It cannot be overstated enough how smooth the gameplay of Rollerdrome is. No wipeouts, no bails, no punishments for dodging too late and not nailing a trick. It presents a steady rise in challenge and complication culminating at a peak that just misses the mark.
The ramp up in difficulty and challenge as Kara reaches for the finals is immaculate. The challenges are perfectly designed so that you’ll naturally nail a couple on a first playthrough, and the remaining in a couple replays. Any time that I finished a level, dismayed that I couldn’t reach a top score, I found myself able to land it within another attempt or two. Each attempt felt like something new kept clicking. It was a rare fulfillment.
The aesthetic is clean First person segments are a neat additional viewport into a future world. Opening a door, pulling the camera out and skating directly into the levels is a special choice.
The boss fights are a drag. A departure from the standard 10-challenge loaded levels in a rinse & repeat format. They don’t present anything novel or new to the gameplay loop and instead act as time sinks to endcap specific levels. Not to mention there is only one boss that is fought twice. This theme is continued with the ‘secondary’ Out for Blood campaign, which follows Kara as the now champion competing in the subsequent year of the Rollerdrome. The black jumpsuit is a fun addition, but not enough to outweigh the complete repetition of the original campaign. Instead of 10 challenges it’s reduced to 3, focused solely on a high score, single combo and speedrun. Enemies are dropped in troves in exchange for considerably less creativity in the level challenges. The sweat is turned up and enjoyment dramatically reduced to an extreme fault. The Out for Blood campaign should be viewed more as a tacked-on afterthought rather than a valued addition to the base game.
To this end, I still wish the game was longer. Prior to reaching the finals, the Rollerdrome feels like it can go on forever. I’d show up instantly to play another 4 levels with myriad challenges. Continue the Tony Hawk inspiration and have me skate a line to spell a word. Run a specific combo, keep shaking things up.
Rollerdrome rocks the most not when it’s challenging but when the impetus is creative. Unfortunately, it only achieves this for under half of its run time.
The ramp up in difficulty and challenge as Kara reaches for the finals is immaculate. The challenges are perfectly designed so that you’ll naturally nail a couple on a first playthrough, and the remaining in a couple replays. Any time that I finished a level, dismayed that I couldn’t reach a top score, I found myself able to land it within another attempt or two. Each attempt felt like something new kept clicking. It was a rare fulfillment.
The aesthetic is clean First person segments are a neat additional viewport into a future world. Opening a door, pulling the camera out and skating directly into the levels is a special choice.
The boss fights are a drag. A departure from the standard 10-challenge loaded levels in a rinse & repeat format. They don’t present anything novel or new to the gameplay loop and instead act as time sinks to endcap specific levels. Not to mention there is only one boss that is fought twice. This theme is continued with the ‘secondary’ Out for Blood campaign, which follows Kara as the now champion competing in the subsequent year of the Rollerdrome. The black jumpsuit is a fun addition, but not enough to outweigh the complete repetition of the original campaign. Instead of 10 challenges it’s reduced to 3, focused solely on a high score, single combo and speedrun. Enemies are dropped in troves in exchange for considerably less creativity in the level challenges. The sweat is turned up and enjoyment dramatically reduced to an extreme fault. The Out for Blood campaign should be viewed more as a tacked-on afterthought rather than a valued addition to the base game.
To this end, I still wish the game was longer. Prior to reaching the finals, the Rollerdrome feels like it can go on forever. I’d show up instantly to play another 4 levels with myriad challenges. Continue the Tony Hawk inspiration and have me skate a line to spell a word. Run a specific combo, keep shaking things up.
Rollerdrome rocks the most not when it’s challenging but when the impetus is creative. Unfortunately, it only achieves this for under half of its run time.