Riders on the VOID

OlliOlli World was one of the biggest surprises for me this year. I respected the two previous games in the series, but I had bounced off both of them. I was afraid I was going to do the same with OlliOlli World, but now ??it stands as one of my favorite r?eleases this year.

It’s great to have an excuse to revisit it and feel insecure about how rusty I’ve gotten. VOID Riders is the perfect excuse to do so. It’s a rather sizeable collection of levels and a whole heap of new customization items to unlock. A new mechanic has been slotted in for good measure, as well, giving your thumbs n??ew reason to get confused and disappoint you.

OlliOlli World: VOID Riders (PC [Reviewed], Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
Developer: Roll7
Publisher: Private Division
Released: June 15, 2022
MSRP: $14.99 (Part of Expansion Pass)

VOID Riders sees your gnarly ??skateboarder rubbing elbows (or similar appendages) with aliens from ano??ther dimension. They want to steal our cows and check your tricks. Better pop some dope kicks. Otherwise, our guests will be bummed. I’m doing my best here with the lingo, but I never claimed to be cool.

For the price, you get 14 regular levels and four “boss�s?tages. It’s a decent chunk, and all the stages are rather long. The new extraterrestrial theme is put to good use in rails that curl themselves out in front of you and tractor beams that lift you up. You need to grab your way into a tractor beam; that’s the right stick. Note that this isn’t the right trigger, nor is it the left stick. Maybe get that into y?our heads, thumbs. Quit letting me down.

Totes gnar

Yeah, I had a lot of humiliating failures, which is kind of the way with OlliOlli World. I’d often enter a tractor beam, forget the controls for half a second, and wind up getting pulled too late and missing wherever I wanted to land. That’s absolutely not the game’s fault, but I’m going to complain about it anyway. In any case, it's not any worse in Void Riders.

With the levels come all the challenges. High score, side objectives, and attempting to make it to the end without using a checkpoint. Extra customization gear is awarded for the usual milestones, and there’s a decent assortm??ent of mundane and unusual pieces to collect. If you're feeling sassy, you can try to climb the leaderboards by putting together? the best combo possible. I kept dropping my long combos after a checkpoint, so you won't be seeing my name up there.

You'll at least put together a great bail tape

I was able to blast through the entire DLC in less than two hours, but that’s wi?thout going back for the additional objectives??. Just note that it’s not for the faint of heart. That last level nearly killed me. I’m serious. I don’t think I breathed through my entire success run. My brain needs oxygen.

If I have one complaint, it’s that the story is nothing special. The base game didn’t exactly have the most thrilling narrative either, and this just feels like a branch of? that. It’s mostly just there to tell you how transcendentally great your skateboarding is. You’re just the coolest. Everyone here and in the VOID thin??ks so.

If you’re looking for a reason to get back into OlliOlli World, VOID Riders is the perfect one. A lot of love has gone into these new levels, and they definitely live up to the quality of the rest of the game. Considering this is just the first half of the expansion pass?, that little investment is al??ready turning out to be good value. Here's hoping that the quality of the next one nails the landing.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post OlliOlli World VOID Ride??rs is the perfect reason to dust o?ff the deck appeared first on Destructoid.

Double double whipless mochaccino half-caf

I tried multiple times to get into the OlliOlli games, and each time I bounced right off. I get that it’s a beloved series, and the straightforward interpretation of skating the perfect skateboard line appeals to me, but there’s something so clinical about the depictio??n. Just getting through the tutorial is exhausting. I understand that it’s?? a sort of easy-to-learn hard-to-master kind of deal, and that’s what makes it appealing, but a game has to get its hooks in me before I care enough to master it.

I’m guessing I’m not the only person who hit this wall, but OlliOlli World seems custom-built to address that problem. Eschewing the generic 2D designs of the previous games, OlliOlli World uses the magic of 3D to add some much-needed pizzazz. Moreover, the game has been given a better system of progression, a radical narrative, and a few extra mov?es under the hood.

OlliOlli World (PC [Reviewed], Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PS4, PS5)
Developer: Roll7
Publisher: Private Division
Released: February 8, 2022
MSRP: $29.99

The world of Radlandia i??s in need of a new Skate Wizard, as? their current one is retiring. The job of the Skate Wizard is to commune with the Skate Gods in Gnarvana. As someone who just began existing a moment ago, you’ve been selected by some group of people to see if you’ve got the Skate Wizardy necessary for the role.

You travel through five worlds in your quest, picking up new skills as you go, in a bid to meet al??l the Skate Gods and maybe hang with them.

