Today we are going to take a look at OlliOlli World. This skateboarding platformer promises a lot of personality and fun in the vibrant world of Radlandia. Whether it can deliver on its promise is the question we will try to answer today. OlliOlli World is available on Steam for 29 Euros and 99 cents or your regional equivalent.
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OlliOlli World is the third game in the OlliOlli franchise which focuses on 2D side-scrolling skateboarding fun with a few arcade-like features mixed in. Or, in more casual words, OlliOlli is much more casual than the old but legendary skateboarding series Tony Hawk’s.
OlliOlli World will take you into a skating utopia called Radlandia. Radlandia is split into five regions and each is ruled by a skating god. And all of those living together in Gnarvana – something like skate heaven. And the connection between the world of the mortals and gods is the skate wizard. And it’s the current skate wizard – a woman named Chiffon decided to retire and alongside all her compadres she will do everything in her power to make sure it will be you who will become the next skate wizard. And to do so, you will need to travel all the regions to show the skating gods you got what it takes.
I know that the previous paragraph sounds like a crazy dream of some insane teenager who had his skateboard fall on his head. But trust me, the story is here for one reason only. To give you an excuse to move further through the maps. And somehow, it actually works and the knowledge you might get to meet the next skating god is what pushes you forward whenever you will feel like throwing your controller into the wall.
And when I’m talking about controllers… I got bad news for hardcore PC master race guys. OlliOlli World cannot be played without one. Even just navigating the menu requires one. And lately, there are very few games that require a controller when they appear on a PC. And this did cause a few problems, like when I tried to get from a track back to the map but this was just a detail that was easily fixed with a simple patch.
On the other hand, requiring a controller is something I can easily forgive. OlliOlli World prefers to go with easy to learn, hard to master. This means the game is very easy to pick up but if you want to get truly good it will be very hard. And when it comes to the gameplay, forget about the large open arenas you know from Tony Hawk’s. Here you have a clearly defined start and a finish. Speeding up is done through a single button and tricks come with the sticks. More precisely, when you hold the left stick down and release you’ll jump, and if you move it in a certain way get ready to do a nice little trick. Then the right stick is used to catch your board while in the air allowing you to spice up your tricks even more.
I’m now realizing that trying to describe this might sound more than confusing but believe me, the controls are intuitive and after a few quick rides, you will do it automatically. And for all the other aspects of the game from riding on rails to bouncing off walls, you got nice little tutorials to teach you. So, in about an hour or two you will know all you need. Sadly, none of these tutorials will teach you certain things. Like, every trick you perform slows you down or that if you ride on the edge of your skateboard your combo will remain intact. And this is actually the knowledge you need to become truly the best.
The full game is split into 69 (nice) levels into five different regions. Add to that all the side-quests, and challenges that focus on you becoming the new skate wizard. Citizens of Radlandia will only cheer for you if you finish the level with a certain amount of points. Every single trick has a point value attached to it and if you do them in succession the combo-meter engages and your score quickly multiplies. Just as you’d expect.
Apart from the score, you can also target challenges. They vary quite a lot from meeting a certain character on the track, finishing a long combo, or just performing hard tricks. Of course, you do not have to finish the challenges but if you do while getting a good score you will be rewarded with a nice piece of equipment. And don’t underestimate this as many people love to customize their characters and they will certainly love to do so.
Apart from a gorgeous colorful world and graphics that will certainly stop you in the store, the characters you meet in the world are quite fascinating and you should spend some time talking to them. Similarly, the music is quite pleasant and was specially written for OlliOlli World.
Conclusion
Everything actually fits together so nicely that it is a shame that you can finish OlliOlli World’s campaign in less than six hours. If you focus on finishing everything it will take you about double that time. Luckily, apart from the campaign, you can spend your time skating through different tracks every day against others on the online ladder. The one thing I am truly missing is a track editor but it is possible it will be added in the future.