OlliOlli World Review (Xbox One)

STAFF REVIEW of OlliOlli World (Xbox One)

Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
by Josh Morgan

OlliOlli World is developer Roll7’s follow up to the 2015 banger, OlliOlli 2. Welcome to Olliworld, and it’s the series’ first transition to a 3D engine while still staying true to the original 2D gameplay. Does this trip to Radlandia stick the landing, or does it bail with one leg on each side of the rail? Ouch! Well, read on and I’ll tell you!

If you’ve never played the series before, Olliolli has always been a 2D skating game focused on combos of tricks, grinds, wallrides and manuals at a very fast pace, and this newest entry to the series has all these mainstays but also adds some new twists. First off is the addition to depth to your runs. It’s no longer just left to right, but you can move closer and further from the screen depending on the route you take. Vert ramps and forks in the path are used to change lanes, and each change in lanes brings new challenges, obstacles and sometimes an increased difficulty. These separate lanes can increase your scores due to the extra challenge and extra trick locations, but also ensures that each run can be a bit different and multiple playthroughs are needed to complete all of the levels' optional objectives. Each level that you play through not only requires your completion, but also offers three optional objectives. Some are score related, some require no bails, and some have you performing a trick and knocking an animal off its perch. These optional challenges are fun and offer a great deal of replay trying to find them all.

Even though the OlliOlli’s series is known for its difficulty, newcomers will like that OlliOlli World is much more forgiving than the previous games. You’ll no longer bail if you land a trick sideways on the ground, rails or manuals, instead you’ll just get fewer points. You can also prepare for your jumps earlier by holding the Left Stick in the desired direction while still pumping your foot for speed as there is no penalty for starting the ollie too early. These are all very welcome changes because I was one of those players that had a hard time finishing levels due to its increasing difficulty. These old fingers just don’t have the reflexes that they used to. I really like knowing that I can see everything that the game has to offer, but also know that if I do want to return for a harder challenge I can try for high scores and optional objectives to complete.

There are a lot of things to learn as you progress through the story of OlliOlli World, and with each new land you travel to you are given a new trick to add to your arsenal. All of the tricks, grabs, grabs through crystals, wallrides, grinds, manuals and spins (to name a few) are unlocked organically within each land. You are given a tutorial level to learn the trick and then you are given plenty of time (usually 10-15 more levels) to master it before they throw a new one at you, so there’s plenty of time for it to sink in and be added to your muscle memory. Once a trick is added to your repertoire, you are free to use it as needed, but I suggest you start using it often because as you start to progress through the levels, that trick, whether it’s a grind, manual, or a grab through a crystal, will be necessary to use to complete the level. So, it’s best to force yourself to master it before you move too far forward. I said it’s more accessible for newcomers, I didn’t say it was easier. Your little fingers will be put through the motions in a frenzy of flicks of the sticks to complete each level.

Let’s face it, you are going to bail a lot in this game, but the good thing is that respawns are instant, so you are put right back into the action quickly. This makes my thumbs cry, but it’s always been a staple of the series and it’s good that quick respawns are here to stay, because like I said, I bail a lot. Sometimes I feel that the checkpoints are a bit too far apart, so bailing can sometimes result in having to repeat longer runs then you would want to, but that adds to the challenge and always brings a sigh of relief when you hit them. Checkpoints aren’t only used for respawns but also are used as points banks, meaning that any combo you have open, or points accrued since the last checkpoint will deposit into your score as you cross the checkpoint, and you’ll never lose those points once they enter your score no matter how many times you bail.

After you complete the story and every required level there are still a lot of things to do in OlliOlli World. I found it a lot of fun to go back to the early levels and crush my scores now that I had a greater understanding of how the game mechanics and scoring works. I also found a lot of Gnarly Routes and optional objectives that I didn’t spot in my first playthrough. Some of the level's high score challenges require you to complete the level in one combo, which takes a master skill, something I am not capable of, so I focused more on the hidden objectives. Beating the game also unlocks online challenge mode where your scores are put up against an online leaderboard, and secondly there is a random level generator that you can see how you stack up against the world’s best players being tossed into a level you’ve never played before and haven’t had the chance to master.

The graphics of OlliOlli World are a HUGE step above the previous games. OlliOlli had more of a pixel art style, OlliOlli 2 was a bit sharper, and OlliOlli World looks like it was taken straight from the Adventure Time cartoon. There are hundreds of character creation options, and you can switch them up at any time as you unlock more hats, shoes and dozens of other items throughout the levels. I must have changed my look at least 20 times throughout my time, and each time I liked what I came up with. One neat feature is during load screens, the characters of your friends and other OlliOlli players are shown on your screen. So, you can see what other characters looked like, randomly Xbox Live's Major Nelson (I think you legally must use his full name) showed up in my loading screen and it was neat to see what his style is like.

OlliOlli World is the perfect evolution of what is already a fantastic series, and it has plenty to do for both newcomers and veterans. It rides the line between hard and accessible, making it very welcoming to newcomers while still being true to the high difficulty that the series is known for. I really enjoyed my time with it and look forward to replaying the completed levels to go for high scores and completing all of the optional objectives.

**OlliOlli World was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 9.5 / 10
Gameplay: 9.5 / 10
Visuals: 9.0 / 10
Sound: 9.0 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of OlliOlli World (Xbox One)

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