Game Info
GAME NAME: OlliOlli
DEVELOPER(S): roll7
PUBLISHER(S): Curve Digital
PLATFORM(S): Nintendo 3DS
GENRE(S): 2D Skateboarding
RELEASE DATE(S): March 12th, 2015
There have only a been a few great skateboarding games; Tony Hawk and Skate are some of the few that stick out of the bunch. So what if Skate and Tony Hawk had a baby? That baby would look a lot like OlliOlli, with simple controls that rewards practice and a combo system that would make a puzzle game jealous. There are few game like OlliOlli. Now if only the 3DS had a better screen and it sure would have been nice to see a 3D effect for a game like this.
If you have never played OlliOlli before on its Sony or PC counterpart, its a good idea to start with the tutorial. OlliOlli will not take hours to learn but it will be helpful to better understand the games mechanics. There are two buttons that control the little skateboard dude in green pants, pressing the A button will help keep or gain speed and use if the circle pad or d-pad to pull of trick in the same fashion of Skate. OlliOlli is a 2D game that feels like an endless runner more then anything else. There is no going backwards just a straight line from start to finish to try and get the best score possible. If at any point the player crashes during there run then the stage must be restarted and tried again. There are many opportunities to get massive air to pull of the games many tricks, and there is even the ability to grind to help keep the combo going.
This game is hard, very hard. Yet there is a large amount a reward when pulling off a 20 move combo and landing perfect. Few games feel like a skill sometimes but to get good at OlliOlli is just that, a skill. Flicking the circle pad up or down will just do an olli and Flicking left or right will do a kickflip or heelflip, after that things get complicated. Holding left on the circle pad and Flicking up will do a hardflip, holding one direction and releasing in another will pull off a kinds of tricks and the tougher the trick the more points. While in the air the players can also do rotations while doing tricks and then there are grinds. When falling from the sky if there are benches or some kind of pole if holding a direction the player will start a grind to keep the combo going.
Even if the players are able to stack a huge combo it won’t matter if while landing the player pushes the A button to late or early and unable to get a perfect landing. There are a lot of things to keep in mind when playing a round, and if able to keep the combo going and landing it perfect can be pretty amazing feeling.
There are five levels with five stages with each getting a bit harder with crazier hazards each time. Plus there is pro mode where players are pushed more and more. There is also a spot mode where player have one chance to earn as much as possible, this mode is very fun to play and to try and master. While playing the main career mode there are many challenges to complete that range from not grinding for a whole level, getting the high score, or grabbing different items. There is plenty of content for the $9.99 price tag and many reasons to play over and over and try to get on the leaderboard. Plus this is the first third party cross buy game for the 3ds and Wii U.
The soundtrack is awesome, simple beats and smooth grooves it fits the action to a tee, it’s best to play with headphones to fully enjoy all the music in the game. The general graphics also looks cool it’s an 8 bit skateboard game that would have felt and looked wonderful on an Snes. Even with the simple graphic style all the different tricks represent the actual tricks pulled off by professional skaters look great. Sadly the 3ds does not have the best screen on the market, and it shows on this kind of game that needs a high resolution to see and appreciate all the game has to offer. A huge disappointment was that fact there was no 3D effect in anyway, and this simple 2d game with huge backgrounds and a skater in the foreground would have worked perfect for the 3d screen.
The game looks great at times even with the 3ds low res screen, the music is pitch perfect and while the controls take some time to learn the game plays great. It would have been nice to have had this game in 3D the game still has a great overall style, and to have this on the 3DS is a great addition to the library plus player will receive the Wiiu version for free. OlliOlli is pure fun that makes me wish there was a Snes game like this time back in the day.
