BloodBorne! First Impressions.

To Be or Not to Be

What's up everybody.  So by my guesstimation I'm just passed the half way point in Bloodborne. Newest hit by From Software games released one week ago today, well received by critics but certainly not for the casual player. From Software is the bully on the playground that actually has a lot of friends.  I'm a victim and failure of their previous game, Dark Souls 2 left me with a bloody nose on the playground.  I felt that the release of Bloodborne was in some way an opportunity for me to redeem myself.  A little nervous that it would be a lot of aggravation and very little fun I'm proud to say Its been a little aggravation, and a lot of fun.  If you decide to pick up this game, my advice is to stick with it passed the first main area which is 2 bosses in.  Around this time is when the game mechanics start to sink in, allowing you to move around this incredibly dangerous world with a little more ease.  The first few hours of the game certainly feels like walking on egg shells.

This game requires a very buddhist zen mind-set and lightning reflexes.  It's a game that teaches you how to beat your enemy by making you lose to them over and over until you've memorized their entire move-set and how to counter it.  As soon as one monster becomes an easy fight, a bigger badder one is waiting for you around the corner.  Every boss requires time to practice with a trial and error attitude, swapping out one strategy for another along with a few pieces of gear.  These bosses torment your mind the same way they torture your avatar.  You will fail many times over against these guys until you finally learn what works.  What comes next is the reason why people love this game.  After landing the final blow in a boss fight the words "Prey Slaughtered" sprawl across the screen.  It's the most rewarding, weight-lifting feeling I've gotten from playing a game.  Ever.

I do recommend playing this game with a guide handy, unless you plan on multiple play-throughs.  Reason being is there are multiple things you can/must do throughout the course of the game to unlock what's being called "The True Ending" in forums and wiki's.  If you accidentally or purposefully kill certain NPC's, make the wrong choices, or even advance past a certain point without doing certain things the "True Ending" will not be available to you.  Which really sucks given how hard it is to make progress in this game.  If you believe in salvation through suffering, or you just like pain, Bloodborne is your game.  I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks they can handle a truly difficult but highly rewarding experience.  A full review will be posted here when I manage to beat this game.  Give me a little time though cause this ones tough!

The Anticipated #1 March 2015

Welcome to The Anticipated #1.  Here to let you know what's coming in hot!

Bloodborne

by From Software, the PS4 exclusive action RPG hailed as the spiritual successor to demon souls.  Bloodborne releases March 24th.  I will be doing a review... considering I can actually beat the game.  The developer is notorious for extreme difficulty.

The challenge is not the only thing people find appealing in Bloodborne.  An Incredibly horrific backdrop painted in countless shades of grey looks beautifully terrifying. The few clips I have seen for this game feature some of the most insane creature designs since that foreign film Pan's Labyrinth.  Not to mention the developers have an already impressive track record.  Dozens of reasons to be anticipating this game.  Watch a trailer here.

My excitement level: 9/10

Mortal Kombat X

Of course were excited to pull the spine's out of the throats of our friends.  Mortal Kombat is always worth a purchase just to see all the brutal fatalities.  It seems every day now we are hearing rumors and confirmations of characters that will appear in the newest game of the series.  So far 26 fighters are confirmed with 9 still rumored for the April 14th release.  This time around we get to play as popular hollywood icon's Jason and Predator... If you pay extra for the special edition or dlc.  If you wan't to know how I feel about this check out my last post on game dlc's.

But that doesn't stop me from anticipating Mortal Kombat X.  Gamer's know what they're getting with the Mortal Kombat series, and I'm ready to consistently hand out fatalities.

My excitement level 7.5/10

Avengers: Age of Ultron

comes out may 1st! Just about a month out.  The first film made roughly $207 million dollars in its opening weekend, more then any other movie in box office history.  We will see if the sequel can take it's place.  I for one am really excited.  What's not to love about all the greatest marvel hero's in one movie?  Check out the latest trailer here!

My Excitement Level 10/10

Keep checking back for the latest reviews, news, and a look ahead at what's coming your way!

The Day the Music Died.

