OlliOlli Reviews
If the hard path to mastering a completely irrelevant skill like speaking fluent Swahili when you live at the North Pole is something that appeals to you, then OlliOlli might be your perfect game.
OlliOlli is an addictive gem of a game. Beneath the simple aesthetic and controls lies a deceptively challenging and complex skateboarding game. It's great for short sessions, but be warned that it's also easy to accidentally sink a few hours into it while trying to achieve the perfect run.
In the end, OlliOlli is quite good. It's familiar enough for genre fans to be able to pick up quickly, yet it's different enough that it feels fresh. It's challenging enough to make people work for their high scores, but not to the point where retrying the same level becomes infuriating. It features a good amount of gameplay that can be endless if you like chasing high scores, and though it is best enjoyed in short bursts, playing it in prolonged sessions doesn't hurt. Even if it doesn't cause a resurgence in the extreme sports genre, OlliOlli can stand as one of the better sports games on the PC.
For every time I've thought, "if only this game had a tight control scheme and consistent physics and scoring," the devs at Roll7 must have been furthering their plot to make 'OlliOlli.' I would never have guessed that I could be addicted to a skateboarding title, and I have some serious concerns that the Vita might not have been designed to support such a replayable (if brutally challenging) game. It might not be much of a looker and many will confuse it at a glance for an iOS title, but the gameplay really trumps such superficial concerns. If anything, they should make a version for the PS3/PS4, and put one of the DualShocks to work.
OlliOlli is a game that sounds good on paper, but in the end, doesn't work. By the end, you realise you're just going through the same routine, except this time you're flicking the analog stick a bit more than you were a few minutes ago. Only take this one if you're really desperate for something to play when you're on the bus.
OlliOlli is a cracking little game that combines fiendish challenges with simple fun, with the responsive controls and inventive level design making for a game balanced perfectly between enjoyment and frustration. It's just a shame that it doesn't fully take advantage of the Vita's capabilities, with little sense of score challenges between friends so masterfully wrought in the likes of MotorStorm RC. Still, a worthwhile purchase for arcade fans, and a cracking content package at a budget price.
OlliOlli is pure, sublime skating perfection.