I want to start with the look and sound of Rollerdrome. As soon as I saw the trailer, the game had my attention immediately. Rollerdrome has a very retro aesthetic and tone that's reminiscent of the post-apocalyptic and science fiction movies of yesteryear. Critics have mentioned Death Race and the original Rollerball as possible inspiration but what came to mind for me was the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man (the book was better but the movie was still dumb fun). Combine that with the cel-shaded graphics (think something like Hades) and it fits together perfectly. The soundtrack is also heavy on synth/electronica and feels right at home when paired with the visuals. The team behind this part of the game knew what the were doing and they succeeded. Establishing a vibe helps the player immerse themselves in the world and I was in for whatever Rollerdrome was dishing out immediately because of the stellar work done in this facet.
Our game begins in the year 2030 in the USA. With rising chaos in the country, the corporate entity Matterhorn (who are simultaneously trying to get government approval to privatize policing in the country) is launching another season of the hugely popular but scarily violent Rollerdrome. We play as Kara Hassan, a rookie contestant who's looking to make her mark on the sport and pay down some debt. The overall description of the sport can be summed up as the following: individual competitors enter arenas on roller skates and are charged with eliminating the "house players" (more or less the other team) in as little time as possible through the use of various guns. Past that recap, the premise isn't revolutionary overall but just like the audio/visuals, it's a real throwback and there's potential to grow it further. The story is drip fed to the player between the stages intermittently and we find out a little more about our fellow participants like former champ Morgan Fray and challenger Casper Ickx and about the conflict between Matterhorn and the resistance group NAA (the New Action Army). The story is pretty compact and you may be expecting more (I'll touch on that further later) but it does accomplish its goal of moving Rollerdrome from point 1 to point 2. The story isn't just thrown together and they were right to include it but I certainly wouldn't call Rollerdrome a plot-heavy game.
Now that I've gotten the "weightier" elements out of the way, what's special about Rollerdrome is the gameplay which is thrilling and never stopped being amazing. As much as I want to say "think the Tony Hawk games with gunplay", that's still selling Rollerdrome short. You're performing tricks and stunts while scoring points and shooting bad guys. You can slow down time and use different weapons. Once I got the hang of it (which took a little bit) I had buckets of fun with every level. The novelty of flipping and grinding around the map and then slowing time to blow away someone from halfway across the map never lost it's novelty. It made me feel like an action-movie hero and I loved it from start to finish. The only trade-off is that Rollerdrome is pretty difficult. The game moves smoothly but at breakneck speed. You zoom around the map and it's hard to keep track of where everyone is, your health meter, your combo points etc. I died a fair amount of times and I'll admit it was hard not to get frustrated. But the positives far outweighed the negatives and after I started developing my own process for how to move and manage eveything, my enjoyment of Rollerdrome launched to that next tier.
Most of my complaints with Rollerdrome are minor and aren't necessarily with the game as it is. The biggest flaw for Rollerdrome is that the game seems 80% of the way there to something truly amazing. The background story about Matterhorn and their lack of scruples surrounding both the sport of Rollerdrome and their operations worldwide is interesting but it's barely featured. The arenas are eye-catching and present unique challenges but there are only 4 distinct ones and each different level changes the layout slightly but the aesthetics are largely the same. The enemy types keep the pace up and the environment chaotic but there isn't much variety overall. The campaign doesn't overstay its welcome, but it's really short overall. The game is great by itself but there's still a feeling like it could have used a little more time in the oven. Some more depth, some more variation and Rollerdrome might have been hailed as transcendent. I want to reiterate that the finished product is still great but I couldn't help but wish it could have been even more.
Rollerdrome is a great indie title that deserved more hype in my opinion. It got a lot of critical praise but some of the harsher reviews still aren't amiss either. There was the potential for the whole shebang here but it completing a trick with 3 flips instead of 4 doesn't make it a failure. If you can be patient with yourself in learning to play Rollerdrome and if you can look past a couple of lacklustre aspects, there's a great game here that more than justified the price tag for me. I'd rate it an 8.5/10 rounding up to a 9/10. I enjoyed Rollerdrome throughout and I'm happily recommending it to anyone interested in playing it.