Written By Joey Carole

Try to remember 2002, Nickelback, Nelly, and Linkin Park are on the radio.  Spiderman, and Lord of the Rings are playing at the movies.  George W. Bush is president.  Sony and Nintendo have been dueling it out for the console crown and Microsoft just came on the scene.  It's an exciting time, a hulkish new console with green accents has entered the console war.  Also birthing xbox live and the capabilities for DLC, downloadable content.  Developers were experimenting with adding content post launch.  It was awesome, Michael Jackson was still alive and now we could see new stuff in our games months after release instead of waiting years for a sequel.  Hearing about DLC was new, we wondered what we could come to expect.  Some developers did it for free, just to keep community support strong with their game and some did it for profit, but it was usually reasonably priced and worked in everyones favor.

Jump forward to present day and the term DLC makes me feel anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering ...

Evolve by 2k has DLC coming out March 31st featuring 4 new hunters and 1 new monster The Behemoth!!!!  The 4 new hunters are all included with the $25 season pass and roughly $7 each without it.  The monster is free to anyone who pre-ordered but $15 if you did not, regardless of your season pass status.  Did you know Evolve had 44 pieces of DLC on launch day all priced between $2-$7?  If you wanted to buy all the DLC and get everything Evolve has to offer, this would cost you $60 for the game + $136 (roughly) for all the DLC and $25 for the season pass.  Your'e looking at over $200 here...  Did you get all that?

Now to play devils advocate all 44 pieces of DLC offered at launch for Evolve by 2k are purely cosmetic.  It's nothing but guns and character skins.  Meaning no matter how much money is spent there is no advantage gained over other players, which beats out some other games, *cough* Last of Us *cough*  But this is still not okay.  Skins used to be un-lockables in games usually taking some time to get, giving players something to strive for, a sense of achievement and a visual cue to opponents that you aint a noob! don't mess with the best!  Now character skins tell your opponents you paid extra money for a little video game flare... Not nearly as cool.

Now if 2k games only charged for cosmetic stuff,  I could get over it. Or a trade-off would be nice, like every 500 kills you unlock a hat or you can pay $2.  It really sucks that a player can't earn those same skins by being good at the game.  But why should I care if someone else wants to spend an extra $100 making their character look cool?

(Oblivion Horse Armor notorious as the worst paid DLC ever)

So on top of all this extra paid DLC, 2 months after release there is 4 additional Hunters and 1 additional monster you must pay to play.  This means if you don't cough up extra on top of the $60 price for the game then your missing out on almost half of the unique playable characters... This is where the developer is taking advantage. For a game with a heavy focus on multiplayer and little to no storyline leaving half of the characters locked is like missing half the game.  It's hard to say for sure but the developers most likely already did the work on this extra content but chose to with-hold it from the game at launch so they could put a squeeze on consumers later on.

It's become common practice with developers to ship locked content on your game disks, only giving you access after you pay additional fee's for DLC.  Game's such as Destiny from Mega-developer Bungie are advertised as "Massive expansive universes, ready for you to explore!" and are sold only featuring a small portion of said massive universe with "Many more planets to explore!" promised in future paid DLC patches...

It's also becoming more standard for games to come with a season pass now and they are usually priced between $20-$30, but you're rarely if ever guaranteed a time frame for the DLC included.  Or even what kind of DLC it might be.  Bioshock: Infinite promised future game content DLC with a season pass.  The game released March 26, 2013 and Part 1 of it's 2 part DLC didn't release until November, 2013.  Roughly 8 months after release, and part 2 didn't come out until  one full year after the game release.  Completely unreasonable.

Nintendo has more recently been using Amiibo's which are tiny plastic figures that are compatible with certain games.  Certain Amiibo's will unlock game-specific content depending on which figures you have.  So purchasing one Amiibo can unlock content in multiple games for you.  I'm not very familiar with this one so I can't weigh in on if the price is worth it.  Other types of dlc like micro-transactions have started to plague our games as well but that's a whole other discussion.

Now this isn't the case with all developers, some of them (CD Projekt Red) have promised free smaller DLC's such as cosmetics, maybe some extra weapons, and small missions post launch in their upcoming Witcher title.   Likely with larger content patches at a price later on.  A DLC strategy I fully support, it's handled the way DLC should be.  All content already made by the developer is put on the disk and given to the player at launch.  Anything made after launch is only charged for if the content is substantial.  It show's respect to the player.

