OlliOlli World Review

When I saw the trailer for OlliOlli World, developed by Roll7, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. It was fast-paced, full of action, and looked to be a challenging experience. After going through the huge variety of customisation options, I had a character that slightly resembled me, and a cool skateboard to take on the challenges with. I’ve been playing games since I was a kid, this is going to be easy! At least that was the plan until I started playing. I was stuck on one of the tutorial levels, for two hours! Even though I was trying to follow the instructions the game was trying to tell me, for some reason I just couldn’t do it. I was concerned, how the heck was I going to write a review of this game when I had only seen part of the intro?

Luckily, the next day when I tried again, something clicked. Apparently, when you are trying to perform a trick with the left thumbstick, you just flick it in the right direction and you do that move. If you hold it down too long or time it poorly when you are on a ramp, your character won’t get the height and distance they need to clear the gaps or obstacles on the course. Once you figure out the right timing, along with the right way to perform the tricks, you are golden! If you do find you are crashing and wiping out a lot, OlliOlli World lets you restart from the beginning of the course if you hold down the Y button. Or, if you are far enough to pass a checkpoint, a tap of the Y allows you to return there. I really appreciated this when I would get stuck in a difficult area and had no desire to go through it again!

In OlliOlli World’s story, you are travelling the world of Radlandia with a group of upbeat and oddball characters, even one named Dad. He isn’t actually your father but he’s the oldest member of the group and he owns a skate shop called RadDads. They feel that you have the skills required to take over as the Wizard of Skating from Chiffon, who wants to retire. The Wizard is how humans communicate with the five Skate Godz. Apparently, they thought they had found the chosen one at least 20 times before discovering you, but they must be right this time! They decide to teach you all the skills you will need on your journey to become the Skate Wizard and meet the five godz in Radlandia. If you know what you are doing already they will let you skip the explanations but since I haven’t played any of the previous OlliOlli titles in the past, this was all new to me.

Once you learn a skill you will be taken to a stage to make sure you know how to effectively use everything you have been taught. At first glance, looking at the requirements needed to complete the stage seems simple, but when you mess up the same jump fifty times over you start questioning your gaming skills. I thought I would effortlessly accomplish all the required tasks to beat the level and be able to get all the bonuses to unlock new clothing items. By the time I was able to complete the course I just wanted to move on and I figured I could come back to these stages at a later time to get these extra perks.

The graphics in OlliOlli World are great, everything has a beautiful hand-drawn look to it that is incredibly smooth and never slows. Looks-wise it is reminiscent of the Adventure Time cartoon. OlliOlli World at first looks like a 2D skateboarding game, but once you start travelling to the other areas of the map that will open up to you, you realise that it is a 3D game with multiple layers that you get to skate through. Your character isn’t only ever on one track, but some of the courses split off in different directions allowing you to decide which of the paths you want to take. If a track has an obstacle that you find difficult to get past, you not only skate on a sidewalk, but you get to grind on rails, benches, on billboards being carried by bees, and boardwalks by the beach. There are many obstacles that will show up in your way that you will want to jump over or run into depending on which of the tasks you are trying to complete. I felt bad crashing into pigeons that were hanging out on the rails by the beach, but there was something satisfying about the surprised squawk you would hear when you collided. OlliOlli World also has a radio that allows you to switch the station at any given time. If one song feels too relaxing for all the chaos that is happening on the screen you can always switch it to something more upbeat. It was nice to be in control of the tunes!

Besides all the cool levels and skating action, OlliOlli World has some of the best character customisation options I have seen. There are so many options to choose from right from the start so you don't have to grind to get neat clothes and accessories. Want your character to have a bright green mohawk with a moustache and skirt? There are options for that, and several styles of moustaches too. I recommend giving your character a helmet because I guarantee there will be multiple head injuries after trying to complete these challenges. Though it’s not like your character in the game will get hurt, it still felt like the responsible thing to do along with knee and elbow pads.

OlliOlli World is a game that will keep you busy for a really long time. There were so many times I would mess up trying to get across a gap, or would constantly crash into rocks and water knowing that it was coming. It felt like I was making the same silly mistake over and over again. It’s definitely one of those games that makes you want to bang your head against the wall. But I just couldn’t stop playing, I kept thinking “just one more try!” Eventually, I did get through it, no matter how frustrated I was getting; it kept drawing me back in to try again. There are so many skills to master here that you won’t get bored, it gives you the liberty to skate how you want, adding to the fun. If you want to make combos of grinds, jumps, and advanced tricks, you totally can, but if you'd rather do basic jumps, that’s fine too! If you aren’t trying to complete all the specific bonus challenges after learning the basic moves, you are free to do your thing.

This is one of the most challenging games I have played in a while, though I was never blaming the game for my lack of success; it was always due to human error on my part. If you are a fan of games that will really test your patience and your persistence, this is definitely a must-play title for you. Plus, with a cool art style and so many crazy characters, OlliOlli World is a game full of personality. Though I do have to say I am very concerned about my character, she must have had some massive brain trauma after all those rocks and piers she crashed into… repeatedly…