While skateboarding games are in full renaissance, OlliOlli is finally back five years after his last installment. Still in the hands of Roll7 and under the supervision of Private Division, OlliOlli World takes a drastic turn in its artistic direction, but what about the gameplay or the essence of the franchise? We were able to play a generous demo for a long time, sponsored by Mercurochrome. Here are our first impressions.
The license swaps its pixels for a seductive style reminiscent of Adventure Time
Do not go four ways: yes graphically it is night and day between OlliOlli World and the previous versions. Here, the license swaps its somewhat unsightly pixels for a seductive style reminiscent of Adventure Time. It’s neat, it’s beautiful, it’s colorful, in short it’s bang! The environments are vibrant, sometimes at the edge of the psyche with little details here and there that plunge us into a unique universe, cool and so much in the vein of skateboarding. Also comes to be grafted a new cast of pretty funny characters, with a rather inspired character, but don’t really expect a story from what we’ve seen, that said it’s anything but disturbing. Anyway, if you haven’t understood it, we are completely won over by this new style, downright canon.
And no, OlliOlli’s very soul is not soiled and remains almost unchanged. We are always sure a tasty mix of arcade, platform and skateboarding with a goal of score. The formula remains the same: do tricks, ollies and other figures with the joystick, drawing shapes with it, to accumulate a hellish combo and scratch as many points as possible. If you fall, the score drops, and believe us, you will often fall! OlliOlli World does not lose anything in technicality and remains as fiendishly demanding as ever. Get ready to press 40 times on the “start again” option, to rail on your controller for long minutes until you finally manage to finish the level, the only condition to continue in Career mode, and breathe a little sigh of exhilaration. . So exhilarating.
Always devious, enjoyable and picky gameplay
to
Always devious, enjoyable and picky gameplay, which relies on skill, reflexes and a hint of timing. It is imperative to know at least the landing mechanics so as not to eat at all costs, as well as the basic tricks (all listed in the Tricktionary), to find the right figure that will make you soar high enough to do a Wallride. on a billboard, or one that will not make you lose speed so as not to rush straight into the void. We will still rail on the latency of certain tricks not always easy to tame. The challenge can sometimes seem almost visceral, but is quickly erased by the satisfaction of finally reaching an honorable score., to progress and twirl with class and fluidity in the levels of Radland, with an ingenious level design and which clearly gain in readability thanks to this new aesthetic.
Our twisted playgrounds (they must be a little sadistic at Roll7) offer as a bonus alternative routes leading to side quests or even more complex paths in case we don’t morfle enough. If it’s enough just to cross the finish line to discover our next place of torture, the levels have a real replayability thanks to the challenges offered by our comrades: score objectives, perform precise figures at a given location, finish the level without exploding indicated objects, you will piss off and enjoy it at the same time.
You will piss off and enjoy it at the same time
The final version of the game should also offer a sandbox mode with almost infinite branches, but for the moment we have only been able to enjoy a dozen levels spread over two areas. There will be a few other surprises that we look forward to discovering when OlliOlli World comes out, including the personalization of our avatar, hoping perhaps to see a mode for training like fighting games. , because for the moment the title can strongly displease or lose the neophytes, in spite of some relaxations on the gameplay and tutorials not especially trainers. Ah, and one last thing, you take it or you don’t: there is a photo mode.
5
