Roll7, primarily known for their fantastic 2D skateboarding series OlliOlli and putting on a different set of skates with Rollerdrome.
In a similar vein to Running Man, Rollerdrome throws you into this capitalist hellscape where the public is distracted by a televised equivalent of gladiatorial X-Games. Playing as Kara Hassan, your goal is to simply win the competition while unraveling the conspiracy going on behind the scenes. This is done between matches as you explore places like your locker room or a train, and read newspaper clippings or listen in on conversations. If you’ve consumed any similar media you know what to expect with the story here, but it’s got enough personality injected into it to make it its own.
Rollerdrome features a fairly straightforward system: each match takes place in an arena where you have to kill all the enemies as quickly and stylishly as possible to score big. You do this by skating around the arena and pulling off tricks in a button system similar to OlliOlli (or THPS if you haven’t played that). You can perform grabs, grinds, and flips and they’re all fairly simple button presses to pull off. Kara will automatically lock-on to the closest enemy which makes firing easy, or you can slow down time briefly if you want to more manually aim your shots.
There’s a give and take with Rollerdrome’s system however, as the way you recover ammunition is by performing tricks. Ammunition is shared between all of your four weapons (dual pistols, a shotgun, grenade launcher, and a rifle) so you have to be conscious to be performing tricks so you’re never left without ammo. Simple maneuvers will only grant a few bullets, while more complex ones will supply you with more so chaining tricks together between kills is key to making sure you’re not left skating around with an empty clip. This leads to adrenaline filled moments where you’ll launch off a ramp and fire shots at a goon while performing some insane looking trick; it all somehow manages to feel effortlessly cool.
And I mean it when I say effortless. The gameplay feels incredibly smooth, from shooting to skating, and it helps that Kara will always correct herself to land perfectly. Some would call this “dumbing down” when games like OlliOlli or THPS rely on you learning to land your tricks correctly, but in practice this helps further the game’s motive of keeping you moving forward and never slowing down. A crash would put a pause that would ruin the flow of a run, and be an unnecessary thing to worry about when you’re already too busy trying to dodge attacks from enemies in every direction.
The key focus of the game is learning the best way to deal with each enemy type the game throws at you, all while keeping a combo going and skating around the arena. You’ll see normal bat-wielding goons who take swings at you if you get too close, and more elaborate enemies that fire missiles or leap into the air to slam down in a splash of acid. Rollerdrome is always keeping you on your toes, even if some sections of a level have odd difficult spikes as the game tosses multiple, difficult to deal with enemies at you in a close space.
Aided in part by a comic book inspired art style that helps heighten the apocalyptic absurdity of it all and a thumping soundtrack, Rollerdrome is a frenetic nonstop ride.
