Rollerdrome Review (sheaubeau)
A good game that has some major balancing issues that I have not seen others address.
The initial thrill of skating around doing tricks and shooting guys in slow motion is awesome. You feel cool, you look cool, and you're having a good time. However, after the first few levels I started to notice the lack of depth this game actually has.
This game combines two very different genres and makes notable concessions from both. Skating is simplistic. There are only 24 tricks, half of which are grinds. There is no penalty for a sloppy landing or bonus for a clean landing, in fact its impossible to wipe out at all. The penalty for repeat moves is too generous. You can get an S rank in all stages without thinking about tricks at all.
The shooting is also simplistic. There is a VERY generous lock on for your pistol and shotgun. As long as the enemy is on your screen and close you will auto lock immediately. The grenade launcher and sniper require manual aiming however the sniper rifle gives you enormous leeway when aiming at faraway targets. As long as you're close with the sniper it hits.
These issues are notable, but the biggest issues in the game revolve around the dodge and slowdown mechanics. When you aim time slows down and you may remain in this state for an extended period of time. It works well, however when coupled with perfect dodges it ruins the game. If you dodge at the last moment (a very generous moment if you play action games) you perform a perfect dodge. If you aim right after you perfect dodge you gain double damage. This breaks the game.
Gameplay after the 4th stage looks like this: Skate with no thought towards what tricks you're doing, wait for a sniper to shoot you, perfect dodge, enter slowdown, one shot whatever enemy is closest, repeat. It gets old quick. You might think I'm meta-gaming too hard but the game actually encourages you to play this way. Many challenges revolve around entering double damage mode and killing people.
There is a hard mode. What a great opportunity to let skilled players push themselves! Removing auto aim? Reducing slowdown timer? Stricter stale trick penalties? Bonus tricks? No no no no. Hard mode has more numerous enemies that do more damage and that's it. In some games, the real game hides in the second playthrough, in this its an afterthought.
This is a great game if you are looking for a casual evening of fun. I would wait until its on sale, blitz the campaign and put it away. If you are looking for a deep score attack game that will keep you hooked searching for that high score look elsewhere.