If you’re unfamiliar, the OlliOlli games are sidescrollers that task you with getting from the left-side of the level to the right-side in the gnarliest way possible. It’s a great little system, taking the stick-based trick system from EA’s Skate series and applying it to the die?-and-retry side-scroller formula. In a way, it boils skateboarding down to the barest essentials. You’re presented with a sick line, and you simply must nail it.

At the surface level, OlliOlli World overhauls the series' aesthetic. The sterile level-select menu has been replaced with a world map, and while it’s still largely linear, sid?e-quests have replaced the pro stages.

As previously mentioned, the game has swapped out its parallax backgrounds for a fully 3D world. This benefits it in a few ways; the worlds are easier to read, as it’s more apparent what is a grind rail and what is solid ground. OlliOlli World also looks nice, but the ba??ckgrounds are typically painted in a limited palette to reduce distractions. More importantly, though, there’s a customization system, which allows for better rewards for completing optional objectives and achieving high scores beyond big-dick points.

You’ll unlock new boards and outfits at a pretty decent rate. I generall??y skipped completing the goals unless there was something I actuall?y wanted to wear, so it helped keep me progressing through the game. That’s a big improvement compared to when I’d drop it two worlds in because I had no interest in climbing the leaderboards.

The core gameplay is pretty familiar. There’s less emphasis on nailing a landing �OlliOlli World doesn’t even give you that tu??torial until the second world �whi?ch makes it feel more approachable. Likewise, checkpoints have been added to the levels, but you’re rewarded for not using them.

In terms of tricks, there are some additions. Grabs have been added, complementing the quarterpipes and branching paths. You can also tweak grinds using the right stick, and while this is limited, it is another color in your crayon box. The lack of grabs in the previous games seemed like a bit of an oversight, and OlliOlli World feels more complete because of its inclusion.

Of course, the more you learn, the more there is to get your fingers twisted up. However, each skill is provided to you gradually throughout the entire game. By the time OlliOlli World decided to give me a lesson in manuals, I was already using them and mistakenly thought t?hat it was a duplicate tutorial. It’s all a matter of getting comfortable with the controls, bit by bit, ??then you can go back and shoot for the high score if that sort of thing flips your deck.

The levels themselves are a lot of fun. The later stages really feel like they push you to the edge of control, as you navigate a roller coaster of tracks. Part of the fun is learning to read the stages and react at speed. My brain often doesn’t have that sort of short-term memory, so going from grabs to manuals to grinds usually results in me eating dirt. Or worse, I accidentally press the restart button, even though it isn’t anywhere close to the pump?? button.

I never got frustrated with OlliOlli World, even as some of the jumps were spread out, requiring the perfect timing. Even when I attempted part of a level, like, fifty times because I need to complete an objective to get the benihana. It’s a mix of the chill soundtrack, the concentration-heavy gameplay, and the pleasant aesthetic. I found it hard to stay mad at it. It’s polished and well designed, so I always felt I onl?y had my stupid thumbs to blame.

While I may have tried and failed to enjoy previous OlliOlii games, OlliOlli World really sucked me in. It feels like this should be the entry poin?t for newcomers to the series, but I also think that it’s such a superior product that it would make going back to its predecessors more difficult.

To the end, however, I can’t say how people who have already mastered the first two games will feel about the added accessibility. From my point of view, the core OlliOlli gameplay hasn’t changed, but I never dug into the nuances before. The simplicity of the first two may be m??ore appealing to some. Likewise, the cartoon visuals might turn some people off if they take their side-scrolling skaters seriously.

From the perspective of someone who always respected but couldn’t penetrate the series, OlliOlli World feels just perfect. I was engrossed for long periods of time and absolutely ate through the title. I’m ready to move on, rather than push for completion, but I think that’s part of the beauty. T?here’s something for everyone, whether or not y?ou’ve got a competitive edge or just want to reach for Gnarvana.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: OlliOlli World appeared first on Destructoid.

Delays and much-anticipated titles are all coalescing into a few months

Last year saw a good deal of g?ames get moved, delayed, and pushed around. They all had to go somewhere. And as it turns out, many of those?? games landed in the February to April window.

I've alluded to it a few times in past news posts, but well, this is a very busy month for games. It really d??idn't even start with February, but last week with the launch of a new Pokemon game. And it continues on through an end-of-February triple-header, right on into a stacked March, and tapering off into the spring months.

Between Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Elden Ring, and Horizon Forbidden West, there are some heavy hitters launching early this year. And that's not even counting indies like Sifu or OlliOlli World. So how'd February turn out like this?

