A few weeks ago, I posted a preview of Rollerdrome, Roll7’s upcoming action shooter, in which I mentioned that the game is an interesting mix of style and skating. That perspective came from being able to play the title in the first few stages, and now today, I can talk more freely about the entire experience, which surprisingly ended up being fairly short-lived.
I say this because Rollerdrome isn’t a very long game at all. Now I don’t usually focus on this sort of thing, but for anyone hoping for a six-plus hour storyline that will find itself deadlocked here because Rollerdrome asks you to do Most of what’s going on is ticking off challenges on a list of various different locations. Don’t get me wrong, the heart of the story revolves around protagonist Kara Hasan joining the Rollerdrome bloodsport circuit in hopes of winning and paying off the huge debt she and her family have accrued, but since this is mostly via email And the information is told, it feels almost irrelevant, and you should know that the narrative of this game is almost non-existent.
Instead, it’s an action shooter that’s all about style. If you love Skate and Tony Hawk games and wonder what it’s like to flip and deceive while using dual pistols to shoot enemy combatants in matrix-inspired slow-motion, this is the game for you. If not, then I’d recommend giving it a pass, because while the Mobius-looking comic book-like visuals might draw you in with their vibrancy and color, the gameplay is all about accumulating points and completing challenges (such as doing a specific tricks or eliminate enemies while doing a specific ordeal), and do so as quickly as possible. You should know, this game loop is pretty fun, but once you get to seven or eight levels, it does start to stress you out, and what really changes in the gameplay is that more enemy types are selected into battles.
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Of course, the kind of enemy does keep you on your toes because one minute you have to dodge an upcoming sniper turn, and the next minute you have to dodge rockets or enemies that will try to literally overwhelm you . Yes, this evasive gameplay blends nicely with the skill system and how it attaches to the combo multiplier and ammo system. I mean, in Rollerdrome, you can only get weapon ammo by cheating or perfectly dodging incoming attacks, which means you have to sprinkle water in some style if you’re going to finish a level. This is combined with the combo system, as every time you eliminate a hostile enemy, your multiplier goes up by one, which means that if you want to set a huge score (mostly around cheating), you have to be in your kill move Stay fluid, and you have to stay fluid at how fast you regenerate ammo by cheating. Everything is smooth.
However, if you’re also going to complete challenges – which you have to do to unlock new levels – you’ll be doing something that affects your flow as you may have to complete a level without using one of the four weapon types, Or rather, perform some challenging tricks that require a visit to a Trickpedia or two to understand and master it. Essentially, this means that if you’re going to actually finish Rollerdrome, by completing all the challenges and setting a high score, you’ll be replaying each level multiple times, which seems to be what Roll7 is counting on, because other than doing that, there’s no Too many other things to do.
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There’s a game mode that unlocks after completing Rollerdrome for the first time, increasing the difficulty a bit by making enemies more menacing, etc., but this still provides the same four or five arenas, the same four weapon use, and same challenge. When it’s all said and done, it all feels very repetitive, which is a shame because the core gameplay is delivered in a very engaging and fluid way. I can’t help but feel that the game could have done with a more engaging story, or a different approach to adding new locations to compete, because it really doesn’t feel like a feature, it just seems to happen.
While I’m not particularly shocked by Rollerdrome, I can say that the game is well played, the art style is absolutely brilliant and creative, and the concept is truly top-notch. But isn’t this just a quick, almost arcade-like sports game for hours of fun? Well, it’s hard to suggest otherwise.