OlliOlli World Demo Impressions – Kicks, Tricks and Skating God

While before OlliOlli skateboarding game known for its brutal difficulty along with its imaginative pixel art design, its sequel is a completely different path with a new dimension. If you are simply comparing OlliOlli’s World As for the look and feel of its predecessors, you can hardly tell that they are part of the same series, given the way the new game features 2.5D artwork. However, the sequel still takes place in the animated world of Radlandia. However, diving into its gameplay tells a different story. Infused with bright graphics and characters that tell refreshing jokes is a familiar system of tricks that challenge players to perform complex combos and chase high scores. It simply doesn’t punish casual players like me for not always pixel-perfect accuracy.

“The first two games had an audience that liked that punch, break your left analog stick, difficulty level,” said John Ribbins, creative director at Roll7, explained for PC Invasion. However, one problem with that design is that many people can’t get past the high skill wall. In fact, Ribbins says that most people have never even seen the final world of OlliOlli 2, which means that all the art, design, and effort in making it almost goes to waste.

So the studio took a new approach with OlliOlli’s World. “Ultimately we wanted it to be challenging, but we wanted to make a game that more people could complete,” said Ribbins. “We want more people to watch the full game and see the full story and work we have created.”

Landing OlliOlli’s World

I’m not much of a skater, which probably makes me the perfect test case. After playing the game’s near-final build, I can confidently say that Roll7 has largely achieved its goal in making its latest addition more accessible to casual players. While trying to reach gnarly’s alternate paths and abruptly switching from right to left can sometimes be difficult, the checkpoint system, which allows you to start in the middle of the level instead of right from the beginning, will go a long way to make OlliOlli’s World more accessible. But it’s also the pinnacle of the game’s artwork and overall vibe that keeps me coming back.

The dialogue can be a bit cheesy, but the fun humor is appreciated.

Radlandia is divided into five different biomes that have different aesthetics. These range from sunny beaches with popsicles, to forests with live trees and flying ‘Zombes’, and more. Each biome was created by a different skate god, and they all interacted with the people of Radlandia through the skating wizard. However, she’s retiring and is looking for a replacement, that’s why you’re on a cross-country trip to skate, grind, jump, and wind your way over every obstacle. This fantasy world offers.

Most of, OlliOlli’s World plays a lot like a fake platforming game. You jump by holding the left thumb of the gamepad in any direction and letting go before moving it in the direction of grinding or sliding or sliding across the boards. Direction defines tricks and you’ll learn more advanced tricks later on, including game-style semicircle combat, using the right thumb to perform grabs, and pressing the trigger buttons to rotate in the air. Basically the controls are probably, they’re actually the hardest part for me to work through, since my muscle memory has me pressing the A button to jump. Even after hours of playing, I still haven’t been able to completely remove that reflection from my system.

Skill building

However, the game doesn’t punish you for sticking to the basics if that’s what you want to do. Completing quests to increase your score will unlock clothing and skateboard customizations used to outfit your character. It was this approach that got me back into the game, as I was essentially my biggest competitor instead of comparing myself to some abstract leaderboard score or players who had already spent their time in the game. hours to perfect their combos.

Make combos and complete challenges to raise your score.

Roll7’s studio head, Simon Bennett, best explains this by saying that they’re essentially teaching you how to play an instrument, then giving you the tools to become a virtuoso. . Various tutorials are spread across Radlandia and integrated into the story instead of letting everything fall on you in the first place.

“We realized we gave you the ability to enjoy [skateboarding] experience more along the way as you’re building those skills instead of handing it all over to you at once,” says Bennett, who adds that building the lessons into the story is helpful for building structure of the game.

However, my experience with OlliOlli’s World The preview demo had me crashing into rocks and other obstacles more often than gracefully jumping over them. It’s often hard for me to figure out why I don’t have enough motivation to make a jump. Other times, I try to switch to a new move only to discover that I don’t have enough rail left to switch everything. So I ended up making extensive use of the checkpoint system to get me back somewhere close to where I wiped out… only to crash into something else a few feet below.

Map of Radlandia.

I often feel that there should be more checkpoints, but I usually learn to overcome difficult obstacles after a few retries. Carried away OlliOlli 2Punishment difficulty helped me to better understand the levels in parts and finally enter into a fluent state of mind. Perhaps more importantly, it encouraged me to explore alternative paths and experiment with different combos in specific areas without worrying about being sent back to the original.

I don’t think I ended up with an enviable score, but at least I got over some “local hero” scores from the various regions’ skating teams. Bennett explains that, when revisiting an area, those stock scores are replaced by the scores of players who are actually slightly better than yours. That player becomes a sort of opponent by giving you an achievable goal to beat.

Visiting Radlandia

Most of, OlliOlli’s World starts as a relatively linear game with a straight path from start to finish. However, there are optional extra areas that you can unlock if you explore further. There are also several optional levels. For example, when your team gets lost in the desert, you only skate through the three levels you choose to pass. Then, of course, you can always revisit previous levels with the new skills you’ve acquired to showcase your improved mastery.

Crush through dinosaur fossils, jump over flying saucers and through floating crystals in Radlandia.

I expect a boss fight as I complete each biome and meet their respective skate gods. Instead, I received a text of encouragement before being led into the next area. Although Ribbins and the others at Roll7 considered including some kind of skating battle, they ultimately decided that it would counter their goal of having no skill wall to overcome. The result is a rather chilling experience as you play at your own pace.

Facing the competition

Completing the first biome and its skate god opens up an asynchronous alliance-based multiplayer system, giving players the chance to battle each other anytime, anywhere for a period of time. certain time. Leaderboards update in real time, and players are ranked alongside those of similar skill levels instead of being compared to particularly hardcore players with seemingly impossible scores. Climb the leaderboards to unlock cosmetics to show off and maintain the winning streak to help you achieve higher rankings.

The end of Gnarly’s Road can happen by accident, but can significantly raise your score.

Another multiplayer mode is called Gnarvana Portal, where levels are generated according to different settings. Sharing associated postcodes with friends, enemies and live viewers gives them all a chance to compete with you on that level from any platform OlliOlli’s World can be played on. Alternatively, you can type anything you want into the postcode box to see what kind of level is generated from it.

Go ahead

Ribbins confirmed that OlliOlli’s World will not be considered a service, so there will be no regular timed content updates beyond the announced planned premium DLC packs that will evolve Radlandia in new directions. The first expansion, Void Riders, releases this summer and will add a new biome along with additional levels, characters, and character customization. The second is scheduled for the fall. OlliOlli’s World will launch on PC via Steam on February 8.