It's unfortunate DLC has become what it is. But there's always a way to come out ahead.  Don't buy season passes unless you know what's coming with it.  Wait and see what kind of feedback it gets.  Hold off a little bit and DLC almost always drop in price or go's on sale.  Depending on how often your online, services like PS+ can get you more then you're moneys worth in free games and DLC's each month as well.  Oh, and I actually like most of the game's I talk about here even if it feels like they are being bashed! I only dislike how they treat DLC!

Ori and the Blind Forest Review

Review By Joey Carole

Ori and the Blind Forest, by Moon Studios is a fantastic Art-House Platformer on the outside and an old school Metroidvania adventure on the inside.  You play as Ori, a glowing sprite of the forest, in a journey to restore hope, love, and light to your once flourishing but now dark and shadowy home.  Three elements needed by the forest have been taken and its your job to restore the forest to its once glorious state.  Its easy to get lost staring at the iridescent plant life in both the back and foreground of this magical 2D side scroller.  But be cautious, because the creatures and environment will hastily send you to your grave.  Ori requires good patience, timing, and some clever thinking to to play upon completion; a task that enchants and enthralls.

There's a talent-tree/ability-point progressions system and plenty of skills to be gained throughout the course of your adventure. Skills such as double-jumps, wall-climbs, ground pounds, and a sort of catapult that works using enemy projectiles are all slowly acquired and needed to gain access to new areas of the forest.  Ori also has a basic attack ability called spirit flame, but it becomes relatively weak later on if you choose not to upgrade it via ability points. The Blind Forest is split up into different zone's each with their own unique look and theme.  The zone's are littered with secret nooks and crannies which will pay off in more life, power, and trophies to those who go searching.

Ori uses Power as resource for a charged spirit flame attack as well as saving the game.  This game does not autosave except for particular plot points which can be few and far between! A design choice that I didn't love but came around to.  Remember to save often or you will find yourself repeating many segments unnecessarily as I have done.  Although sometimes this worked in my favor when I stumbled upon secret areas after a fourth or fifth attempt through a zone.  Without a doubt the toughest areas of the game are the escape sequences which usually take place after restoring an element of the forest.  These sequences demand perfection as you must make exquisitely timed maneuver's with death at your heels and no opportunities to save.   The total playtime of this game will probably vary greatly depending on the player, but I finished with most of the map explored and Ori's abilities maxed in about 10 hours playtime. Not bad for a $20 game.

The creatures are pretty interesting and provide for some quality platforming gameplay.  Colored frogs will belch projectiles at you, birds will dive down from above, and dino-rhino looking things will charge you.  Once Ori gains his bash ability which has you launching projectiles back at enemies the creatures no longer pose the greatest threat.  I had some of the most trouble carefully working my way around walls lined with thorns or other natural obstacles of the forest.  The game does a great job in finding creative ways for you to navigate each zone.  Between gliding through a wind tunnel, diving under water, and exploring a volcano the Blind Forest shows a lot of versatility in its design, each area more different and better looking than the last.

A giant bird plays the villain with its own motives, showing up at crucial moments it provides for some great stealth platforming as you run and dodge from its attacks.  When you reach the second half of the game you can really feel Ori's progression.  The abilities you gain constantly change the way you play as they add to your arsenal, and keep the game feeling fresh.  Areas of the map you must backtrack through become a breeze when they used to be tough and new areas present a whole new kind of challenge.  A couple of the areas becomes closed off forever when you leave them and upon game completion your file becomes locked, with starting a new game as your only option to keep playing.  So no post-game exploration. The map isn't very hard to explore %100 but if you move too quickly through a zone the inability to backtrack certain places could make this game a nightmare for completionists.

Moon Studio developers listed anime kings Ghibli and Miyazaki as inspirations to the art design as well as Super Metroid, and Zelda: A Link to the Past for the DNA of Ori and the Blind Forest. The goal was to instill the same sensation in gamers today as the developers felt when they played some of these nintendo 90s classics.  A goal I think they nailed, there developer forefathers would be proud. 

Final Thoughts

Ori and the Blind Forest achieves what the developers set out to do.  It hit's an adored sub-genre of gaming that's not visited nearly enough, paying great homage to Metroidvania style games and achieving a unique new-gen look of its own.  Great sound design and touching story.  At only $20 this is a must have for anyone with an xbox one.

