OlliOlli (Vita) review ""...OlliOlli offers a new take on the sport, combining intuitive controls and challenging levels that create a fun and addicting experience.""

Skateboarding has had an intermittent presence in video games. Activision’s Tony Hawk series was revolutionary at first, but was run into the ground by the need for annual releases and a lack of new ideas. EA’s Skate series pushed the genre in a more realistic direction, providing a less fantastical alternative to the Tony Hawk games. But with both series petering out over the couple years, the skateboarding game looked to be a relic of a previous console generation. But Roll7’s OlliOlli offers a new take on the sport, combining intuitive controls and challenging levels that create a fun and addicting experience.

On first glance, OlliOlli’s grey-heavy art style shares a lot in common with the popular 2-d endless runner, Canabalt. The game features a clean, slightly cartoonish look that becomes more varied as you progress through each set of levels, each with their own distinct location. These locations start out at a standard skate park, and become more unrealistic as you move on. While the graphics are solid, the real star of OlliOlli is the gameplay.

OlliOlli offers a surprisingly technical control scheme for a handheld game. The player character moves automatically, with the x button used to speed up your run so you can create better tricks. The trick system has some impressive depth. Using the right stick and the shoulder buttons in tandem is imperative to getting big combos to increase your score, and advance through the levels with speed and style.

It sounds easy, but it is much more difficult in practice. The time between nailing a combo and hitting the ground with perfect timing or landing sloppily can be milliseconds. Much like real skateboarding, OlliOlli demands precise timing and sharp reflexes if you don’t want to wipe out constantly. The learning curve is steep, but the payoff is worth it. OlliOlli is an excellent purchase for your Vita.

Community review by sam1193 (May 07, 2014) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.