As a complete surprise at the State of Play in June rollerdrome As soon as it was announced, the game catapulted itself to the top of my most anticipated games of 2022 with just one trailer. After developer Roll7 had only just presented me with the fantastic... OlliOlli World (our reviewHaving provided several hours of excellent entertainment, I wasn't expecting a new title so soon. And certainly not this one.
rollerdrome It combines elements of fun sports games and third-person shooters with a comic-book style and retro-futuristic 80s charm. That alone sounds exciting enough to pique my interest. Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on the game for the first time in the last few days and try out the first few levels. In this preview, I'll share my impressions.
2030 will be great
rollerdrome The story takes place in 2030, which isn't all that distant. Nevertheless, the world has clearly changed dramatically. Instead of football, there's a new sport dominating the media: rollerdromeHere, brave participants compete against house players in arenas around the world. These house players are armed to the teeth and have only one goal: to eliminate the participants. The participants, on the other hand, wear roller skates and are allowed to retaliate with all sorts of weapons. We play as Kara Hassan, a new participant trying her luck in the blood sport.
While the story at OlliOlli World which remained very shallow and really only existed for the framework, suggests rollerdrome It strikes a slightly different tone. It revolves around intrigue between the participants and the corporation that organizes the games. However, don't expect a sprawling narrative. You'll spend most of your time in the arenas, with only brief sections interspersed throughout where you can explore small areas like a locker room from a first-person perspective. These sections offer various newspapers and letters to read. If you wish, you can also leave these areas immediately. We can't yet say how many of these sections there will ultimately be, but they seem to be rather infrequent.
Skating and shooting take practice.
I was particularly excited about the gameplay. The trailers look cool and make you want more, but at the same time, they also give the impression that there's a lot that can go wrong. In my opinion, Roll7 has done a really good job here, but you do have to get used to the controls. They're actually quite simple. You steer with the left stick, look around with the right. X is for jumping, square is for grabs, and R1 is for flicks. R2 is used for shooting, and L2 slows down time. Triangle is used for grinding and wall-riding.
The character and camera controls, in particular, take some getting used to. For example, we don't have to hold the left stick to drive. Pushing it forward once starts Kara moving, and then we only need to steer. In many other third-person shooters, we're now accustomed to the character moving in the direction we're facing. That's not the case here. rollerdrome It's a little different. We mainly use the right stick to aim at enemies. Most weapons have a handy aim assist feature, so we hit automatically and can maintain our flow.
Tricks and grinds aren't just stylish, they're essential. They're the only way to replenish our ammo. We gain health by defeating enemies. So we skate through the beautifully designed arenas, perform tricks, and take down various foes. These offer plenty of variety and require different tactics. Overall, at rollerdrome It's very busy and the difficulty level increases rapidly. Feeling slightly overwhelmed is perfectly normal. But it's worth it.
The coolest shootouts in a long time
Once you've properly familiarized yourself with the subject matter, you develop rollerdrome An extremely satisfying flow. We cruise coolly through the comic-book arenas, combining stylish tricks with even cooler slow-motion takedowns. Sometimes we can even take out multiple enemies while performing a backflip over them. The slow motion works similarly to the Max Payne games and feels at least as good.
Each level offers a whole range of challenges. To unlock new levels, we have to complete quite a few of them. Some are relatively simple, others are really tricky. Just as fans of OlliOlli World as we know it. So there should be plenty of replay value, but what happens after the campaign is over is still unclear.
impression
"Rollerdrome, Roll7's next hit, is coming in August. The title boasts an original look and tells an interesting story. Everything is dripping with style. The gameplay surprised me and was slightly overwhelming at first, but won me over after a few rounds. The shooting feels fantastic and is truly challenging. I can hardly wait for the game's release and strongly suspect it will be a real hidden gem."
Here are some recent gameplay impressions!
