![]() ![]() ![]() The difficulty ramp throughout OlliOlli World feels well-planned, too – whether it’s due to an increasingly gruelling series of jumps, or the careful movement of the camera to prevent you from planning too far ahead. It’s an intuitive approach to difficulty, and there is a genuine sense of achievement when you finally beat a level and are rewarded with new gear for your efforts. Conversely, you can add a bit of trickiness and replayability by completing all of Mike’s optional assignments, or aim to complete the level in a single run without Chiffon’s checkpoints. Though the game doesn’t have traditional difficulty levels, you do have some control over your level of challenge – you only need to cross the finish line to clear a level, so doing the bare minimum is always an option. If you’re a perfectionist like me, you may find that you’re less likely to beat yourself up for your mistakes because the game encourages you to jump straight back in and have another go. It’s frustrating when you fail, but you’re dropped back into the action immediately. Crossing the finish line only becomes more difficult with the increasing repertoire of moves you unlock: lane changes, wallrides, grabs, spins and manuals, among others. It gave me horror flashbacks to the Mine Cart Carnage level in Donkey Kong Country on the SNES – in a good way. By the time I reached the second district, I was finding sections that I needed to repeat multiple times before I found the perfect combination of speed and air to clear obstacles and stick the landing. What hides behind the colourful exterior of OlliOlli World is a deviously challenging game. Getting into a rhythm and smashing through a course on the first try is very satisfying, and it’s easy to find yourself completely lost in the game, which is especially rare for me, now that I have adult responsibilities to account for.īut I was lulled into a false sense of security by the cutesy art style and lighthearted electro/hip-hop fusion soundtrack. ![]() They start off easy and relaxing with lessons in pushing, basic tricks and grinding, allowing you to fall into a flow state as you cruise through levels. Levels consist of fast-paced platforming that test your reflexes and technical skills. The use of a segmented map hinting at unexplored territories serves as a good incentive to push through each realm’s trickier challenges, because the world is just bursting with character waiting to be enjoyed. Here, there’s the wind rustling through leaves, birdsong and bees buzzing. The atmosphere in Cloverbrook is completely different. By the beach in Sunshine Valley, you hear splashing, talking and arcade machines. The soundscapes play a big part in worldbuilding here. They teach you new skills and offer encouragement between runs as you traverse tourist-populated beaches and boardwalks, secluded forests, scorched desert plains and grimy cityscapes to hit all the best spots.Įach district in OlliOlli World has its own distinct look and feel, with local skaters to match. After seeing your raw potential, outgoing Skate Wizard Chiffon and her motley crew – Suze, Dad and Mike – agree to accompany you through Radlandia to meet the Godz and develop your skating mastery to take Chiffon’s place. Your journey begins when you attend a tryout to become the next Skate Wizard, the link between the skaters in Radlandia and the Skate Godz in Gnarvana above. It hybridises the best elements of the past and the present to create an experience that is both old-school in challenge, and approachable for a new school of beginners. Beyond the bright colours, bold characters and aesthetically-pleasing locales, what OlliOlli World achieves is more than nostalgia. It transported me back to the carefree days of playing SSX uninterrupted for hours at a time, bopping along to the soundtrack and chasing high scores. Not about the previous games – this is my first foray into the OlliOlli series – but about a time in my life that I can’t go back to, and a genre of games that I stopped playing somewhere along the line: extreme sports. OlliOlli World, Roll7’s new 2.5D skateboarding action-platformer, made me feel nostalgic. Looking back at the 2000s, the decade seemed to be markedly less weighed down by an impending sense of doom. A phrase I often hear when reminiscing with friends about the games and pop culture of our collective childhoods is: ‘it was a simpler time’. ![]()
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