Pro's

+Incredible Art style, (It's inspirations shine through while maintaining it's own look)

+Nails the rare Metroidvania sub-genre of gaming

+Simple, Quality Narrative

Con's

-Odd choice of game saving mechanics

-Some tedious segments

Score

9/10

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Review By Egan Click

Monster Hunter is a franchise with a loyal and growing fan-base going on 11 strong years.  #4 Ultimate, is the definitive edition of the fourth generation and it's unbelievable.  The game is published and developed by Capcom.  It's completely bonkers in Japan and North America usually only gets the special editions such as this one.  It's an action role playing game but way more then that.  It's frustratingly hard, there is crafting, there is resource management, there is character progression, and last but not least there is fighting.

I started playing Monster Hunter when it came out on the wiiu specifically because it was recommended to me by my oldest brother Kane.  He loved the third one for the Wii.  I actually got it at midnight when everyone else was getting God of War.  Playing it solo for a month, I didn't really get it.  Fighting was really hard right off the gate.  Nothing was explained while I was accumulating massive amounts of mushrooms and herbs that I didn't know what to do with.  I was getting monster parts but I was mostly dying miserably.  My brother and I eventually played online and he explained it thoroughly and by the end of the summer, I had 200 hours in and 160 primarily with him.

You start the game off as a nobody with a lot of options.  The game has 14 different weapons you can pick from.  From swords, to lances, to hammers, to guns.  Each weapon has it's own distinct feel and it's perfect usage.  The Long Sword (my weapon of choice) is strictly offense and for cutting off monster's tails.  It ebbs and flows as you hack and slash around a monster, evading and swinging with the X and A buttons to fulfill combo's and bring up your spirit meter.  Other weapons are used to bash in monsters skulls like the hammer.  Some are used primarily for defense where you can use your R button to block monsters attacks.  There are support weapons to buff your teammates such as the Hammer Horn.  Last but not least there are ranged weapons like bows and bowguns to shoot from a distance.  All the weapons feel completely different.  This is why most people say MH has a steep learning curve because right off the gate you have to find a weapon that works for how you want to play the game.  You can always change weapons but a weapon can not change you.

The premise is simple.  Towns folk need your help and you are the hunter that is better then all other hunters.  So they give you quests to do.  You accept the quests and march forth to take on whatever lies beneath the shadows, up in the sky, or standing right in front of you as big as a dump truck.  You run around a stage that is broken up into many parcels of land that are also numbered.  First you must find the monster.  Lying around you is supplies to help you do so.  Look in this shrubbery and you get herbs.  Look in these mushrooms and you find blue mushrooms.  Mix the two and you get a potion.  Over here is a bees nest where you get honey.  Mix those with the potion and you get a mega potion.  There's mining, fishing, bug catching also.  Every single thing you collect is useful in some form or another.  This is a thing you MUST do.  Getting through the game just fighting monsters is down right impossible.  This part of the game used to seem tedious to me.  Why couldn't I just buy it all?  But once you get in the pathos of the game, you being this lone hunter out in the woods by yourself, you begin to realize that these town folk don't get out much.

There are shops to purchase items at.  Most of the basic items like regular potions and a few miscellaneous, such as herbs, shrooms, and bugs can be bought with money you obtain while completing quests.  There is also a blacksmith where you upgrade your equipment or forge new weapons and armor.  The first real intriguing thing about Monster Hunter to me was the sheer amount of weaponry and armor you can craft.  Lets say I want to get the best new sword I have knowledge about,  well I can't just buy it or find it.  I must kill the monster that the resource list calls for.  Then when I wear that armor, the skills and resistances I get mimic that of the monster I murdered.  Also the items acquired will resemble the LOOKS of the monster slain.  I have this cool paralysis long sword that came from a Najarala that looks like it's mid section.  Other places to go in town are the Chef's Stand, this is where you get buffs that help you in battle such as resistance buffs, health buffs, attack buffs, defense buff and other special daily skills.  Another notable place of interest is the guy that takes your caravan points (points you get for saving the town) lets you multiply your items while you are away questing.

