Platform: PS Vita
Genre: Platforming, skating
Publisher: Roll7
Release Date: 22nd January, 2014
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When I think of skating games, the first thing that comes to mind is Tony Hawk. When I saw the trailer for OlliOlli a month ago, the first game that came to mind was Cool Boarders on the PlayStation from over a decade ago. OlliOlli seemed like a perfect marriage of those two games with a generous touch of Canabalt thrown in. I spent hours on my PlayStation on the half pipe in Cool Boarders and it’s sequel and still remember many of the combos. When I launched OlliOlli for the first time and started playing, I couldn’t stop grinning. While it isn’t a Skate by EA or a Tony Hawk, OlliOlli does a lot to make it worthy of your PS Vita.
The art in OlliOlli reminds me of Canabalt on mobile and that isn’t a bad thing at all. Your pixel art character grinds on rails, dinosaurs, helicopter blades all while lush and lovely environments slowly move behind.
Career mode has 50 different levels spread across 5 different areas, each with 5 challenges and combos. After completing a level, you unlock Spots mode that has one combo chance. This is insanely fun and once you’re done with an area, I suggest you do the spots because you will still be in the same mental space as that area. Each area has its own set of obstacles and in many levels, it takes multiple attempts to just complete the level let alone complete the challenges.
As with Spelunky, a daily challenge adds to the fun. In OlliOlli, it is called the Daily Grind. You can practice playing which is a welcome change for newbies because the second challenge I played was from the last area in the game and I ended up with a grand total of zero points. The levels don’t stop there. There’s a super hard mode called RAD mode that gets unlocked when you complete all 250 challenges. This mode only allows you to get perfect grinds and perfect landings.
The game definitely has a learning curve but once you get the hang of huge controls, everything feels natural and you will be grinding in no time. You use the left analog stick and the X button throughout and can use the left and right bumpers for some advanced tricks. The left analog stick is used to jump and to grind and you press X while you’re about to land to properly bank your score and land properly. You also use X to pick up speed. There are some combos that take a while to master involving counter clockwise and clockwise rotations and a shoulder button but like I said before, you’ll be grinding perfectly after a few levels. You will also see yourself fall flat on your face multiple times throughout so get used to it.
OlliOlli has a lot going for it. Even the soundtrack is full of some amazing tracks by The Qemists and Evil Needle that perfectly suit the gameplay. The soundtrack does get a little repetitive if you’re stuck on a particular level for a long time.
I experienced a few crashes in certain levels and confirmed that it does crash with Sahil as well. The crashes were random for the both of us. The Daily Grind mode would have been much more fun if you could actually see leaderboards with your friends and not just the top scores of the day worldwide. The Neon areas also have some ambiguous surfaces that are way too confusing given the environment behind them.
OlliOlli suffers from some issues but it still is an absolutely great game that truly benefits from the handheld aspect of the Vita and the physical controls. A lot of people may think this game is more suited to mobile phones but precision controls are a must. OlliOlli will leave you frustrated but keep you coming back for more for a long time. If you have a PS Vita, it is a no brainer to get this assuming you actually enjoy games. I hope a patch fixes the crashes because dealing with a crash while you’re in the middle of a massive combo is beyond annoying.
