Our heroine basically ignores all that and magically lands on her feet regardless of what state of trick-pulling you’re in. What I really appreciate is that there’s no wipeout if you seemingly flub a trick. Luckily, you have a dodge button to defend yourself and also change directions quick if you’ve built up too much forward momentum. Some weapons like the Grenade Launcher require you to perform different consecutive tricks to fully reload, so you need to be on point with your jumping and tricks management while also avoiding enemy fire. The more stylized you get with tricks, the more bullets you can reload. But how do you reload, you might ask? Simple: just do tricks. She can also lock-on targets so that the aiming doesn’t get in the way of the skating and speeding. Kara is as skilled with her pistols as she is with her rollerblades, as well as with the aforementioned shotgun and grenade launcher.
Rollerdrome is a little different: you do all that AND you kill every House Card enemy on-screen, from melee grunts to snipers to even mechas with flamethrowers and rocket launchers.
If you’re too young to know what a Tony Hawk game is, we’ll explain: you get dumped in a skating park with ramps and rails, you perform tricks with simple button inputs, you score points doing tricks and complicated moves, and you try to get a high score. Each bout puts you in a different locale from a ski resort to even an empty shopping mall with elevator handles to grind and glass panels to break through. Killing enemy waves isn’t enough to progress you also need to complete different challenges to earn enough points to advance within the tournament brackets. As main character Kara Hassan, you have to fight your way to the top. But instead of attitude and spray paint, you have a gun.
There are no two ways about it: Rollerdrome is basically 80s neon wave-fashioned Tony Hawk Pro Skater and Jet Grind Radio combined.
If you ever want to relive the fantasy of being in a game show where killing is mandatory and roller derby skills are of equal importance, you might be enticed by Roll7’s latest indie offering.