When players start the game they will be greeted with a short intro explaining the premise of the game. This is not the case in OlliOlli World as each level has its own design elements and one level might have a drastically different setting than another while still fitting into the same theme of that area. The first two OlliOlli games also consist of multiple areas made up of a handful of levels but each of the levels in an area is very similar in design and nothing really stands out. The game is made up of five areas and each one has its own distinct artistic style and theme. The most obvious difference in OlliOlli World is no doubt the new flashy and colorful 3D art style that makes the game look like a high-quality cartoon you might watch on Cartoon Network. That should not be viewed as a knock against the game because it is a fantastic game that takes the core mechanics of the first two games and greatly expands on them as well as the overall gameplay, creating an experience that will attract a much wider audience of players and keep those players engaged with a wealth of content. OlliOlli World is not going to make the same long-term impression on the video game landscape as SMW. OlliOlli World, the third game of Roll7’s OlliOlli series, this time published by Private Division, also makes an impressive leap forward compared to its predecessors. Sure it had the same core mechanics, but it added a multitude of new ones and greatly expanded the scope of the original blowing past anyone’s expectations and becoming a cornerstone of the video game world. OlliOlli 2 is better than both of them, don’t me.When a game has the word “World” in its title I instantly think of Super Mario World, a game that was much more than a simple sequel. *For the record, the other two were Skate 3 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Review conducted on Nintendo Switch using a pre-release retail code provided by the publisher. Lowlights: Only for the very patient or very determined. Highlights: Satisfyingly tricky Beautiful art style Smart approach to controls It is intimately familiar with the art of not being deterred, of being willing to get up, dust yourself off and try again. It values skill and challenge, but it also understands that failure is an important part of the skater psyche. OlliOlli Switch Stance is the perfect game for those with a long commute, the kind of game you can pick up at any time and be rewarded. Jumping ahead before you’ve got the fundamentals down will limit your enjoyment and both of these games deserve better than that. The difference is so stark, the ramping of the difficulty curve between the two games so sheer that I recommend new players spend at least a solid day on OlliOlli before moving onto the sequel. With players agitating for greater level complexity, Roll7 were free to go to town. They aren’t sure how hard to push the player. The original features levels that, while certainly challenging, feel like they’re pulling their punches at times. Even in terms of level design, OlliOlli 2 feels like a liberation. It’s much more fluid and it helps all of the timings between tricks feel more fluid. OlliOlli 2 more or less abandons this look for one more in line with hand-drawn animation. The original game runs with a light pixel art look that gives it a certain retro feel. Visually, OlliOlli and OlliOlli 2 are worlds apart. OlliOlli not only nails the endorphin rush that accompanies landing a trick for the first time, but also the zen-like flow state you enter when stringing them all together in a run. You know what you want to do, it’s just trying to find the sweet spot between body movement and physics that will allow you to land the trick. Don’t expect to get it right away.” That’s the magic of OlliOlli, it perfectly captures the frustrations of actually learning to skate. As the game warns you during the tutorial, “Skating is hard. Tricks, grinds and manuals all flowed together in a beautiful cascade of rhythm and inertia. It took me around 30 minutes to properly get my head around the controls, and before long I was putting truly ridiculous runs together. Both games have a deceptively simple 2D look that belie one of the most complex-yet-satisfying control schemes I’ve encountered in years. Roll7’s OlliOlli and its follow-up OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood are side-scrolling skateboarding titles that are all about putting the sickest runs together and racking up massive score multipliers. There are only four good skateboarding video games, and the OlliOlli series are two of them.*
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