I wasn’t one of those people who played OlliOlli back when it first came out almost eight years ago, but I did eventually give the franchise a try, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. I just thought it suffered a bit from a lack of focus of sorts. It wanted to be a simplified take on the skateboarding genre, but it featured some confusing controls and an annoying insistence on having to press a button to properly land your skate on the floor after performing a trick. I didn’t get the hype back then, but I wanted to give OlliOlli World a try. It felt like a completely new take on the formula, something meant to appeal to both veterans and newcomers, hardcore players and casuals. And boy, did the devs deliver.

Before tackling the gameplay, there’s something that needs to be said about OlliOlli World. Let’s get the obvious out of the way and talk about how delightfully weird, trippy and adorable this game looks. The best way I can describe it is if Adventure Time was thrown into a vat of LSD, and then tinkered further by someone who hasn’t managed to let the 90s go. This is a game where everyone looks like an Adventure Time character, talking like a forty year old trying to sound hip with “the youths” (“gnarly” and “tubular” are two of the most common words heard in this game), covered in trippy colors. Completely bonkers. Completely adorable.

Yes, it’s absolutely cheesy, to a borderline irritating way at times, but there’s something about OlliOlli World‘s style sense of humor that just captivated me from the get-go. Maybe it’s the 90s kid in me, the grumpy, borderline thirty year old who doesn’t understand the point behind NFTs, TikTok, or trap music, that just vibed with this cozy aesthetic. Perhaps it’s my fondness towards trippy imagery and silliness. Maybe it was just the fact that, at the end of the day, OlliOlli World felt like a playable cartoon, and a pretty good one at that.

Besides the art style (and everything that accompanied it, such as being able to create your own skater with a ton of detail), the main difference between OlliOlli World and its predecessors is its scope. It is a much larger game than before, with a bigger emphasis on storytelling, larger levels, more interactive elements such as quarter pipes and rideable walls. It also has a wider amount of objectives in each level, encouraging replayability. You are motivated to do so by unlocking more customization options for your character the more objectives you complete. It sounds simple in concept, but it works wonders, especially given how forgiving OlliOlli World is when compared to its predecessors.

While the control scheme remains mostly the same, with one stick being assigned to flips and the other one being assigned to grabs, the removal of the forced landing button press makes OlliOlli World a lot more accessible to newcomers. You can play the game like a hardcore completionist and look for all secret paths and sidequests to complete, for there are many. You can also, however, just casually stroll through each level, performing tricks at your leisure, which will also result in enough objective completions to unlock another track. It’s the best of both worlds: accessible and hardcore at once, without ever trying to compromise either of these two playstyles.

I wanted to play OlliOlli World thinking it was going to be a trippy and challenging arcade experience. Sure, it can be that if you want to, but what I liked the most about it was its inviting atmosphere, which made me want to tackle it as a borderline relaxing, “feel good” experience. Granted, I feel like its bite-sized levels and overall structure are best suited for a portable, be it the Switch or the upcoming Steam Deck, but I still had a blast with it on an Xbox. No matter how you decide to play it, OlliOlli World is just too damn adorable and cozy to say no to.

 

Graphics: 9.5 The trippy visuals, which mix psychedelia with cartoons like Adventure Time, are definitely OlliOlli World‘s main highlight.	Gameplay: 9.0 A bit confusing at first, but a blast once you get used to this control scheme. It’s also a lot more intuitive than any other OlliOlli game, not to mention less punishing, as you don’t need to worry about pressing a button before landing.
Sound: 7.5 It’s goofy and laid-back, with a lot of weird noise clips being used as “voice acting”. It’s funny, but definitely an acquired taste.	Fun Factor: 8.5 OlliOlli World‘s gameplay might be best suited for a portable, considering its fast-paced, bite-sized levels, but it will be a blast to play no matter where you decide to tackle it. I loved how it mixes simple arcade controls with one the most adorable cartoon art styles I’ve seen in a long time. It was also surprisingly relaxing to play.
Final Verdict: 9.0

OlliOlli World is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Switch.

Reviewed on Xbox Series S.

A copy of OlliOlli World was provided by the publisher.