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Rollerdrome hands-on preview: A radically stylish title full of roller skating mayhem

You’ll have to ride to survive in this intense new bloodsport

Jasper Pickering

Tuesday 26 July 2022 14:00 BST

The game is set in the not-so-distant future (The Independent)

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Hot on the success of OlliOlli World (one of our favourite titles in 2022 so far), Roll7 has off-ramped of its success straight into its next extreme sports title, Rollerdrome,which is scheduled to be released 16 August 2022.

First revealed in June 2022 at Playstation’s recent State of Play event, Rollerdrome is an upcoming Playstation exclusive title with an emphasis on fast-flowing roller skating combined with third-person shooting.

It was first conceived as a skating/shooter hybrid by Roll7’s creative director, Paul Rabbit, with an early prototype showcasing the concept of performing tricks and taking aim at enemies. After that, the team started thinking about how that would fit into a dystopian setting.

We spoke with the developers of the gameto find out more about the upcoming title as well as played through an early section of the game ahead of its release.

“If you’re going to have roller skates and a gun in your hand you need to think of a reason for it and it wasn’t too much of a leap to take the premise and end up at the reference and tone of the setting that we ended up with,” says Drew Jones, senior producer at Roll7.

Rollerdrome’s tone, aesthetic and most apparent influence is the 1975 film Rollerball, starring James Caan, with a bloodpsort arena acting as a natural housing for the game’s roller skating mechanics. “We really feel that they go hand in hand” adds Jones. “The art style, the plot and also the player’s journey through the game are all interlinked that way because it’s grounded on a lot of references, such as Seventies cinema but also the bloodsport angle and shady nature from those genre films.

“It didn’t take too long to settle on our art style and premise but that came after our gameplay, that was paramount to us. Make it fun first then make the decision on where, when and why.”

Protagonist Kara Hassan can perform gravity defying flips, grinds and wallrides while simulteanously clearing the area of enemies with heavyy firearms as each arena acts as an open space, striking that balance between fast flow and momentum.

“That was a big part of what we were doing as the levels were being put together,” says David Jenkins, head of QA. “We want players to always be moving, always be maintaining that combo and momentum. This was our first fully 3D game, the first time we’ve had to contend with a whole new dimension to our games. It’s been a fun challenge and I like to think we’ve succeeded at.”

For our full hands-on preview, keep reading for more information on Rollerdrome.

‘Rollerdrome’: Privatedivision.com – available from 16 August 2022

Release date: 16 August 2022
Developer: Roll7
Age rating: 16+

Rollerdrome is set in an alternative near-future, where the eponymous bloodsport captivates a global audience. A shady megacorporation, Matterhorn, has taken over the governing body of the world’s most popular sport and plans to use the coverage for their own nefarious end.

As a newcomer to the sport, Kara Hassan must survive her way through several rounds of the Rollerdrome arena to make it to the final. Standing in her way are the International Rollerdrome Federation’s “house players”, which act as hostile obstacles with offensive and defensive capabilities, all looking to take her out in front of an international crowd of followers. They can range from bat-wielding grunts and become increasingly more challenging as Kara manages to survive the onslaught.

As a blend of extreme sports games and third-person shooters, Kara can perform grinds, grabs and wallrides as well as flips, while also taking pot shots at the house players as she skates through. Mid-air flips are complimented with “reflex mode”, that allows the player to slow down time to line up shots and scan the area for opportunities.

Kara Hassan is Rollerdrome’s gravity-defying protagonist (Roll7)

The game’s three main resources – health, ammo, and reflex time – are all replenished in different ways that encourage momentum by executing combos. Health is recovered from downed house players and ammo is replenished when tricks are performed. Mid-air grabs can also be complimented with flips with the tap of a shoulder button for some added flair that adds to the combo modifier. Making trick shots look stylish is all essential to the Rollerdrome experience.

Each arena also comes with its own list of challenges too, such as collecting combo tokens as well as performing certain tricks in hard-to-reach areas of the map. Some of these can be as simple as consecutively dodging enemy attacks and clearing a stage in a set time all the way to executing a perfect run in a single combo without getting hit, which lends itself well to replayability.

House players can be relentless in their attacks (Roll7)

Jumping, dodging, aiming and moving at the same time can lead to complex maneuvers while also dodging ballistics but after some familiarity, all of Rollerdrome’s systems come together to balance the experience out.

A quick push forward on the left stick will maintain a steady speed, which allows the jump button to be readied to maximise airtime. Even while airborne, Kara can still dodge projectiles coming her way. There’s also no fear of bailing as Kara is able to graceful roll out of any landing, without loss of speed.

Dodges on the ground can also change the direction of momentum quickly, giving ample room to meander around missiles, lasers and mines. “Air outs” also allow players to exit quarter pipes with a forward leap, and grinds and wall rides can be performed with the triangle button as well.

Kara can explore the world outside the arena (Roll7)

Outside of the arena, there are areas to explore that add some context between the other competitors and Kara herself. Locker room notes, newspaper cuttings and hushed voices heard through office walls all add to the game’sworldbuilding and paint a vivid picture of the world outside.

At first, the relentlessness of enemies can be overwhelming in their barrage of attacks but as soon as it clicks, itcan be a rewarding experience – especially once players tap into their “flow state”, where players will effortlessly switch between mid-air flips and blowing house players away.

Rollerdrome is shaping up to be one of the most stylish, twitch-inducing indie titles of 2022 with an extensive trick list and secrets to discover, carefully balancing on the sweetspot between learning and mastery that extreme sports games strive for.

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