Rollerdrome is one of the most unique combo-building games in years. Its combination of Tony Hawk-style skating with Max Payne-esque gunplay is a joy to play. Nailing combos while taking down a swath of diverse enemies does feel nice, even if it does get a bit overwhelming at times. Plenty of players will find a ton of challenges in repeat playthroughs of levels to achieve everything, and will assuredly be able to pull off some sweet moments.
Rollerdrome, simply put, is a mix of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Max Payne, and The Running Man. Skating along trying to build up combos while dodging bullets is deceptively easy to learn, and excruciatingly hard to master. I’ll freely admit that I’m pretty terrible at playing Rollerdrome; my hand-eye coordination could never seem to catch up to what the game needed me to do. Whether it was accidentally airing out at the top of a ramp or feeling the urge to consistently hold the jump button (slowing down my speed), I was always subject to any number of the wild enemies I encountered in the Rollerdrome.
“Easy to learn, hard to master” is a phrase thrown around a lot in gaming, and Rollerdrome wants to embody it. Flicking up on the stick will start Kara Hassan rolling forward, X is the jump button (which can be held to charge a jump at the apex of a ramp), and pressing Square with any combination of stick throws will perform tricks. Very Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater-style. Weapons are just as simple: the D-pad acts as Kara’s weapon wheel, and Rollerdrome auto-locks to enemies as you get within range of them. Again, easy to learn.
What’s hard to master is everything else. Rollerdrome’s main goal is to perform as many cool tricks as possible, while at the same time killing as many House Players (Rollerdrome’s hapless enemies) as quickly as possible. Being able to dodge sniper fire, mines, rockets, and other even wilder weapons, while also stringing together trick combinations and chasing extra-level goals, was never a skill I acquired. Performing tricks rewards ammo refills while killing enemies rewards health drops; both important and cool pieces of gameplay that were often my downfall.
As stylishly impressive as it is, I simply could not click with Rollerdrome’s gameplay. Like many of these combo-building games, there’s a certain rhythm or “flow-state” that players need to enter to be able to achieve the highest scores. As hard as I tried, I was never able to find that rhythm where everything just clicked. There was always a random bit of sniper fire I never saw coming to ruin my combo or a brand new weapon that lit up the entire Rollerdrome (looking at you blue fire-breathing laser dudes) that distracted me from being able to focus on the combo building portion of the game.
That being said, while Rollerdrome didn’t click for me, it’s easy to say that it’s one of the most stylistically impressive games in a while. Being able to slow down time Max Payne-style is always satisfying, and there’s a resounding sense of success when you finally do nail some trick combos while taking out some enemies. Rollerdrome’s story of violent capitalistic tendencies run amok is a bit on-the-nose at times but is serviceable to keep the levels rolling. The game is also beautiful with its cell-shaded style; feeling downright dreadful while still being colorful.
Rollerdrome is one of the most unique combo-building games in years. Its combination of Tony Hawk-style skating with Max Payne-esque gunplay is a joy to play. Nailing combos while taking down a swath of diverse enemies does feel nice, even if it does get a bit overwhelming at times. Plenty of players will find a ton of challenges in repeat playthroughs of levels to achieve everything, and will assuredly be able to pull off some sweet moments. Unfortunately, I ended up being pretty terrible at the game; but it’s hard to deny that Rollerdrome is something special.