Well, to tell it succinctly, delays. Both Dying Light 2 and Horizon Forbidden West pushed out from 2021 launch dates into 2022. Industry heads like Xbox's Phil Spencer had indicated back in 2020 that the effect of COVID-19 on game development would start to be felt in early 2021. The impact has reached further with each month though, as studios are taking a little ??extra time to get things right.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_03kFqWfqs

Shifting release dates haven't just been limited to big year-over-year moves, either. Elden Ring was first set for January, before it got pushed back to Feb. 25. In a personal favorite, Sifu actually moved its release date back up. After being delayed from 2021 into 2022, developer Sloclap then moved from the end of February up to Feb. 8. Fans of specific genres get some heavy hitters in The King of Fighters XV, Total War: Warhammer III, Sol Cresta, and Monark. And of course, Destiny 2 takes on the Witch Queen.

Even February itself has to contend with stacked month-neighbors for games released. January closed out with Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and once we get into March, then we're looking at games like Gran Turismo 7, Triangle Strategy, and Babylon's Fall.

Square Enix in particular has March on lockdown, with the latter two games plus Stranger of Paradise and Chocobo GP all lined up for the month. Add in a new WWE 2K, a Rune Factory port, and a new Borderlands game, and well, March is just as packed with new games. Suddenly Saint's Row looks prescient for dodging this window.

With so many games coming out, it's hard to imagine how to keep up with everything. And honestly, the best option might be to just go with the flow. The more I look at the months ahead for games and the flood tha??t's coming, the more compelled I feel to focus in on what appeals to me. Bigger-budget games are probably going to fall by the wayside for me, in favor of niche appeals to my favorite styles of game, like fighting or tac??tics.

So, with a daunting lineup ahead, that's my advice to you: follow your heart. Or at least, your brain and what appeals most to it. Be comfortable missing out on a bi??g game if it's not your jam. Indulge in your creature comforts. Or even take the time to deep dive into something that's passed you by instead.

For us on the coverage side, it'll be? a hectic few months. But there certainly won't be a dearth of new ??games to talk about.

The post This Februar??y kicks off a pre??tty busy couple of months for games appeared first on Destructoid.

Take-Two's publishing label picks up the dev behind upcoming OlliOlli World

Roll7 is now under a new banner. Private Division announced today that it has acquired Roll7, the makers of the upcoming skateboarding game OlliOlli World.

Private Division was already set as OlliOlli World's publisher, and this acquisition will keep the studio and publishing label together through its future unannounced projects. Roll7 is currently aiming to launch OlliOlli World this winter, during Take-T?wo's ??fiscal quarter ending on March 31, 2022.

"Private Division has been an incredible publishing partner for OlliOlli World, and we’re elated to continue to grow as a studio as part of the label," said Roll7 co-CEO Simon Bennett in a press release. "Private Division has empowered our amazing team to raise the bar on our creativity and scope for OlliOlli World. Joining the la??bel puts us in a great position to continue to grow and to set our sights on achieving our ambition to become a pre-eminent global videogames developer."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2g1rlb9XvA

Private Division has signed on a number of talented indie development teams for games in the future, including Ori developer Moon Studios and Armello developer League of Geeks.

OlliOlli World has made a very good impression in the hands-on time we've had with it. When I played it earlier this year, I was really impressed by how Roll7 shook up the formula and overhauled its visual style while still retaining that excellent flow-state skateboarding gameplay from the original games. With Private Division backing its future, unannounced projec?ts, looks lik??e Roll7 will keep on rolling.

The post Private Division acquires OlliOlli de?veloper Roll7 appeared first on Destructoid.

I can see this pulling in a lot of new fans

It took a bit for today's Nintendo Indie World Showcase to get going, but I immediately latched onto OlliOlli World the moment it showed up. The next skateboarding game from Roll7 looks fan??tastic — an??d it's more ambitious than I would've expected. You've got to see these out-there character designs.

According to the studio, we'll be able to customize our skater's looks, tr??icks, and style while also carving our own path in the wacky world of Radland — literally. The levels have branching paths. That's one way to ease players?? into the end goal of reaching a hyper-focused zen state with mad combos.

Game director Tom Hegarty says that like the prior games, OlliOlli World boils down to "flow."

The trailer pretty much shows what it needed to a??t this point. I'm in! One extra note: there will be a separate sandbox mode with procedural levels that players can share using a "Zip code system."

OlliOlli World is coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S from Roll7 and publisher Private D??ivision ??in winter 2021.

The post OlliOlli World shows how?? far Roll7 has come since the first game appeared first on Destructoid.