You know that feeling you get when you see a game and say to yourself, “That looks cool! I must get around to playing that!” And then, before you know, its sequel is out? Well, that was the case with me and OlliOlli and its successor, OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood.
What looks to be a basic side-scrolling (or side-skating game as it is in this case) is actually very far removed from. The preferred method of operation is a controller, but the option to use a keyboard is available and — sadly — the only option this reviewer had available. Multiple keys are used to manoeuvre your skater, nothing like the arrows and space bar that I was expecting. The keyboard layout certainly adds some difficulty to the game. If you can actually master the keyboard, then I wish you the best of luck in trying to obtain the kind of score achievable with a controller.
Players would certainly be lost without the obligatory tutorial as even that is a challenge in itself. It’s rather handy that the tutorial doesn’t have to be completed to go forth and play through the game. I’ll will openly admit that I couldn’t complete it. I probably wouldn’t even be able to complete it successfully even if I had access to a controller.
The stages themselves grow in difficulty as you progress through the levels, as you would expect, but it is a blistering difficulty, only to be further burdened by my choice of control system. This forces you to go over a level multiple times, just to beat the target score or nail that elusive combo. Failure is imminent, it’s not optional. Don’t kid yourself. You will fail, over and over and over again.
Don’t come to play OlliOlli 2:WTO for its graphics, as you may be disappointed. Remember, it’s a basic side-scroller. Don’t be totally discouraged though, and keep your eye out for the odd cameo in crowd scenes; you may be pleasantly surprised. The soundtrack is extremely fitting and not too overbearing if you are not a fan of the genre, setting a mood for some skating fun. Tracks can be easily cycled through with a simple keystroke or button press until you find your favourite.
The bottom line is that if you have your heart set on playing OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood, you probably wait until you find it available on a console, or you purchase yourself a PC controller. If you want to venture into some of the multiplayer options available then, once again, it’s probably going to best left to the lounge room.
Not having played the first game, it’s truly difficult to suggest whether or not putting your hard earned funds towards OO2:WTO is a worthy purchase or just more of the same. There’s hundreds of similar games out there, I suppose it’s the level of challenge that you like to present yourself that will be the deciding factor.
OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood was reviewed using a promotional code of the game on PC, as provided by the publisher.
Review: OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood
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