And while I love a high score, I’ve been replaying levels more to get new decks and shoes. I’ve probably spent as much time perfecting my look as perfecting my runs. There’s so much of it, and it ranges from classic skater looks to oddball gear like gas masks and ice cream sundae hats. One of my favorite parts of the game has been the clothing you steadily unlock. The other thing the new, more vibrant setting gives the game is a sense of style - and not just in the cool levels and interesting characters. And when you do finally pull off one of those seemingly impossible runs, it’s incredibly satisfying. On the few occasions I did find myself stuck, I was able to find a different route or simply go to another level to clear my brain. But each level is short, has multiple checkpoints, and restarting is nearly instantaneous, so things rarely got frustrating for me. Sometimes this requires trial-and-error I died a lot during my time with the game.
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Read next: How Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater changed the lives of some of the world’s biggest skaters so that you’re constantly speeding through a level. Basic tricks are extremely simple to do, but the challenge is chaining them together with various forms of movement - jumps, grinds, wallrides, etc. The simplified control scheme and smartly-designed levels work together to help you get there. OlliOlli World, like all skateboarding games, is at its best when you reach that zen-like state where you’re reacting instead of thinking. Part of the game’s story involves reaching a place called Gnarvana, which, silly as the pun may be, suits the game perfectly. The scale can be incredible often times I was holding my breath as I chained together tricks across impossible distances. Initially levels are fairly straightforward, but eventually you’ll have to deal with moving platforms, destructible bridges, moving trains, branching paths, and giant purple crystals. It’s a lot of fun just to look at, but it has also given the level designers the liberty to go wild. The final world is a surreal take on Las Vegas. You’ll roll through deserts with walking cacti in the background, and factories filled with disturbing industrial goo. Everything in OlliOlli World is bursting with color and energy.
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More importantly, though, the fantasy universe really adds life to the franchise, which was previously full of drab, utilitarian urban environments. (There’s a character who is named simply “Dad,” so you know the jokes are bad.) It’s charming and cute, though it can get a little chatty at times thankfully you can skip through most of the dialogue if you want. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but the story mode takes you across five very different biomes and subjects you to a lot of skateboarding puns. You’re guided through the world by a handful of quirky skaters, who set you on a quest to meet all of the rad deities and become a skate wizard.
The previous two games took place in a fairly traditional, modern urban setting, so the biggest change for OlliOlli World is its strange new world. The controls are surprisingly intuitive, primarily using the two analog sticks to pull off grinds and tricks, and the games do a great job of steadily ramping up the complexity. You control a tiny skater in a 2D world, skating your way through intricately-designed levels in search of a high score and, occasionally, secrets.
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The OlliOlli series dates back nearly a decade, and is probably best-described as a side-scrolling take on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. But even with all of the oddball humor and bizzaro levels, OlliOlli World still manages to capture the soul of skateboarding - and it’s a hell of a lot of fun. It looks and sounds like a long-lost animated series on Adult Swim. It takes place in a fictional realm called Radlandia, which is ruled by skate gods, where players train continuously to become a skate wizard by grinding their way through haunted deserts and mystical forests. OlliOlli World might be the strangest skateboarding game of all time.