In case the title didn't make you aware, Monsters are a big part of the adventure.  The game does a fantastic job starting you with the easy guys and making you work your way up to the tougher ones.  All the monster designs are fantastic.  There are some that resemble dinosaurs such as the Great Jaggi.  Others that resemble dragons (wyverns) like Rathalos. The Nersycalla that is a 25 foot spider, a fact I know because the game tracks each and every monster handily that you kill.  Almost like a "Pokedex" of sorts.  Each one is different, and most importantly,  some don't look or act like anything you could see in our world.   Each monster has it's own complex system of attacks.  Some are more protective but hit you much harder.  Some are erratic and aggravated.  Some fly and hit you with their tails while they spin and flip around.  Getting to know the monster and it's attack sequence and how to dodge and evade and where to hit and when to hit and where to be when he is attacking is another reason they say MH has a steep learning curve.  You might kill a monster easily once but next time it might catch you by surprise and  completely reshape it's attack.

Online works perfectly.  To join or setup a gathering hall is as easy as using the touch screen and going to the world map and selecting it.  Then you are there and can set up pass codes, join friends rooms or just have it open and ready for individuals to join you for some battling.  I didn't have any connectivity issues or lag or drops or anything to make me roll my eyes at.  To leave the room you just do it as easy as getting into the room.  It's seamless and easy.  Online is up to 4 players at a time.  It offers different quests then the ones you do in single player and you can actually solo it too.  This is where end game content lays and where the gnittiest of grittiest monsters hang out.  This is where you get the evolved monsters or as I like to call them, the Hybrids.  Sure there was a Zinogre which is a giant electric raccoon but now it's a Stygian Zinogre and it has dragon damage.

One of the coolest features of the game are your sidekicks or felines.  Everyone loves cats and Japan is no exception to that rule.  You start off the game with one which you name and love and it levels with you and you actually make equipment for as well.  Making equipment is new and really cool.  They added a whole island in this game where your cats hang out and go on there own adventures.  While looking for monsters, you can find little villages of felines that let you recruit cats to join your squad.  You can take up to 2 of them with you at a time and they all have different abilities to help you along the way.  At the island there is two fun mini games to play.  In one, you select 5 cats and go fishing.  The mini game is simple and you just shoot your net at schools of fish and the goal is to try and get as many schools to join together to catch as many as possible.  In this you get scrap (which makes equipment) and an assortment of fish for various crafting opportunities.  Next up, you send your cats out on their own 3 monster adventure.  You pick five again and each cat has a Yellow, Blue or Red specialty.  This mini game is just a game of rock scissors paper where you take a yellow cat to defeat a red monster.  It's set at a relaxing pace and is a breath of fresh air after coming back from an arduous hunt.  It's also super cute because the cats are cut out and on Popsicle sticks like it's a children's puppet show.

The DLC in this game is FREE.  Once a week for who knows how long they introduce new quests for the gathering hall.  These can include arena quests which are just simply killing a monster in 1 zone.  Or the quest can introduce a new monster to tackle.  With DLC being a big money grab for most developers and publishers, I have to give the biggest tip of my hat to Capcom for giving this much content away for nothing.  It is unheard of and appreciated by all of us monster hunters.

Final Thoughts
Monster Hunter is a one of a kind classic.  The fighting is compared to no other game.  The content for 40 bucks is SILLY.  To complete this game and get everything there is to get would take a die hard fan well over a thousand hours.   This is the quintessential pure action game.  With everything there is to do all surrounding one easy premise that is go and kill a monster, game designers take notes.  This game is addicting, this game is brutal, this game is boss.  On my personal list of GOTY.

Pros
+ Nearly endless amounts of content
+ No bugs or connectivity issues
+ Monsters are fresh, imaginative and unique
+ Plenty of options to choose from to fit your individual play style
+ Looks great and takes complete control of the New 3DS's c-stick.

Cons
- You aren't playing it yet.

Score

10/10

Valiant Hearts Review

Review By Joey Carole

Valiant Hearts, by Ubisoft is a high caliber Puzzle Platformer available for Playstation, Xbox, iOS, and Android.  Set in the trenches of WWI, Valiant Hearts take's on a very classic cut cartoony comic book look, one that's pleasant to the eyes and plays well.  The soundtrack is mostly classical piano and violin partnered with the deep, smooth, and silky voice of the narrator Dave Pettitt.  Playing thru Valiant Hearts made me feel as if a grandfather of sorts was telling me his own tragic war story, one that is deep and full of sentiment.  Unfortunately it's not the Puzzle's but the design choices and story that kept me interested in Valiant Hearts.  The Puzzle's are often too easy and similar to each other, while the platforming aspects shine a little bit brighter.

