Rollerdrome basically a video game version of Rollerball, the brilliant 1975 science fiction film starring James Caan. In Rollerball, monolithic corporations that control society and the least powerful citizens are forced to compete in lethal roller skating competitions, in the name of entertainment and casteism. (Yes, fiction existed a long time ago The Hunger Games.) The movie is a slow burn about brutality, quirky human rituals and giant collared shirts, and it’s a brilliant time capsule where the theme remains relevant. until today.
Rollerdrome builds a similarly rich and unsettling world through set pieces, costs, and audio cues, pulling the aesthetic of the 1970s into the 21st century in the process. Set in the year 2030, in a world controlled by big companies – the Matterhorn corporation is at the heart of a new bloody sport called rollerblading, where participants are challenged to shoot along. their way past enemies while completing ridiculous roller skating tricks. Rollerdrome comes from Roll7, the studio behind the OlliOlli skateboarding series – it just has four more wheels and more guns than those games.
I played a preview of Rollerdrome on Steam, use the controller as recommended. The entire game has a very comical look to it, with the main character wearing a red jumpsuit and striped white helmet, skates, and some handguns. It’s a single-player, third-person shooter with environments ranging from abandoned shopping malls to desert canyons, each with ramps, walls, voids, and windows. breakable, bringing more opportunities for tricks.
Roll7
Tricks are essential to Rollerdrome, and not just because they look super cool. Completing tricks is how you reload, so it’s important to keep moving. The game supports the classics, like ollies, grind, flip and grab, allowing you to spin all the way in mid-air to change things up. Roll7’s expertise with fast moving action is on full display here – it’s fun to simply skate along ramps, speed up and try new tricks, but this is only one aspect of the game. play.
As you roll and flip through the maps, you must dodge incoming shots from enemies, manage your health and ammo, and kill every character you see. Killing enemies leaves precious health gems, there’s a lock option for all guns, and you can slow time in waves. All of these elements combine to turn each level into an action movie with hand-drawn 70s filters: The protagonist is in slow motion high above the battlefield, shooting down a sniper first When landing back in real time, dodge rockets and roll at full speed into another jump. Dramatic scenes like this play out over and over again, as the ability to slow refill times quickly and complete quick tricks becomes second nature, in the name of ammo-gathering.
Roll7
Enemies have a variety of weapons, including sniper rifles, bats, shotguns, and rockets, while the protagonist receives weapons such as two-handed pistols, shotguns, and grenade launchers. There are tokens hovering around the maps indicating trick challenges, but otherwise each environment is an open and dangerous playground. You can slip off the edge of platforms and slopes, and this results in a time penalty, but it doesn’t stop the round. For world finishers, there are time- and skill-specific challenges in each level, each of which will raise your overall score at the end.
When you start moving in Rollerdrome, there’s no need to constantly press forward to accelerate, unleashing the spin, drop, flip, and shoot mechanics. Rolling is one of the most fun parts of the game, especially when multiple enemies have you in their sights – incoming flames are shown by a blue line that turns white when fired and Full dodge time leads to gratifying sound effects and a chance to temporarily increase damage. It’s thrilling when avoid, avoid, avoid and then jump into the air, slowing time and taking down those who are shooting at you, reloading and collecting health in the process. And at the same time, an original synthesizer transition keeps high energy.
