emerge throughout the stages as well, allowing you to enter and exit the screen and earn more points. The way you land is a significant adjustment. If you desired a clean landing in older games, you had to tap X right as your wheels struck the ground; if you didn’t, you’d receive a sloppy landing, damaging your combo multiplier. In OlliOlli World, this has been nerfed. While you’ll still get the highest scores if you land flawlessly and hit X as normal, you won’t be penalised if you don’t.
The gamer then finds oneself in a variety of contortionist positions, smashing, flicking, and whacking their controller in a specific rhythm in order to get your hero skater to accomplish what they need to do on screen. When you crash out at the same difficult place, it’s annoying, but it’s also very wonderful when you finally succeed. The plot is ridiculous, and it revolves around you joining the Gnarvana Skating Gods. The courses are divided into five sections of Radlandia, each with its own colour scheme and attitude, and each with about 20-25 levels to complete.
The gameplay is fast-paced but precise, and while it’s simple to master the fundamentals of skateboarding, those who want to really shine in OlliOlli World will have to put in months of effort.In the PS5 DualSense, the controller’s speaker was brilliantly utilised. It puts all of the board skating and scraping sounds right in your hands, putting you right in the middle of the action. By unlocking goods with remarkable achievements in challenges and missions, you can customize your character’s style, board, and wardrobe. Levels are worth retrying as you progress since they provide many paths to kick and flip through, allowing for maximum player expression. Nothing in OlliOlli World is built in such a way as to deter players. The gameplay and design scream invitation, enticing the player to simply relax and enjoy themselves–after all, the difficult stuff can be dealt with later. Even the storey, which was missing from the prior games, requires very little of the player while exuding an undoubtedly friendly demeanour.
Radlandia is a planet constructed by skate “gods,” and the player character has the chance to reach Gnarvana by becoming the next Skate Wizard. Dad, Chiffon, and Gnarly Mike are all characters who cheer for the player and make jokes that fit the “ice cream pop” style. Consider the plot of Riders Republic, but without the cringe and adolescent angst.
OlliOlli World is a place where the goofy, the cute, the charming, and the banal are all celebrated. There is an honesty and a passion for the world throughout the journey over the kingdoms of Radlandia, across the deserts, forests, and beach-side boardwalks. And that was one of the important components that the previous game lacked. OlliOlli World puts the emphasis on the word “world.” Players will eventually be able to compete in ranked challenges with other players or skate on randomly generated tracks that vary in complexity, duration, and environment. Roll7, on the other hand, wants players to feel at ease right away, as if Radlandia is a place away from home. A generous character generator provides hundreds of cosmetic options for the player to construct their dream avatar. During loading screens, other player-made characters and their profile names are revealed, giving everyone who owns the game a taste of what other players have produced. Even the craziest NPCs that barely pass for humanoid feel at home in Radlandia. It’s just that the game looks incredible.
By transitioning to actual 3D environments, Roll7 may now add more intricacy to the OlliOlli formula. In OlliOlli World, players loop levels, grinding rails that were in the foreground or background previously. After jumping from a halfpipe, players may land on another half pipe that leads in a different direction. Look, I’m a big fan of this series, and I enjoy games that are “simple to learn, hard to master.” But let’s just say I don’t have the time to hone my skills in the fires of failure. OlliOlli has always been a difficult task for me, but one that I’ve persevered with for as long as I’ve had the opportunity. When I first started OlliOlli World, I remembered how to perform tricks by flicking the left stick in strange directions. But I forgot how to grind rails and how to do manuals to keep the combo chain going.
While those are complex movements that should be explored with the appropriate tutorials later, I was aware of their existence and desired to do them skillfully. It’s just one way the game has been made more accessible to gamers of all skill levels. Score challenges in stages are all quite simple to complete, the game’s many elements are gradually taught over the campaign, and wacky groupies cheer you on, giving the game a cheerful tone. We would say that the game is still rather difficult at first because you must react quickly and correctly, thus it doesn’t really fix the accessibility issue. It is, nevertheless, significantly superior to its predecessors, with a far more friendly atmosphere.
When it comes to vibrations, the way you present yourself makes a significant difference. It’s not simply the relaxing tune that’s enjoyable; it’s also the bizarre individuals you meet as you travel across Radlandia’s many regions. The game is full of unique sights that make it a pleasant place to be, whether it’s ghostly trees in the forest, walking talking ice creams on the beach, or a swarm of skate-loving aliens in the desert. Although not all of the characters are memorable, and the dialogue that bookends each level is hit-or-miss, it is a significant advance over previous games in the series. Because the online multiplayer is asynchronous and cross-platform, it’s extremely accessible and simple to play with friends. While a real-time multiplayer solution would have been ideal, the game as it stands is still enjoyable. You can create a level in Gnarvana using a few settings, assign a score, and then email the level’s code to anybody you want to challenge. It works well, and you’ll have access to an almost limitless number of levels to play. Leagues, on the other hand, pit you against nine similarly skilled players and give you 24 hours to set your greatest score on a specific stage. You’ll be promoted if you finish in the top three, and chaining promotions together unlocks more customisation options.
Keep in mind that OlliOlli World will reward you for your hard work. Players can see footage of other experienced players’ high-scoring runs. There are procedures in place to help you learn from your mistakes, accept failure, rely on checkpoints, and fail a track over and over until you know where every jump and grind rail is. This is why I believe OlliOlli has always been much more than a skateboarding game in my opinion. Like Super Meat Boy, Dustforce, or Celeste, it’s a satisfying yet brutal platformer. Players can see the brightness at the end of the journey, but mastering the inner workings of the game will take some time. At the very least, arrive in style. OlliOlli World is a really complex game. It is, nonetheless, amiably approachable. Roll7 has worked on this series for a decade, and their efforts have paid off handsomely. Players will experience a vibrant universe populated by a crazy array of characters on their journey to Gnarvana. The switch to 3D paid dividends for the series. But, more crucially, the trick and combination mechanics have been polished to a sumptuous shine, rewarding players of all skill levels and levels of dedication.
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