You get to play as 4 different characters, A Medic named Anna, and then a French, German, and American Solider, Emile, Karl, and Freddie. The big bad in this game is the villainous Baron Von Dorf who battles with zeppelins, tanks, and chlorine gas.  Most of the game is spent chasing after Baron Von Dorf through the wake of chaos and destruction he leave's behind.  Each character experiences some minor differences in gameplay which range from rhythm based mini games which allow the bandaging of soldiers to digging holes in the ground to avoid falling bombs.  However each character is usually blocked from advancing to the next level by some pesky barbed wire or a blocked passage.  In which case you need to solve a puzzle to advance.

The puzzles start out at pretty easy and finish at an intermediate difficulty.  I never really felt challenged or stuck while working to solve the puzzles which ended up making them feel more tedious then enjoyable.  Usually you are tossing rock's or bottles at items stuck in high places to knock them loose, and then trading those items to NPC's for different items which you need to advance.  When you aren't doing those things you're usually rotating pipes to align a certain way or switching lever's in various orders of operation until you find the correct way to proceed.  Sometimes you need to order your dog to fetch an item or pull a lever for you.  If you've played a puzzle game before, there probably isn't anything new here.

The Platforming sections of the game has you running for cover from gunfire, dodging bombs or hiding from enemy field of vision.  The mini-boss fight's are usually about well timed throws of dynamite.  Some level's feature a car chase where you must dodge obstacles and take out pursuing enemies.  I found the car chase sections of the game the most enjoyable.  Some levels near the end allow you to drive a tank as well.  I did have to retry a couple of the platforming sections multiple times but the game autosaves pretty often so it never took much time to advance passed a difficult section.  I prefer a little more of a challenge then what Valiant Hearts has to serve up.

There is a pretty good amount of collectibles throughout the game, 119 in total.  I was able to find 82 in one play through.  As you progress through each level you unlock Diary Entries for each character as well as Facts which present you with real photographs and facts about WW1.  So if you take the time to read through just a few of these Valiant Hearts can become a learning experience.  Some of these fact's are boring but I also found some to be pretty interesting.  I only read a small portion of them myself.

Underneath all of the design, puzzles, and platforming is a tragic story of a family from different backgrounds forced apart because of war, and their valiant efforts to both serve their countries and reunite themselves with friends and family.  It is rather touching, and after all was said and done I thought about how the lives of my great grand parents may have been effected by The Great War and what it might've been like to actually serve.  Something the developers were probably striving for. 

Final Thoughts

Valiant Heart's took me roughly 8 hours to complete.  The puzzles at their best are intermediate in difficulty and tedious at their worst.  The platforming aspects were enjoyable throughout but failed to really challenge me at any point because the auto-save feature re-spawns you right where you died.  The story is touching, and the game's style and art direction helped make the gameplay more enjoyable and overall worth while.

Pro's

+Story, Narrator, and Art Direction

+Educational

+Enjoyable Platforming Sections

Cons

-Not Challenging Enough

-Some Tedious Puzzle Solving

Score

7.5/10

OlliOlli Review

Review By Egan Click

OlliOlli is a skateboarding game inspired by the flip tricks, grinds, gaps and combo's skaters can put together in a single whisper of time.  It first appeared on the Vita but was recently ported to every other system.  I curiously nabbed it for my 3DS because not only did it look like a versatile portable game but, most importantly, because I love skating games.  This was a cross buy promotion for Nintendo so I also got a copy for my Wii U.

A quick flashback to my roots.  I got a PS1 only for Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1.  My best friend had it and I had to have it too.  I played them all until they got in the RIDE series.  I got an XBOX 360 for Skate.  I played the demo and got it on release day with my console as well.  I played all of those.  I've also skated since I was six.  It's my favorite sport to watch and I'm still an active skater.

