The high-octane, gladiatorial gameplay of Rollerdrome feels as though it was created to satisfy a very specific fantasy - what if Tony Hawk's Pro Skater had guns? The execution is almost as exciting as the idea itself, but the result is a game which demands technical skill from its player, and may not appeal to those with little desire to master the intricacies of its tricking mechanics. Nevertheless, Rollerdrome is a beautiful, polished, and impressive experience, which is only weighed down by components that unfortunately feel ancillary to its core gameplay.
Rollerdrome was created by a team of only 44 developers at Roll7, and envisions roller derby as a lucrative, wildly popular bloodsport. The player dons the roller skates, jumpsuit, and helmet of Kara Hassan, a rookie entrant in the International Rollerdrome Federation's 2030 Championship series. Rollerdrome's smoothly violent bloodsport sees competitors take on increasingly difficult groups of enemies as they progress through the tournament, tricking their way into regenerating ammo for a small arsenal of weaponry. The third-person shooter tasks the player with completing a number of challenges in addition to the base requirement of survival during each round of the Championship, a progression system that can turn Rollerdrome's intoxicating, almost rhythmic gameplay into a frustration.
Rollerdrome's narrative is exceedingly minimal. Before every round in the tournament, players are given a first-person perspective to explore a small area, where interactable items and radio broadcasts hint at the dire, dystopian nature of the world surrounding the International Rollerdrome Federation. The undercurrent delivers anti-corporate themes in the same vein as Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, though much more insidious and devoid of snarky humor. The large majority of its two short campaigns, though, are spent in the Rollerdrome arenas.
Each stage is filled with quarter pipes, ramps, and rails, then populated by a variety of enemies. Players skate around the arena, dodging attacks while acrobatically unloading their guns into the enemies, all of which require varying strategies or weapons. At times, Rollerdrome can feel like a hectic puzzle game, with the player needing to figure out which enemies should be eliminated first, and which ones might actually be helpful to keep around. Executing a Perfect Dodge refills some ammo, and immediately triggering the game's bullet time mechanic afterward will let Kara dish out extra damage. The sniper across the map might be an annoyance, but the telegraphed moment of attack is easy to manipulate into an advantage.
Although not quite rhythm-based like Metal: Hellsinger, there is an exceptional satisfaction in getting into the flow of Rollerdrome's combat. Scoring a kill adds a tally to the game's combo counter, and keeping a high multiplier is a necessity for earning a high rank on any given level. Herein lies the long term draw of Rollerdrome; those who strive for the perfect run and a top spot on the leaderboards will have plenty to master. Dodging attacks, hot-swapping weapons, and hitting Rollerdrome's significant variety of tricks turns into a delicate dance.
Each level has a set number of enemies that spawn in waves, a design that can annoyingly catch the player off-guard and ruin what was a near-perfect run. A sudden barrage of rockets, lasers, mines, and snipers can quickly reduce Kara's health, which must be recouped by eliminating foes - mechanic similar to that featured in Bloodborne, though Rollerdrome enemies drop health on the ground that can be picked up whenever convenient. Overall, the combat itself is compellingly designed and is rewarding for those who can master it.
A detractor from the fun, however, is the campaign's progression. Simply completing a level is not always enough to unlock the next, and some will have to be replayed for the sole purpose of ticking off challenges. This can be disabled in Rollerdrome's Assists menu, alongside a number of other options to ease the difficulty. These Assists disqualify the player from submitting their score to the leaderboard, which is understandable for most of them, but the gated progression doesn't accomplish much aside from forcing the player to replay levels.
That is the only major downside to what is otherwise a very enjoyable game. The fun skating of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater turned into a bloodsport is wildly entertaining, especially with the vibrant art style and fitting soundtrack, but Rollerdrome's scope is rather limited beyond that. Players who fancy the challenge of shooting for the optimal run to attain a personal best may get sucked in, but those hoping for much beyond the eponymous sport won't find a deep narrative or character development to latch onto.
Rollerdrome launches on August 16, 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a PS5 code for the purpose of this review.