Rollerdrome: PS5 Review

Developed by
Published by 
Platform: PS5

It's not unfair to describe Rollerdrome as a cross between James Caan's 1975 film Rollerball and Private Division's OlliOlli World.

The combination of skating, grinding, shooting and being stylish is a heady game that offers fun, but occasionally frustrates if you can't master the required multi-skilling on the controller.

It's a simple enough premise - It's 2030 and you are Kara Hassan, a participant in a deadly sport named Rollerdrome. So far, simple - basically, you skate, shoot and perform tricks to graduate each level.

But Rollerdrome requires you to master a large amount of flips, grinds, slides and jumps to help with simple things like refilling your ammo - you really do have to be the master of all trades when playing.

In many ways, its execution is very similar to SuperHot both in style and in aesthetics as you take on the House Players, targeting them and dispatching them. Each level has a certain number of them for you to take out, and only grants you a certain number of bullets before the clip is emptied and you have to rely on tricks to fill them back up.

But you're not stuck with one weapon either - progress is rewarded with access to other weapons, each of which helps you off the victims with ease and flair.

In between levels there is a narrative to follow as you poke around locker rooms, uncover various truths and generally get to be nosey as you like - from touching other's stuff to playing with tech, there's another world outside the Drome to discover.

It's addictive stuff to be sure - as long as you have the patience and dexterity to work out how to flip when needed and how to kill when prompted. There's a refreshingly lo-fi ethos on how the game is presented, but not how it plays. It's a smooth, silky game that when you find a flow excels.

Rollerdrome is addictive stuff; it rewards those willing to put the time to master its skills and with its 70s stylings and 21st century gaming mechanics, it's worth a trip to the Drome for sure.

A code for Rollerdrome on PS5 was provided for the purposes of this review.