The game is rather straight forward.  It's a side scrolling, 2-D, combo fanatic sports game.  It might even be a rhythm-esque game since the game play relies heavily on perfect landings and stringing combos and lines together seamlessly.  There consists 5 arenas with 10 levels each.  5 Amateur levels and 5 Professional levels.  Each level then includes 5 goals to achieve.  To unlock the professional levels for each given course, you must first complete all 5 challenges. To unlock Amateur levels, you just need to reach the end of the level.  Challenges always consist of two being High Score related and Combo related, the other three can be specific tricks, grabbing highlighted items during the level, gaps, rail combos, and an assortment of other things.  Some challenges still save if you did them such as doing 5 perfect grinds but others won't such as grabbing all the spray cans.  While the control scheme is reminiscent of Skate, the challenges remind me much more of THPS.  They are enjoyable and a few are something to really dig into and thrive on.  I remember vividly needing a 35k combo in this tight section of rail to rails but I kept getting 32k.  I needed to fit in a spin here but couldn't go more then 180 or I wouldn't make a perfect grind.

The game play consists of you pushing by pressing the A button for speed.  Speed helps you hit gaps, get on rails, and to hit a section for a sweet combo.  Once you come up to an obstacle, you flick the analog stick to do a trick.  All the tricks are real skateboarding tricks.  There's hard flips, kick flips, and shuv its.  This is similar to Skate and works really well.  For tricks flicking in front of you, you're swinging it to the right and for tricks going behind you, you're going to the left.  I like this decision and for people not coming into this game with skate knowledge, I am supportive of this because it at least teaches people the physics behind the sport.  While in the air you can also press the left bumper or right bumper to spin your body to do a 180, 540, etc.  If you don't make a jump or hit a barrier, you fall and restart.

Next up is grinds.  When coming down on a rail or ledge or a dinosaur statue, you press down the analog stick to get into a specific grind.  As well as doing tricks, grinds can be landed on perfectly to give you a speed boost and a score boost as well.  When coming down on a rail to get into a grind and landing a trick, you must press A right before you land will give you a perfect landing.  To do specific challenges, you must land perfectly to retain your speed and also to be alert and ready for the next big air.  If you press it late or not at all or super early, you will land sketchy or sloppy and lose all speed and all credibility.  The crowd at the end of the level will infinitely boo you.  Trying to hit every trick and grind and combo and line perfectly can be frustrating and at times, seem completely improbable especially in Pro mode.  If there wasn't so much going on the screen from all directions on the screen, I could see how the grinding could be a bit stale.  There isn't any balancing or any challenges to get into a grind.  The only thing to worry about is speed which becomes a non-factor later on when you are hitting little segments of billboards and light fixtures and olling all across the screen.

There are 50 stages altogether and each Arena is made specifically with a theme in mind.  Some having to do with stringing a combo throughout most of the level with hairpin jumps and long rails and some having to do with multi-tiered stages where your route is up to you.  Some have a clear cut path and others are cut and dry on how you are going to complete the challenge.  I thought the developers (Roll7) did a great job mixing it up with the scenery and the format of each arena and level.  They never felt haphazardly thrown together.  They all felt one of a kind.

 After career mode, there is a Daily Grind, which is a way to compete with other people across for highest score and as you might expect, you only get to try once a day and it resets.  You only get one shot at this, no redo's like in the campaign.  I'm personally not a fan of leader boards especially if the game isn't online-competitive.  I feel like trying to get a high score globally isn't in my wheel barrel and it's not something I'm personally striving for.  If we were playing each other in a duel then I would be interesting.  Or locally as well.  But trying to beat someone that just sits at home and perfects a crazy combo isn't interesting and doesn't add to the replayability for OlliOlli.

The only other notable thing about OlliOlli is the soundtrack.  There are about 10 tracks of electro fusion that is great to hear.  All the tracks are bangers.  I turned up the music and lowered the skating sound effects and it really helped me concentrate on the map and what I wanted to achieve in each run.  I wish there was more.

Two issues I had pertaining to this game was the 3DS version has game crippling bugs.  During three different gaming sessions (this game just came out yesterday), while getting my combo stacked, the game froze and restarted my system.  Also, playing on my television and not my on game pad, was extremely difficult to do.  There is so many minute things to do and perfect timing situations that I felt like it didn't feel adequate for a console game.

Final Thoughts

OlliOlli is a ton of fun.  If you love arcade games where high scores are the main factors in your success then you will definitely enjoy this game.  The replayability is high because there are 250 challenges to do that can take you from one session to complete all the way up till you have blisters all over your fingers and your hinges are loose.

Pros
+ Skateboarding
+ Arcade
+ Lots of Challenges

Cons
- Frustrating
- End game is leaderboarding
- Bugs (from game crippling to collision detection)

Score

7.3/10