All good things come in threes – and OlliOlli is no different, with British game developer Roll7 returning for their upcoming third game “OlliOlli World”, now skating closer to its release date.

OlliOlli World is a bright, colourful and downright fun 2D-platforming skateboarding game. You start off in the new world of Radlandia, a skateboarders paradise. The storyline of the game has you rise the skating ranks of Radlandia, via gnarly tricks and lengthy grinds, in hopes of replacing the retiring Skateboarding legend, Chiffon.

Historically, previously series entries OlliOlli and OlliOlli 2’s worlds featured a heavy pixel-art style, which definitely worked for the series back then. Thankfully, Roll7 have decided to give the game a completely new deck of paint and decals, presenting Radlandia as a neon and vibrant world. There’s a variety of worlds and regions you’ll Ollie and Nose Grab your way through, all of which employ OlliOlli World’s new art direction of unique colour palettes and environmental clutter.

They share OlliOlli World’s new look. Some of the craftily designed levels you’ll cruise across have taken inspiration from the real world (bonus points if, when playing, you can see certain Easter Egg influences): Sunshine Valley (beachside area packed with snap-happy tourists and gym junkie pigeons?!), Cloverbrook (a haunted forest treated as some sort of Skateboard graveyard) and Burntrock (a western/desert wasteland littered with bright suns, skeletal remains & spiky cactus).

With a new game comes a gang of new characters. You have an entourage of supportive characters, all of which assist you both pre-and-post level gameplay. Gnarly Mike, a massive bear-like character, provides comedic relief & score-multiplying course challenges, which upon completion unlock new cosmetic upgrades for your skater.

Chiffon, a psychic & current Radlandia skateboarding legend, acts as a checkpoint. Suze is your skating film-making buddy, who helps induct the games Photo Mode. Then there’s Dad, (though he states he isn’t anyone’s Dad but is named after his Dad) who owns the Rad Dad skate shop, where you undergo all your cosmetic upgrades and changes.

Unlike other skating games that have you hold down 3 buttons, whilst furiously flicking maniacally at your analog sticks in order to just Ollie and grab your board, OlliOlli World has a seemingly easy to learn control scheme. The left analog stick is your main focus here, as moving the stick in a direction “charges” a trick, and when you release the stick, your character leaps into the air, executing it.

Similar to that of Boxing/MMA style games, rotating the left analog stick up, down, left, around, full rotations, and repeat patterns all lead to different movements that are required to unload different tricks. If that seems like a lot to take in, don’t fret, as there is a Trick-o-pedia featured on the game’s pause menu, listing and displaying various methods and ways to execute all unlocked tricks. Combos are also born, raised, and truly admired in OlliOlli World, whereby grinding rails, jumping off rails for a trick, and re-landing on the rail, all add to your combo / overall course score. Mix that with some of the course challenges that we mentioned earlier, and you’ve got yourself a point-heavy, but hugely addictive, playthrough albeit it is eventually mildly repetitive like most sporting games.

As mentioned earlier, previous OlliOlli entries featured pixel-art and sprites. With OlliOlli World, the game has been refreshed with an amazing comic-inspired style, filled with colourfully, campy worlds alongside friendly 3D rendered characters. But what’s a skating game without its soundtrack, right? Well, fear not, for OlliOlli World have done their research and every single track they have managed to either obtain the rights to or have created themselves, perfectly complement every course, trick, moment and move in this game.

A fun, vibrant, and easy to pick up and play skating game, heavily leveled up from its previous entries. If you are a skating enthusiast, this game will have you dumping hours of your time into it, hopefully crowning you the next skating legend!

Written by: Brutaleo